Review: Simu Liu's a refreshing kick to the face in Marvel's 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'

Robert Downey Jr. and his main man Tony Stark aren't around in the Marvel movies anymore. Thankfully, they’ve found a suitable successor in the unfairly charismatic Simu Liu and his dragon-riding, power-punching alter ego.

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (★★★ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters Sept. 3) puts martial arts and Asian-influenced fantasy elements on display in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time (because we’re just going to forget that Netflix “Iron Fist” show ever happened). As the debuting title superhero and a new champ for representation, Liu exudes likability, swagger and depth – plus, forms a great buddy-action combo with co-star Awkwafina – and “Shang-Chi” really cooks when he’s in a street-fighting groove. However, director/co-writer Destin Daniel Cretton’s ambitious adventure loses some of that storytelling momentum when diving into its involved mythology.

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Even when the film veers very strange, with magical creatures and over-the-top personalities, Liu’s subtle charm keeps the audience engaged as his character weathers a number of physical and personal obstacles. Shaun (Liu) is a San Francisco valet who parks cars with best friend Katy (Awkwafina), and their existence consists mainly of late-night karaoke and the occasional joy ride.

That is, until one day on the bus, they’re attacked by a band of bad guys led by the vicious Razorfist (Florian Munteanu). Katy’s surprised to find her bud battling villains like a kung fu Spider-Man, and one of them nabs a pendant from Shaun that his late mother Li (Fala Chen) gave him.

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To get it back, Shaun flies off to China with Katy in tow, revealing to her that his real name’s actually Shang-Chi (pronounced like Shaun with an extra “g”) and he was raised by his ruthless father Wenwu (a magnetic Tony Leung) to be a young assassin for the shadowy Ten Rings army. Shang-Chi seeks out his estranged sister Xialing (Meng’er Zhang), who runs a colorful fight club in Macau featuring a couple of familiar MCU faces (including Benedict Wong's lovably droll Wong), and the siblings reunite with dear ol’ dad just in time to learn of his nefarious plan to invade their mom’s mystical homeland.

The best action sequences are actually front-loaded: Shang-Chi enjoyably fights goons video-game-style on the aforementioned San Francisco bus as well as atop flimsy scaffolding on a Chinese high-rise, and there’s a meet-cute flashback where Wenwu and Li engage in an elegant martial-arts encounter a la “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” that’s one of the more intimate moments in MCU lore. Those bits are a breath of fresh air to the usual superhero CGI-fests, though we get that here, too: A clash featuring father, son and 10 magical rings is pretty much if “Doctor Strange” and “Black Panther” had a battle baby.

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While most of its characters are new to the universe, “Shang-Chi” is very much a part of the Marvel landscape – it most notably pays off (and fixes, to a degree) the divisive Mandarin subplot from “Iron Man 3” plus charts a path forward, of course. Where Cretton really excels is owning some of the franchise’s larger character themes, including family legacy, reluctant heroism and embracing one’s destiny. Shang-Chi and Katy are both souls needing to find purpose, and Liu and Awkwafina give them a winning relatability, even when driving through a forest that’s trying to eat them.

Marvel has been uncannily aces at casting its heroes since Downey in “Iron Man,” and Liu, the Canadian star of “Kim’s Convenience” and a relatively unknown commodity in America, is simply a joy to watch. He's the MCU's most significant and infectious rookie since the late Chadwick Boseman, with the same face-of-the-franchise appeal as Chris Evans.

OG A-listers like Downey, Evans and Scarlett Johansson departing and making way for Liu – alongside other new headliners like Anthony Mackie and Florence Pugh – gives the MCU the refreshing kick in the face it needs, even if the “Shang-Chi” plot sometimes seems stuck using the same old moves.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' review: Simu Liu rules