Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

I’ve spent so much time in the last several years griping about the monopoly that Marvel holds over the contemporary film market that I went into this latest installment with few to no positive expectations.

I was pleasantly surprised. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a considered drama about filial trauma as much as it is a superhero adventure flick.

The major draw for me is Tony Leung, who is one of the finest actors working today. He gives a portrait of controlled, violent denial as Xu Wenwu — his limpid eyes and gentle smile unnerving contrasts to the horrors that he wreaks in search of his irretrievable wife (Fala Chen).

It is his movie, really. I care for Wenwu’s journey far more than I do Shang-Chi’s — though that may have something to do with the actors. My hope is that Simu Liu, now that he’s been granted a lofty place in the Marvel pantheon, will deepen and refine his abilities across several films.

He hasn’t had the benefit of experience that Leung or Ben Kingsley has. Indeed, Kingsley nearly steals the film in a few comic scenes — building upon a slight role he had in Iron Man 3 (2013), another very good entry in the Marvel franchise. It’s clarifying to realize that superhero movies can be good if their makers have the wherewithal to hire master players — actors who are capable of adding nuance to what is by default a showy enterprise.

Entertainment is not a default of silliness. The impulse to dazzle does not inherently deserve attention. Pleasure has to be earned — not through sacrifice or contrition, but through intelligence, emotion and good humor.

There’s much hullabaloo in Shang-Chi, as in every Marvel movie, but Tony Leung and Ben Kingsley grant credibility to what could easily be — and often leans towards — petty showcasing. The same is true of Michelle Yeoh, who was also a highlight of Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Awkwafina here strikes the balance between comic sidekick and dramatic actor better than I’ve seen her achieve before.

Also, Meng’er Zhang is breathtakingly stony and hurt as Shang-Chi’s estranged sister, Xialing, and I admit to finding myself more than a little smitten with the blunt-tongued yet extremely imposing Florian Munteanu.