Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

The 25th film of the MCU, released on the 3rd September 2021, was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton; starring Sam Liu (Shang-Chi), Nora Lum (Katy), Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (Xu WenWu), Michelle Yeoh (Ying Nan), Meng’er Zhang (Xialing) and Ben Kingsley (Trevor Slattery).

“You are a product of all who came before you, the legacy of your family. You are your mother. And, whether you like it or not, you are also your father.”

Ying Nan

Plot

Backstory

For thousands of years the Ten Rings (a clandestine and criminal organization) has conquered everything thanks to its powerful leader and founder: Xu WenWu. All his gifts originated from ten magical rings: some people say he found them in a crater, some other in a tomb; however those rings gave him the opportunity to obtain what he wanted… and what he wanted was power.

In 1996 he decided to search for a mysterious place called Ta Lo: it’s a dimension within the Multiverse and its only accessible entrance is situated in a magical bamboo forest and well-protected by Ta Lo’s inhabitants. This is where Xu WenWu encountered the love of his life, Ying Li, one of the guardians of Ta Lo’s gate.

The two fell in love and decided to escape when they discovered that the village wouldn’t accept Xu WenWu. They married and had two children: Shang-Chi and Xialing.

Present day

Shaun (aka Shang-Chi) lives in San Francisco, where he works as a parking valet with Katy, his best friend. His “normal” life changes all of sudden, when the Ten Rings attack him on a bus just to steal his pendant made of jade (given to him by his mother). After this he is forced to reveal his past to Katy and to search for his sister Xialing in order to warn her; because the organization would probably come to her for her pendant. However, after reaching Macau and his sister, Shang-Chi is captured with his best friend and sister and they are taken to the Ten Ring’s compund.

Xu WenWu feels that his wife (who was killed when his children were little) is alive but somehow trapped in Ta Lo. This is why he needs the matching jade pendants: they contain the key to the map for the village. He wants to save her and so he plans to destroy the whole place if they decide not to release her.

Both Shang-Chi and Xialing know there is something wrong with their father. Will they be able to find out the truth? Will Shang-Chi accept his dark past?

Main Characters

Shang-Chi (Simu Liu)

“I thought I could change my name, start a new life, but I could never escape his shadow.”

Shang-Chi

Son of XuWenWu and Ying Li, Shaun (aka Shang-Chi) has always fought with where he came from and who he was. What he couldn’t accept was being his father’s son. After many years of training for his father he took the occasion to escape and managed to create a completely new life in San Francisco. This untill his past comes back to him…

Xu WenWu aka the Mandarin (Tony Leung)

“You can’t run from your past”.

Xu WenWu

The thousand-year old warrior has always obtained what he wanted until he met his wife Ying Li, he was considered as invincible but the guardian managed to beat him both phisically and metaphorically: in fact she won his heart. After their marriage he decided to leave the organization and to lock away his Ten Rings, but Ying Li’s murder awakens his dark past as well as his desire to avenge her death. Will he be able to cope with the situation?

Final thoughts

In my opinion, the most intriguing thing about Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings consisted in the dialogues in Chinese that are frequent especially in the first part of the film. Those conversations in the original language make the film more realistic to the audience’s eyes and they give a final touch of class.

There is a fun fact about the film regarding the character of Xu WenWu, or better, his name (Mandarin) and his organization (Ten Rings). They both had already appeared in Iron Man (2008) when Tony Stark is captured by this organization and in Iron Man 3 (2013) when we first meet Trevor Slattery as the Mandarin; but it is only in this film that we can fully understand the Ten Rings organization and who its leader really is.

If you want to read more about the MCU click here.