The Hands of Shang-Chi is based on the Marvel comic book character. Shang-Chi is a master of Kung Fu with no superpowers, only mastery of martial arts.
The Hands of Shang-Chi will follow Shang-Chi as he learns that his father is a criminal. Or should I say, the world’s WORST criminal. Whatever that means.
Trailer
Not yet.
The Scoop
The film is being directed by Woo-ping Yuen, who has a long career as a fight choreographer for various films, specifically The Matrix trilogy, and the Kill Bill movies. So the guy knows a good kung fu fight when he sees one. It remains to be seen if he can tell a story, but then, this is a comic book film based on the master of king fu. I’m betting the story won’t be the reason people come see it.
Who’s It For?
Probably PG-13.
Movie Release Date
Right now it’s set for 2011, but no casting has been announced, so it could be later.
Who’s In It?
I just told you! Nothing yet. Why don’t you ever listen to me?
Interesting Fact
Shang Chi means ‘rising of the spirit.’ I thought you should know that.
Related Movies
The Matrix, Kill Bill, Fearless, Unleashed
What’s Good About It?
This is less of a comic book film than it’s a kung fu movie. They have the best guy in the game for choreography directing, so at the very least it should have some cool fights. The nature of the story doesn’t strike me as needing a big budget, so it should prove a profitable film, even without a big box office.
What’s Bad About It?
The character is essentially unknown. I read a ton of comics, and am barely familiar with him. So name recognition will do nothing for this.
Our Clever Prediction
Most likely it’ll be part of Marvel’s planned string of moderately budgeted films, along with Dr. Strange and Luke Cage, and it may be one of the mini movies they’re planning to play before their major released like Captain America and Thor. Maybe a really cool fight scene could get people interested enough to make it a hit. Maybe.
HEARD SOMEBODY SAY NAME IS THE RECOGNIZABLE, YOU MUST BE A YOUNGSTER, WHEN THE COMIC BOOK HANDS OF KUNG FU FIRST CAME OUT I STARTED COLLECTING THEM AND ALMOST HAVE THE COMPLETE SERIES EXCEPT FOR A FEW HERE AND THERE, BACK IN 1974 I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR A MOVIE ALL THESE YEARS. GREAT STOREY ALMOST BELIEVABLE NO FLYING JUST PURE KUNG FU TALENT,YEA
I think Stephen Chow from Kung Fu Hustle would make a very dynamic Shang-Chi.
Ha! The guy reminds me of Liu Kang off of Mortal Kombat!
Interesting though, very interesting…
Since you admit to knowing little of the character, I thought I would chime in. Just off the top of my head:
1. Shang’s name actually means “the rising and advancing of the spirit,” just to be nit-picky.
2. Shang’s father in the original stories was Fu Manchu. Unless the movie people bought the rights to that character as well (unlikely), they will have to use some other name. Marvel Comics had usage rights to the Fu Manchu stable of characters for a time, but lost them. They then simply stopped referring to Shang’s parentage and eliminated all the other characters they no longer had the right to use.
3. The writing on the various comics was usually above par, but that was hardly difficult at the time.
4. The artwork varied, of course, from the absolutely spectacular to the horrid. The best periods in my mind are the various issues done by Gene Day and/or Paul Gulacy. (Forgive any misspelling please.)
5. Marvel could do (and has done!) worse than to reprint the original stories of Shang-Chi. They certainly represented a better time-period for the Marvel Universe than the dismal, self-imposed “dark” period that they are forcing fans through currently.
@Ed, “Growing Stomach”,
lol
Ed 1 , Brian 0