Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2021: Tony Leung Chiu Wai in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Tony Leung Chiu Wai did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Xu Wenwu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. 

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings feels like a compelling martial arts saga stuck somewhat in the confines of the marvel formula, leading it to be a somewhat middle of the road film for the studio, where a greater film seemed possible if it leaned a bit more into being different.

Tony Leung is the man who needs no introduction here and also requires no de-aging technology no matter when a scene takes place. I'll admit I was somewhat bemused by the amount of viewers discovering the charismatic Leung for the first time, as with even a cursory knowledge of Hong Kong cinema, one will be well aware of the remarkable performer that is Tony Leung. For the longest time, despite having a natural command of the English language, Tony Leung had not taken a western role, so this was a notable event for anyone with an interest of Leung as a performer. And the film in its opening seems aware of this as we follow Leung, in a nearly silent performance, as Xu Wenmu, with his ten rings, as he defeats and conquers various enemies. And in this sequence, even with all the visual effects, Leung is the most compelling aspect just as the magnetic performer he is even when just portraying a direct menacing kind of determination. Leung never leaves it to a singular note even as he is just showing a man basically seen as the unstoppable one. The introductory sequence ends with Xu meeting Ying Li (Fala Chen) in the mystical land Ta Lo. Leung is wonderful in this scene by managing to show even in the action scene the way Xu is both baffled and wholly impressed if not quite intrigued by this woman who is able to to defeat him despite his power. Leung naturally establishing in this sequence the two essentials of the role, the ruthless ambition of the character and the love for his wife that will be Ying Li. He does so with ease and that charisma of his, while also setting up a great villain. 

 

Leung however doesn't really appear again, despite a few very brief flashbacks of him, as we establish our hero, Xu's son Shang-chi (Simu Liu), until he comes to find his children after they left him. The moment Leung re-enters a scene, he instantly owns the screen. Leung uses his natural charisma here so effectively, as never the literal tallest man in a scene, he nevertheless has the most commanding presence. Leung captures one's attention with ease, but does more than that. Just the way we see him as he captures his two children, Leung does so with that ease of menace, but also the clear pride in his eyes of the man appreciating his children's skills even as they technically defy him. "The family gathering" scene is exceptional work from Leung, and goes to show what an actor can bring to a scene. This as the scene ostensibly is there to establish  Xu as the technical "Mandarin" while deriding the previous iterations of the character both in the films and the comics. While one can immediately appreciate just how commanding Leung's voice is in English, to the point I would love to see him act in the language again, he also shows how much one can convey with the subtext of performance. Leung just as he is playing the villain in the derision of the situation, there's also this patriarchal wisdom as accentuates the importance of one's name, and shows as much as Xu is a villain there is a convincing belief in one's past. Leung as naturally evokes the still potent sense of grief for the loss of his wife in this speech, that there is no simplicity to, rather it is essentially the reckoning of his moral character as man whose hate is defined by love in a way. 

We are then granted more substantial flashbacks where we see the married life of Xu and Ying, where there is a sweet chemistry, and Leung brings a natural warmth both in those interactions we see and the moments of Xu seemingly content as a family man. Leung's best scene in a way might be a kind of brief one, where after the death of Ying due to Xu's enemies, we see Leung just contemplating on what has happened. Leung portrays the grief, the sense of guilt, but also the intensity of revenge as he decries the changes his wife tried to make out of him. Although really only like a minute long Leung shows the entire emotional distress of the man in the moment and the change to becoming a worse self. This followed by Leung emerging as just the cold villain who encourages his son to only live life through violence and for revenge. Leung's performance accentuating hatred rather than love, though always in the hate there is this sort of vulnerability in it of a man suffering for it. These are not even long scenes, or really all that deep as written, it is Leung's performance that finds such real nuance and complexity that it is pretty outstanding given how short these scenes are. Although I'll admit this creates also a point of frustration because while we see what Leung can do with this limited material, one can't help but wonder, why they don't give Leung more to do.

Where the film suffers is when half way through the film they introduce CGI monsters, who have no motivation other than they're evil, who show up even later, and whose main purpose is to release an even bigger CGI monster who is just bluntly evil. Not only does this feel sloppy because they're introduced so late, it also feels so tacitly connected to who we thought was the real villain in Xu. The way the film establishes its conflict is within the family, and the climax should be between Xu and Shang-Chi, and while that is in the film it seems somewhat rushed and the complexity removed that way we can instead get to the fight against the CGI monster. The worst sin of this decision is that it really undercuts the complexity of Leung's turn. He does his best to bring something between the singular determination to bring his wife back and the final glimpse of love for his son, however so much feels left on the table because of the rush to get to soul sucking demons. The balance isn't found between the two, and instead Xu sadly seems like a foot note to the real conflict against the big monsters, which again feels more formulaic, and whole lot less interesting. Every time a great actor is cast in a Marvel film I always am concerned that they may be easily wasted in some lame expository role, rather than properly utilized for their talents. Well thankfully this was not the case with Tony Leung's whose talents did nicely comes across still, however the choices of the third act did leave some wasted potential. It's a shame because honestly with a lesser actor I think Xu could've been an entirely forgettable villain. Leung prevents that, but his performance in a way shows what is lacking in this film. There was so much more to explore in the father/son dynamic if it stuck with dealing with the idea of your father as the villain, who does love you, but that is part of the issue. Instead this is too easily abandoned in favor of a more mainstream digestible conflict of "evil scary monsters are evil". If the film had stuck to a smaller scale finale, it could've stayed with the central conflict, and I think we would've gotten a far more potent ending, at the very least we would've gotten more Leung. Instead we get some Leung, which is in a way enough, but still not enough.