Welcome back to silver screen recaps. Today we are going to explain the movie shang-chi.
The story follows a Martial-arts master Shang-Chi, who is forced to confront the past he thought he
left behind when he's drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.
In ancient times, a man named Xu Wenwu, discovered ten mystical rings. These artifacts
blessed him with immortality and unmatched power, allowing him to become a dominating conqueror.
Wenwu amasses an army of warriors called the Ten Rings, and named the organization after them, the
Ten Rings organization. the terrorist syndicate would spread to nearly every corner of the world
over the millennia. He conquers many kingdoms and topples governments throughout history.
Still, Wenwu was not satisfied — In 1996, Wenwu begins searching for
the village of Ta Lo, which is said to harbor various mythical beasts and creatures, in order
to expand his power. He finds the entrance of the village, but is stopped from entering by
the village's guardian, Ying Li, who decrees that he is unwelcome in their village. Wenwu refuses to
back down, leading them to fight, where she displays her own impressive combat skills,
The two lock eyes on multiple instances, and while Li manages to defeat him, they quickly
fell for each other. Li retells this story to her young son Shang-Chi, while also giving him
a green pendant to find his way back home. In the present day, Shang-Chi (now going by
"Shaun") and his best friend Katy Katy work as hotel valets in San Francisco.
This comes as a minor annoyance to their friends Soo and John, along with Katy's parents, as Katy
and Shaun are overqualified for their job. The two are content with their lives,
but their friends make them feel like they’re wasting their lives and their
potential. Shang-Chi and Katy continue to hang out on their own and get drunk at a karaoke bar.
Meanwhile, he receives a mysterious postcard with an image of a dragon on it.
The next day, Shangf-Chi and Katy board a bus when they are approached by a man demanding
that Shang-Chi give him the pendant that he still wears around his neck.
Other goons, led by a hulking one-handed man named Razor Fist, start to attack, and Shang-Chi’s
earlier combat training kicks in, so he proceeds to fight the men and wipe the floor with them.
As he manages to hold his own against them, Katy is forced to take over the wheel after
the bus driver is knocked unconscious. After Shaun throws his attackers off the bus,
Razor Fist emerges and attempts to kill him with his machete limb.
While Shaun escapes unharmed, the assassin, working for the Ten Rings, has seized his
pendant. Recalling a postcard supposedly sent by his sister Xu Xialing, Shaun prepares to depart
for Macau. Katy insists on tagging along with him, determined to learn who Shaun truly is.
On the flight, Shaun reveals his true name to Katy and his life before meeting her:
After his mother died while he was 7, Wenwu began to train his son to become an assassin. Under the
cold supervision of his mentor, the Death Dealer, Shang-Chi learned the many ways to kill a man.
Finally, after seven years of training, he was sent on a hit.
But he is unable to carry out his mission, a traumatized Shang-Chi escapes to San Francisco,
where he adopts the name "Shaun". After landing in Macau,
Shang-Chi and Katy locate the address of the postcard, finding the Golden Daggers Club.
They witness Wong battling The Abomination. Wong beats his opponent by creating a portal that
causes Abomination to punch himself in the face and knock himself out.
However, as Shang-Chi had signed a form when he first entered the building, he unknowingly had
placed his name in for a fight on the grand stage. As Katy spectates, Shang-Chi faces a new
opponent — a woman whom he immediately recognizes as Xialing. Shang-Chi refuses
to fight and attempts to inform her about their father's impending arrival, but he is knocked out.
Xialing, embittered at her brother for abandoning her, after their mother’s death,
he fled for San Francisco. Later, it reveals that she was not the one who sent the postcard.
The Ten Rings infiltrate the Club searching for Xialing's pendant;
Shang-Chi and Katy are left by themselves when Xialing deserts them for the elevator.
They attempt to scale the scaffolding outside to reach another elevator, but the terrorists
attack them there. Shang-Chi fails to catch Katy when she begins to fall, but Xialing saves her.
Death Dealer appears to snatch Xialing's pendant, prompting Shang-Chi to give chase and fight him.
Shang-Chi prepares to kill his mentor, recalling his harsh treatment during his childhood training.
However, Shang-Chi is stopped by Wenwu, who has already captured Xialing and Katy.
They are taken back to the Ten Rings Headquarters, where Wenwu provides his children and Katy with
dinner. He wants Shang-Chi to take his place as his successor to lead the Ten Rings, but
Shang-Chi wants nothing to do with his father’s legacy. Wenwu also mentions the fake Mandarin
character from America that falsely represented him and his organization. He talks about Li and
how everything in his life changed for him after they met, and how lost he felt when she died.
Later, Wenwu reveals that his late wife has been calling out for him to come and save her.
Recounting that she had left her village to be with him, he believes that the people of Ta Lo
have imprisoned her for that decision. Wenwu takes Shang-Chi and Xialing’s
pendants and places them in the eyes of a dragon statue, activating some kind of
water map for him to enter Ta Lo. The map illustrates a clear path
through the bamboo forest to Ta Lo, which only opens before the Qingming Festival.
