Shang Chi and the legend of the Ten Rings is an action-packed banger that depicts the assimilation of long-held cultural traditions and customs of the Chinese, into American life. Shang Chi (later adopting the name of Shaun), is an Asian American who works a job as a valet alongside his best friend of 10 years, Katy. While the two are proud of the jobs they hold and can see themselves living their best lives just as it is, higher expectations from friends and family begin to let doubt arise. They begin to wonder whether there’s more to life than shirking responsibilities and late-night karaoke. As the pair struggle to find their true passions and paths to follow in San Francisco, they discover one day that Shang Chi’s father was a powerful man and was in search of him and his equally mysterious sister.
As it turns out, Shang Chi’s father Wenwu has a mythical and extremely ancient weapon of unknown origin, known as the Ten Rings. Utilizing the weapons to grant him eternal life and immense magic power, Wenwu creates an empire with his army of assassins. Upon meeting Shang Chi’s mother, Ying Li, he paused conflict to live a peaceful life and start up a family. Shang Chi’s mother similarly left her responsibilities of guarding the gateway to a secret magical community called Ta Lo, a village that guarded the gateway to creatures from a dark dimension. Despite their efforts, the past catches up to the family as a mob of bitter enemies, who had suffered under Wenwu’s terror, came back to take revenge. Wenwu returns home to find his family terrorized and his wife deceased.
As Wenwu takes a turn for the worse and begins to train Shang Chi in hopes that he would become an assassin and avenge his mother’s killers, Xu Xialing, Shang Chi’s younger sister, was neglected. Tending to her own needs and learning to watch from a distance, she teaches herself how to fight and survive in a world where she has little. Later on, Xu Xialing runs away from home and builds an empire of her own, a fight club called The Golden Daggers. Around the same time, on the other side of the globe, Shang Chi works as a valet with Katy. The three are brought together by Wenwu, who believes he has found a way to bring back his dead wife. He starts to believe that she is being held captive behind the gates of Ta Lo by her own family, who had disapproved of her marriage with Wenwu. As the plot thickens with the siblings learning of the deceit of their father’s false hopes, conflict spikes as the forces of Ta Lo clash with Wenwu’s assassin army, the two sides learn that they face a greater opponent that the one who stands before them.
In terms of entertainment, well-rounded characters, cultural appropriation, and relevance in the modern day, Shang Chi clocks in at a 4 out of 5 average. Filled with sudden conflicts, creative twists, and mythological creatures, Shang Chi is the go-to movie for all Marvel enthusiasts. The movie could not have been produced without Marvel’s fantastic CGI team, who arranged the entirety of Razor Fist’s arm. Rather than create a prop for the actor Florian Munteanu to use as he portrayed Razor Fist, the team chose to manually animate the character. The movie lacks character depth and development, as each character holds a simple desire. Shang Chi and Katy both wish to retain their jobs as simple valets, whereas Wenwu hopes to restore his family. The two protagonists soon join forces with Xialing, working to later fight alongside Katy to defend Ta Lo against Wenwu.
Despite a relatively simple plot, the movie is rated high on the accuracy of traditional Chinese culture. Traditional colors are reflected in decorations and clothing. Chinese weaponry, martial arts including Tai Chi, and sacred traditions of reverence for the ancestors are incorporated into the film. Marvel goes to an extent to reveal their incorporation of the Chinese lifestyle, even cracking a joke. In the scene where Shang Chi and Katy arrive at the Golden Daggers club and meet their guide, Jon Jon, they make introductions. Jon Jon speaks first in mandarin but quickly switches to English when Katy does not understand him. “I speak A-B-C”, Jon Jon says, A-B-C referring to English. ABC also stands for American-born Chinese, a person who is Chinese by heritage, and American by law. Although subtle, marvel has intricately included aspects throughout the movie that depict the traditional Chinese lifestyle in assimilation into American culture.
High school student and Asian American Edison Wei provide commentary on the diversity in the actors and his appreciation of Marvel’s first Asian-centered movie. “Shang Chi holds a deep value as it depicts the life of Chinese Americans and life in America, showing the world that we, Asian Americans, alongside every other ethnic group in the world, are all extremely similar in ways that are hidden from the naked eye.” Wei explains how the Legend of the 10 Rings can help break down the walls that groups of people build to separate and classify themselves, which we can break down together to foster new relationships, especially with modern-day youth. Shang Chi is but one step toward a better world.
You can watch Shang-Chi on Disney+, Prime Video, Apply TV, and many more streaming sites!
