“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” has a number of firsts going for it: it’s the first Asian-led blockbuster released by Marvel and the first Disney movie to screen in theaters only. Does “Shang-Chi,” which premieres in theaters on September 3, break new ground in storytelling or does the movie fall flat? Here’s what critics are saying.
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The Movie Is A Superhero Origin Story Of The Character Shang-Chi
Marvel’s latest superhero origin story centers on a young man battling the legacy of his father, a legendary crime lord possessed of godlike strength and immortality […] Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) is the son of an immortal crime lord (Tony Leung), who’s rejected his father’s empire for a simpler and less murderous life parking cars for a ritzy San Francisco hotel.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
The film follows the titular character (played by Simu Liu), a Chinese American millennial who must confront his past to fulfill his destiny. When we meet him, he’s a valet driver in San Francisco, California, working alongside his carefree bestie Katy (Awkwafina). He’s kept his martial arts skills hidden until now, but Shang-Chi has secrets — family secrets that date back a thousand years. Our hero begins a journey of self-discovery in Macau after receiving a mysterious letter from his sister, Xiaoling (newcomer Meng’er Zhang) about their common enemy: their father Wenwu (Tony Leung), also known as “The Mandarin” (a name already familiar to MCU fans).
[Gizmodo]
The Cast Is Fantastic, Especially Tony Leung
The cast is incredibly well-rounded — each actor brings something unique to the table. Leung gives the film a deep sense of gravity (if you’ve seen his previous work you’ll know that he tends to have this effect on the movies he’s in), and his machismo is balanced out by Chen, who exudes the kind of warmth and inner-strength that only mothers possess. Michelle Yeoh, like Leung, is seemingly ageless and brings a measure of legitimacy to the proceedings as Shang-Chi’s aunt. Liu and Awkwafina are fine onscreen partners as well, with the latter’s explosive personality serving as a nice counterbalance to Liu’s pathos.
[Den of Geek]
At its heart, “Shang-Chi” is not a story of heroes and villains, but a family drama concerned with three people coming to terms with long-suppressed anger and grief. Director Destin Daniel Cretton (“Short Term 12,” “Just Mercy”), who co-wrote the script alongside Dave Callaham and Andrew Lanham, unspools this drama tenderly and with plenty of humor — anchored by a tremendous performance from Tony Leung, who brings a level of subtle humanity to every moment he’s on screen.
[Polygon]
The Movie Boasts Some Great Martial Arts And Kung Fu Scenes
In some ways, “Shang-Chi” is a mixtape of martial-arts movie genres: an early scene pays tribute to the balletic, graceful films of Zhang Yimou, while a dramatic bus chase later on apes the derring-do of an early Jackie Chan vehicle.
[The AV Club]
“Shang-Chi” looks and sounds like no other Marvel movie, and not just because of its mostly Chinese setting and cast, the martial-arts action and the large amount of Chinese dialogue. It is, at heart, a kung fu movie, albeit a 21st-century version of one, characterized less by Lee’s old-school punches and kicks than by the enhanced, physics-defying Wuxia techniques that can only be performed with wires and trampolines.
[The Washington Post]
Though The Action Gets Marred By Too Much CGI
The only time the fights drag are when CGI enters the picture, and like “Black Widow” earlier this year, the CGI seems to get in the way, feeling goofy and looking silly after we just watched Shang-Chi battle ninjas across the sides of buildings. Marvel’s come to be emblematic of a kind of glossy modern action aesthetic that leans on cartoonish CGI when practical would have done it better, but “Shang-Chi” is the first time I felt truly disappointed by its appearance instead of just a little annoyed.
[The Verge]
The film’s final battle turns into more of a visual effects-driven mess, unfortunately. It lacks the tactility and weight of the earlier fight scenes, and while from an art-design standpoint the environments and characters in the final act look incredible, when the action gets hectic and the camera starts shaking uncontrollably, it becomes a distraction.
[Den of Geek]
The Movie, However, Is Refreshingly Fun
“Shang-Chi” seems driven by an apparent top-down directive to fortify a new class of mystical superheroes while sticking to Marvel’s guns of inclusion and fully rounded character development. The result is good news for anyone looking for a mix of refreshing surprises and comfort food in their superhero tentpole films. Plus, this superhero big screen debut delivers enough “holy whoa” moments to make any viewer feel like a kid again.
[Ars Technica]
“Shang-Chi,” directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, attempts to shake up the Marvel formula by infusing it with martial-arts action and fairy-tale fantasy and grounding it in Chinese and Asian American culture. And while its disparate elements don’t meld together as smoothly as they should, they do, in the end, add up to a superhero movie fresh and fun enough to feel worth a spin.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
And It Faces The Problematic Legacy Of Some Comic Book Characters Head-On
While the original comics depicted Fu Man Chu as Shang-Chi’s father, the film thankfully scraps the racial stereotype and presents a complex — even sympathetic — villain in Wenwu. This is also a huge improvement to the whitewashed casting of Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One in “Doctor Strange.” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has since acknowledged the casting of Swinton as a mistake while prioritizing more respectful adaptations from now on.
[Gizmodo]
When “Shang-Chi” owns its place in the Marvel universe, it’s more interested in retcons than future developments. The film massages prior plot points from the Iron Man films regarding the Ten Rings terrorist organization and its puppet leader, The Mandarin. It develops a cohesive new status quo that mocks the racist stereotypes of the source material, while providing a new and less problematic way forward.
[Polygon]
TL; DR
Strip away all that glossy superhero magic, and the film reveals itself to be the achingly familiar tale of a child figuring out how to bridge the gap between his parents’ values and expectations and his own — in the same way that “Shang-Chi” itself tries to remix old tropes with new perspectives. It doesn’t always succeed with flying colors. But as with a young hero still finding his footing, its valiant efforts feel worth cheering all the same.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
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Is Marvel’s New Movie ‘Shang-Chi’ Worth Seeing? Here’s What The Reviews Are Saying
