Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021 | USA | 132 minutes | Destin Daniel Cretton)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is getting a lot of acclaim and attention for being the first Marvel movie to be led by an overwhelmingly Asian cast. It’s quite cool and mostly lives up to all of that hype.

Though he was trained to be an elite fighter at an extremely young age by his father to avenge the death of his mother, Shang-Chi runs away from home and becomes Shaun (Simu Liu), a failson that parks cars in San Francisco with his platonic best friend Katy (Awkwafina). Katy’s parents want better for their daughter than being a parking valet, but she is content with her station in life, as is Shaun.

That all changes when on a bus, some tough guys, dispatched by Shaun/Shang-Chi’s father Xu Wenwu (the legendary Asian actor Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, easily the best part of this movie) to collect the medallion around his neck and lure Shang-Chi back home. This sets up one of the coolest fight scenes I’ve ever seen in any action movie. It’s reminiscent of Jackie Chan and seems to be exempt from all laws of physics and gravity. 

When Shang-Chi is inevitably enticed to return, he meets up with his estranged sister who is now running an underground fighting operation that is more outlandish than anything in Tyler Durden’s imagination. The world-building that led to this location is incredibly well done, especially considering most of the film was shot in Australia.

Shang-Chi and his sister Xialing (Meng’er Zhang) quickly realize that Wenwu has a dubious plan to reunite his family, which involves finding his late wife that he believes is not actually dead. He’s helped with the ten rings that give him immortality and almost omnipotent powers. This leads to a showdown between Xu Wenwu and Shang-Chi, Xialing, and their aunt Ying Nan (Michelle Yeoh). The showdown I found disappointing, though saying why would reveal spoilers that I’m not comfortable giving out. The first 100 minutes or so were good-to-great, and the finale was a let down.

The other thing I found disappointing was that the two leads couldn’t match the screen presences of the supporting cast. Tony Leung, Michelle Yeoh, and Meng’er Zhang had so much more charisma than Simu Liu and Awkwafina, who were perfectly fine in their leading roles.

Still, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is exactly what you’d expect from a Marvel movie. The action scenes are awesome, and there’s some humor, so it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s an entertaining movie to wind down the summer, if that’s what you’re seeking.

I’m only about 75% sure I understand what Ben Kingsley is doing in this movie.

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is now playing in theaters. But not in China.