The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C-
As a fan of martial arts movies from the 70s and 80s, I was looking forward to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in hopes that it would infuse some new flavor into the Marvel formula. While there are some kickass moments in early fight scenes and some solid performances, the tropes of this franchise quickly overwhelm and suck the life out of the film. The formula here is a proven one, but I’ve just been through this schtick too many times. Perhaps it isn’t the formula’s fault. Perhaps even male porn stars get tired of doing the same thing over and over again, and that’s not the girls’ fault. They are doing what they promised and so is Marvel. But when something is this rote, when it is this paint-by-numbers, I just can’t muster up a fuck to give.
The character’s back story is given in a non-linear fashion in the film, but I’ll simplify it for a summary. Wenwu, Shang-Chi’s father, is the ancient leader of the Ten Rings, a terrorist/criminal organization that he named after the ten magical rings that he wears and grant him superpowers and eternal life (for a film subtitled “The Legend of the Ten Rings,” the movie is oddly vague about the nature of these things). Following Mortal Kombat and Snake Eyes, 2021 is officially the year of the Asian child witnessing their parent’s death at the hands of assassins and running off to forge their own path as a ninja. That’s quite a specific theme, but Shang-Chi follows suit and flees to America instead of taking vengeance on his mother’s killers at his father’s request.
Flash forward a decade or so and Shang-Chi is now living in San Francisco and living a low-key life. Naturally, his father finds him and brings him back home because he, possibly the wisest and most powerful man on earth, has been tricked into thinking that his dead wife is actually trapped behind a door in a hidden city. In the Marvel Universe, every non-white society has a hidden city where they guard an ancient secret. I’m not sure why that it is, but the Asian Wakanda is called Ta Lo and they are guarding a giant dragon that has been concealed behind a door and that dragon has been sending messages to Wenwu, pretending to be his dead wife, to trick him into breaking down the door. If that sounds a bit stupid, don’t worry; it seems way more stupid in context.
I was actually hopeful during the first few action scenes, as Simu Liu’s physical performance is impressive. I don’t know if he actually has a martial arts background or if he can just fake it like a motherfucker, but he reminds me of Chow Yun-Fat mixed with the prop usage of Jackie Chan. An early fight on a bus is particularly impressive and fun and showcases the potential of combining old-school martial arts with the bombastic elements of modern, mega-budget superhero movies. Unfortunately, the martial arts gradually fade into the background as the film begins to follow a very familiar Marvel path and CGI monsters replace actual characters. The early fight scenes contain ridiculous elements, sure, but they seem like a documentary compared to the final act, where the human characters play second fiddle to a pair of dragons fighting each other and I struggled to keep from nodding off. I really wasn’t expecting this film to culminate with a battle between Falcor and Maleficent, but the sheer absurdity and garishness of the CGI splooge being sprayed across the screen actually made me sad as I reflected upon the state of modern cinema.
Have you ever wondered what Kat Denning’s character from Thor would be like if she was Asian? Of course you haven’t, that’s ridiculous, but Awkwafina is here to answer that question anyway. Similar to Kat Dennings, Awkwafina (or Dasani, as her friends call her) is somebody that I want to like, but I generally hate her roles. I also generally hate Marvel comic-relief characters, so this is a match made in hell. There is absolutely no reason for this character to be in 90% of this movie. In fact, it is sometimes distractingly stupid that she is being included in what’s happening. She serves no purpose but to stand around looking confused and making lame jokes and I can’t fucking stand this shtick anymore. I’m aware that these characters are intended as avatars for the audience, providing a grounded character through whom we can view the increasingly bizarre world of the story. However, Marvel’s insistence that such characters also be obnoxious, inappropriately comedic jackwagons is really starting to grind my gears.
If Awkwafina isn’t enough comic-relief for you, don’t worry. We have a couple more characters to serve this purpose. One is a surprise returning character from a previous Marvel film that I won’t reveal, except to say that he also does nothing but joke his way through every situation and compete with Awkwafina over who can sabotage the most potentially impactful moments. Think that’s enough comic-relief? Well, fuck you because there is also some sort of animal/alien sidekick that makes segments of the film feel like commercials for Marvel-branded plush toys. Not since the porgs in The Last Jedi have I so strongly suspected that I was unwillingly participating in a focus group for a toy company.
I know that Marvel is trying to diversify its characters, and there is nothing inherently wrong with that, but I wish they could do it in a less heavy-handed and stereotypical way. Much of the dialogue and scenarios here feel like they were written by a robot that was just shown a bunch of marital arts and Asian fantasy films and programmed to write an approximation of what they saw. Much like in Snake Eyes, every conceivable martial arts cliché is trotted out like a thematic corpse (believe in yourself, real strength comes from within, etc.) and the imagery is nothing but caricatures. We have an Asian cast, so I guess we need dragons, kimonos and ninjas everywhere. I can’t wait for them to introduce an Irish superhero; the film will probably end with them floating on a giant four-leaf clover and eating a potato while drunkenly fist fighting a leprechaun.
This isn’t a terrible movie, but it’s a terribly soulless movie. I could almost hear the producers checking off boxes and making merchandising deals while I watched it. There are a few solid performances (particularly from Simu Liu and Tony Chiu-Wai Leung) and some of the early action scenes are entertaining enough, but it all just feels like a formulaic product. If you like this formula and this product, you will probably enjoy it just as much as the last dozen (and next dozen) of these movies. As for me, I’ll go back to being one of those old-man Muppets in the balcony because I’m just getting tired of this.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang-Chi_and_the_Legend_of_the_Ten_Rings#/media/File:Shang-Chi_and_the_Legend_of_the_Ten_Rings_poster.jpeg
