Indebted as much to Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as anything within the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the MCU’s spin on a Wuxia epic. Big fantastical action mixes with Chinese mysticism and Marvel’s signature mood-lightening jokes to create a unique, if imperfect, Marvel experience, one that introduces new characters, powerful Macguffins, new brand of superpowers, and even more hidden worlds to the ever-expanding MCU.

As the Marvel behemoth continues to reset itself after the narrative bookending of Endgame, the box office stallion has lent into a more diverse set of genres, heroes, and mediums. Shang-Chi is Marvel’s first foray into the fantasy genre, drawing from traditional Chinese legends to create a visually-and tonally-distinct departure from previous origin endeavors. The film also marks Marvel’s first Asian-American marquee hero (sorry Benedict Wong fans, but the man has never received anything close to top billing) with newcoming star Simu Liu charged with a mighty task: representation and heroic charm.

If the example set by Black Panther is any indicator, it’s been a long time coming. Though box office numbers are sure to be majorly skewed by a fresh wave hesitancy to go to theaters due to rising cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant, I would be curious to see how Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings would fare without such impediments. How would domestic markets react to a Marvel movie with a predominantly Asian-cast compared to superhero-hungry Chinese markets? At this point, it’s going to likely take a lot of guess-work to figure if Shang-Chi is actually a success or not.

Unlike Black Widow, which debuted day-and-date in theaters and on Disney+ with the $30 “Premiere Access” add-on, Shang-Chi is set to receive a “traditional” in-theaters only release with a 45-day theatrical window and is being described as an “experiment” of sorts (an admission that rubbed some, including star Simu Liu, the wrong way). All this is to say that whereas Black Panther reshaped the importance of representation in superhero films, Shang-Chi may come up short purely due to unforeseen circumstances.

But back to the issue at hand: the actual quality of the film. The first new origin story of Marvel’s Phase IV era introduces Shang-Chi (Liu), trained child assassin turned San Fran slacker and son of the powerful and feared leader of the Ten Rings, Wenwu (Tony Leung Chiu-wai). Directed and co-written by Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12), with additional writing credits going to Dave Callaham (Wonder Woman 1984) and Andrew Lanham (Just Mercy), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings offers a bold new vision of Marvel’s future, one where dragon battles, Chinese mysticism, and well-staged martial arts fisticuffs can exist alongside talking raccoons, snapping Titans, and Norse Space Gods.

Shang-Chi succeeds by making the story personal, our hero’s journey as deeply melodramatic and family-centric as the first Thor. Shang-Chi must reunite with his long-lost sister Xialing (Meng-er Zhang in her debut role) to keep their overpowered father from unleashing soul-sucking demons upon the Earth, all in a misguided effort to bring his deceased wife back from beyond the grave. As the family drama stacks up, Shang-Chi tightens its focus to tell a saga about legacy and loss. Consequently, Cretton’s film doesn’t suffer Marvel’s traditional bland baddie issue, Wenwu a well-defined and aptly-motivated antagonist with a tight connection to the titular hero.

From a production side, Shang-Chi feels largely new. The landscapes are lush, the music transportive, and the close-shot, longer-cut martial arts cinematography is a refreshing change-up from the bombast of Marvel’s typical action beats. But not everything works so well.

Awkwafina being Awkwafina aside, the performances are generally stiff, with few amongst the cast leaving much of an impression. Simu Liu is serviceable in the lead role but doesn’t really leave audiences dying to see more of this character while others, like Zhang, fail to do much of anything with what they’re given. The writing can leave much to be desired at times with many of the jokes feeling lazy or forced and the dialogue generally needing another coat of polish. Mileage may also vary in regards to the earnestness of the Wuxia-style romance and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-type combat styles. In this capacity, you’re either in or out.

The connections to the larger Marvel universe are drummed in sparingly and appropriately (with one noted character re-appearance that earns a bulk of the film’s laugh out loud moments) making Shang-Chi a mostly standalone effort that still propels the larger story forward. Sufficed to say, the movie largely works but doesn’t manage to silence my lingering hang-up. Principally, that as I’m leaving the theater, my main curiosity is how long they can keep this dog and pony show going before it finally buckles under its own weight.

CONCLUSION: ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ introduces new heroes, new landscapes, new powers, and new threats, giving us a more fantasy-inspired taste of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. But stiff performances, iffy dialogue, and a general sense of familiarity keeps the superhero action grounded.