Wenwu reveals his intention to burn the village of Ta Lo down after rescuing his wife, a plan which
alienates his children and Katy into raising their objections. For this, they are thrown into a cell.
In their captivity, the trio meet Trevor Slattery, the former fake Mandarin who has
since been captured for his impersonation, and his furry faceless Dijiang pet Morris, who reveals
there's a way to pass through Ta Lo's forest maze without waiting for the clear path to be revealed.
Using an escape route discovered by Xialing, the party infiltrates the garage.
After hijacking Razor Fist's car, they fight off the Ten Rings and flee from the compound.
Approaching the forest maze, Katy is guided by Morris and Slattery as she maneuvers
through the shifting bamboo to reach Ta Lo. They manage to make it through unscathed.
Among the inhabitants are other mythical beasts like shishi lions, and it is also where Morris
originates from, as he is known as a hundun. As they drive into Ta Lo's village, they are
confronted by the locals, who urge them to turn back. However, Li's sister Ying Nan intervenes,
finally meeting her niece and nephew. Nan takes them through the history of the realm:
that they guard the Dark Gate where the Dweller-in-Darkness lives.
Once a prospering civilization, the emergence of
the Dweller-in-Darkness and its army of Soul Eaters devastated Ta Lo to near-destruction.
Before they could make their way into the outside world, the warriors of Ta Lo fought back alongside
the dragon guardian, the Great Protector. and the Dweller was sealed off in a cavern,
where it would begin to lure people to it by imitating the voices of their loved ones.
The Dweller is manipulating Wenwu into believing that Li’s voice is calling out to him.
Nan takes Shang-Chi and Xialing to view suits that their mother crafted for them, she takes Shang-Chi
to a location to help hone his fighting skills. she trains Shang-Chi in aerokinetic martial arts,
the way his mother learned how to fight, as she was the only one who could ever defeat Wenwu.
Meanwhile, Xialing also practices with a new rope dart, and Katy learns archery skills,
all in preparation for Wenwu's arrival. As Wenwu continues going over his research
of Ta Lo, a flashback is shown where Wenwu abandons the ten rings
and his organization to be with his family. However, old adversaries of the Ten Rings,
the Iron Gang, attacked the compound, and while Li fought them off, she was killed by them. In
his fury, Wenwu took the young Shang-Chi with him and made him witnessed as he used the ten rings to
slaughter the Iron Gang, and little Shang-Chi first witnesses the brutality of his father.
One night, Shang-Chi sits alone at the lake, and He reveals to Katy that he lied
about not carrying out the hit against the gang's leader on his first mission.
Shang-Chi later confides to Katy that he worries he is no different from his
father and resolves that he must kill Wenwu to stop him from hurting others.
The following day, Wenwu leads the Ten Rings as they make their way into Ta Lo,
and the heroes and villagers all gather for battle. As the fight rages on, Shang-Chi confronts
Wenwu with a bo staff. The two fight, but Wenwu overpowers him and casts Shang-Chi into the lake.
He proceeds to go and open the Dark Gate, unleashing several soul-eating demons.
Death Dealer is immediately killed when his soul is taken, prompting Razor Fist to ally
the Ten Rings with Ta Lo's guardians to confront the new threat. The demons suck
out more souls as fuel to release the Dweller. In the lake, the Great Protector saves Shang-Chi,
who arrives at the barrier to confront his father once more. Shang-Chi over powers Wenwu with his
new aerokinetic martial arts skills. Wenwu loses control of his rings to Shang-Chi in the fight,
but is spared. he chooses to not kill Wenwu to prove he is nothing like him.
Shang-Chi declares that his family needs him. Soon after, the Dweller-in-Darkness emerges
from the weakened barrier. Realizing that his sister-in-law was telling the truth, Wenwu saves
his son and passes his rings to him before the Dweller fully steals his soul. The Great Protector
is nearly killed by Soul Eaters and the Dweller, but is fortunately saved by Xialing and Katy. With
the help of his sister and the Great Protector, Shang-Chi hurls the rings into the Dweller’s
chest and lands one final powerful move to tear the Dweller into pieces, ending the battle.
Although victorious, both the people of Ta Lo and the Ten Rings suffered heavy losses. The surviving
combatants, including Nan, the Ten Rings, and Slattery, hold a vigil to honor the dead.
Shang-Chi bids goodbye to his father. He and Katy return to San Francisco and tell the story
of their adventure to Soo and John, who do not believe them. Wong emerges from a portal and
brings Shang-Chi and Katy to Kamar-Taj to discuss the origin of his father's rings,
making Soo and John realize that they were telling the truth.
In a mid-credits scene: Wong introduces Shang-Chi and Katy to Bruce Banner and
Carol Danvers while researching about the rings origin. Upon further examination,
the mystical relics are shown to have a beacon transmitting a mysterious message.
In a post-credits scene: Xialing returns to the Ten Rings Headquarters and becomes the
new leader with Razor Fist now working under her as the surviving members of the Ten Rings,
despite telling her brother that she would disband the organisation.