As the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) continues on after the world-changing events of the final two Avengers movies, it is becoming more diverse and, perhaps, more interesting.  Black Widow explored Natasha Romanoff’s Russian family roots with both humor and pathos, and now Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings looks to do the same with Chinese-American hero Shang-Chi (aka Shaun) (Simu Liu).  While I found its connection to the rest of the MCU to be tenuous at best, I must admit that it tells an interesting story nevertheless, one of familial obligations and disharmonies.

Destin Daniel Cretton’s film starts awkwardly before centering on Shaun (Simu Liu) and his gabby friend Katy (Awkwafina, who provides the most comedic relief).  They travel to China when something of Shaun’s secret past is revealed, so he can confront his father Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung) and face his destiny.  This involves patching things up with his sister Xialing (Meng’er Zhang) and preventing global calamity, as well as meeting The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley, the Avengers connection).  The last hour features lots of action and mysticism and dragons and such, which is where I lost much of my interest.

Up until the point where Xu Wenwu unleashes the soul-sucking dragon, I was actually into its story, even the supernatural elements.  Director and co-screenwriter Destin Daniel Cretton is a strong storyteller, and his Just Mercy was, to my mind, the best film of 2019.  To keep me involved in this particular story is impressive; when Oriental mysticism enters a story it usually turns me away (as with Big Trouble in Little China, which is a lot of painful, boring hokum).  Here, I was interested for a long time, and casting Michelle Yeoh as pragmatic Auntie Ying Nan was a brilliant move.  I’ll even look forward to the next one, since the Ten Rings are bound to return, but I really hope there will be no soul-sucking dragons.  Keep it mostly real, please.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  26 October 2021.