Photo courtesy of Vanity Fair

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” Marvel’s first film starring a predominantly Asian cast, faced obstacles to its success before the movie even hit the theaters. One hurdle, fans noted, was Marvel’s apparent lack of “Shang-Chi” promotions compared to other films. This issue was enforced by the fact that Disney CEO Bob Chapek dubbed its release strategy “an interesting experiment,” a comment which sparked backlash from audience members and cast members alike.

In spite of Marvel and Disney, “Shang-Chi” has managed to surpass past Labor Day box office records, netting an estimated $75.3 million its opening weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.

“Shang-Chi” tells the story of Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), an ex-assassin who works as a valet to escape the influence of his father, Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung). 

The twist: Wenwu is really thousands of years old, thanks to a magical set of ten rings that grant its wearer immortality and other powers. 

After years of complicated and tense family dynamics, Wenwu attempts to reunite his children and revive his late wife, Ying Li (Fala Chen). To his surprise, he is faced with opposition from many sides, including from his own son.

One of the most prominent features of the movie is its fight scenes. Unlike other Marvel movies, whose battles all fall in a similar vein, “Shang-Chi” showcases sophisticated fight scenes in a martial arts style. Even when there are magical elements at play, such as the Ten Rings, the film does a good job of making each move feel real while preventing the fights from becoming like other Marvel films.

The East Asian influences on “Shang-Chi” create a striking story and world for its characters, while also managing to stay true to the Marvel trademark brand. “Shang-Chi” embraces aspects of Chinese culture, from joking about managing parents’ expectations to including Mandarin Chinese throughout the whole film. Nuances such as those, combined with the film’s spectacular architectural designs and dramatic scenery, establish “Shang-Chi” as one of the more stand-out Marvel films in terms of visuals and culture-building. 

Although the film has a lot of impressive visual appeal, its conviction in its world starts to fade toward the end. The final battle setting and creatures struggle to fit in to the rest of the world of “Shang-Chi.” After so many grounded fight scenes and settings, it felt strange to encounter such a large collection of random magical animals and evil beings whose designs did not really fit the grittier look of the rest of the film. 

A common element of Marvel films is their sense of comedic timing. While “Shang-Chi” doesn’t quite compete with the humor of “Ant-Man” and older films, the character of Katy (Awkwafina) provides much-needed levity to a film that could easily slip into being too angsty. Other comedic highlights include the characters of Trevor and his magical companion, Morris. 

Other stand-out performances include Liu’s performance as Shang-Chi and Meng’er Zhang as his sister, Xu Xialing. Zhang succeeds at creating an intriguing character, with all the edginess and rebelliousness of a younger sister. 

Despite an apparent lack of support from Marvel and Disney executives, “Shang-Chi” more than meets expectations with strong casting, visual intrigue and impressive fight scenes.