The first reactions to Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings are now in, and it sounds like the studio have another hit on their hands. The introduction of the MCU’s newest superhero brings with it a new world of martial arts, magic, and dragons, with those lucky enough to have seen it heaping praise on Marvel’s newest origin story.
#shangchi is the perfect balance of fun, heart and action! And when I say action, I mean jaw dropping action! @SimuLiu is the perfect addition to the #MCU! pic.twitter.com/D29Pll741Y
— The Illuminerdi (@The_Illuminerdi) August 17, 2021
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings chronicles the story of Shang-Chi, a skilled martial artist who was trained at a young age to be an assassin by his father Wenwu. After leaving the nefarious Ten Rings organization and opting to live a normal life in San Francisco, Shang-Chi is soon drawn back into the clandestine world of the Ten Rings and is forced to confront the past he thought he had left behind.
#ShangChi has some pacing issues – there’s a bit of a start/stop feel to it at times and slow parts. But it has a lot of strengths throughout and most crucially, ends very strong.
— Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) August 17, 2021
While critic Eric Goldman found some issues with the movie’s pacing, they quickly assured fans that the movie sets things up wonderfully for more from Shang-Chi in the future, applauding Marvel’s approach to the origin, as well as Simu Liu’s lead performance.
There has been a lot of praise for Simu Liu, who lobbied for the lead role in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on social media even before the project had been announced.
I’m emotional and absolutely in LOVE with this movie. I’m ready to watch this again and again! Also hot damn Tony Leung and Simu Liu 😍 #ShangChipic.twitter.com/Oe7nZBNb66
— 《💗josephine✨》 (@josephinespeaks) August 17, 2021
One critic declared that, other than Marvel adding another hit to their ever-growing roster, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will make a star of Liu.
Expected a simple father/son conflict narrative and it’s so much bigger than that. #ShangChi is a beautiful story about family, loss, and how our grief can blind and destroy us.
— Kirsten (@KirstenAcuna) August 17, 2021
Aside from applauding Liu’s performance, all eyes will no doubt be on the action, which should bring a new, exciting way of punching and kicking your opponents to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Based on these early reactions, the action is indeed something special, with one reaction describing the sequences as something “we’ve never seen from the MCU before!”
#ShangChi is awesome. This movie hits all that Marvel does well (pacing, humor, character) and adds action like we’ve never seen from the MCU before! 👏🏻👏🏻
Lots of people are about to have a new favorite Marvel hero.
Darker than expected. Loads of fun. Integral to MCU Phase 4!👀 pic.twitter.com/YI3jkwLuq6
— BD (@BrandonDavisBD) August 17, 2021
In fact, there are several mentions of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings being something somewhat unique to the Marvel franchise.
I WATCHED #SHANGCHI!!!
It’s an amazing blend of East meets West! Hong Kong martial arts action comes to the #MCU & CHANGES THE GAME!!!
It’s emotional, beautiful & HILARIOUS!
This isn’t like ANY MCU film to date. WOW! #Marvel#[email protected]@[email protected]@awkwafinapic.twitter.com/iEEJ0v1DXA
— POC Culture (@POC_Culture) August 17, 2021
It was recently revealed by Disney that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be released exclusively to theaters, rather than follow in Black Widow’s Disney+ footsteps. Though audiences have since stated that the risk is still too great to venture out, one critic believes that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings needs to be seen on the big screen.
Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings is PHENOMENAL. Get hyped. Even fight scene/action sequence is better than the last. @SimuLiu fully embraces the marvel superhero role. Amazing imagery. Killer soundtrack. You’ll want to see this on the big screen. #shangchi
— Wendy Lee Szany (@WendyLeeSzany) August 17, 2021
“Shang-Chi is a movie that ended up on a ‘Wouldn’t It Be Great’ list where ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could do this as a movie,’ probably twenty years ago,” Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige previously told Rotten Tomatoes. “It’s a great story of a young man that realizes his father is essentially one of the world’s greatest supervillains and one of the world’s greatest criminals. How do you process that? And how do you deal with that as a child? How do you evolve beyond that?”
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton from a screenplay he wrote with David Callaham and Andrew Lanham, and starring Simu Liu as Shang-Chi alongside Awkwafina, Meng’er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, and Tony Leung, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings scheduled to be released in the United States on September 3, as part of Phase Four of the MCU.