Karate Kid: Legends
Karate Kid: Legends
Starring Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Ben Wang, Joshua Jackson
Directed by Jonathan Entwistle
Li Fong (Ben Wang) lives in Beijing with his mother Dr. Fong (Ming Na-Wen) and studies kung fu under his shifu ("master") Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) after suffering the death of his brother at the hands of a rival kung fu student he beat at a previous contest. His life is upended when Dr. Fong takes a job in New York City, and now he's struggling to adjust living in a major metropolis. He discovers a local pizza shop run by former boxer Victor Lipani (Joshua Jackson) and his teenage daughter Mia (Sadie Stanley), and learns that Victor owes money to local loan shark O'Shea (Tim Rozon) who also runs the local dojo. One of his star pupils is Conor Day (Aramis Knight), who is Mia's ex and is jealous of Li's budding relationship with her. Li gets bullied and gets into a fight, but learns he's no match for Conor's talent.
Li begins training Victor to mix his boxing skills with kung fu for a local boxing tournament that will earn enough money to pay for the restaurant, but things don't go according to plan, so Li - with Mr. Han's influence - signs up to fight in the Five Boroughs Tournament with a cash prize of $50,000 - a tournament Conor has won the last two years. Mr. Han travels to Los Angeles and recruits Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) to train Li - Mr. Han using kung fu, and Daniel using his Miyagi-Do karate, but the biggest struggle lies in himself and his PTSD over his brother's murder - if he's able to overcome that, he'll be able to win the championship and save Victor's restaurant.
While watching "Karate Kid: Legends," I felt like I was actually watching a new "Rocky" spinoff - the pizza restaurant reminded me of the pizza joints in the "Rocky" franchise, the setting was reminiscent of Philadelphia (since New York City is pretty similar), and both feature a boxing match as its pivotal scene - odd, considering this is a "Karate Kid" movie. Interestingly enough, there was more time spent with Li training Victor than Li being trained by Mr. Han and Daniel (at least it felt that way to me). I was expecting Rocky to show up at any moment, and for a "Karate Kid" movie, that wasn't what I was expecting.
The movie focused on so many stories in 94 minutes that it actually would've been better if the movie was longer - or it abandoned some of its plots. Without giving spoilers away (although, this is a "Karate Kid" movie, so you already know how it'll all pan out), we got...*deep breath* a kid who's somewhat trained in kung-fu moving to New York City with his doctor mother who wants him not to fight anymore because her other son was murdered after a kung-fu championship that Li was also there for but Li finds himself forced to fight to protect his honor as well as his new friends, one of whom he's in love with but still has feelings for her bad-boy ex who also bullies Li and is also a championship-winning karate winner, and who's father is in debt to the local loan shark who also runs the local dojo the aforementioned bully trains at and Li must train him how to kung-fu box to win a boxing championship to save his business while also falling in love and studying to pass an exam to not flunk out of school and then finds himself fighting in a local tournament himself to save aforementioned restaurant from financial ruin and is trained by his old master and also someone who was once a lot like himself all the while struggling with PTSD of what happened in his past that hinders his future endeavors.*exhale.* So yeah, there's a lot they try to unpack in a short time, and the result is generic platitudes and tropes that made the original "The Karate Kid" so endearing and each subsequent sequel less and less so.
That's not to say the movie is terrible. If anything, I would've wanted it to be longer so these threads could've been explored more. Each performance is top-notch, especially from newcomer Ben Wang as Li, and Sadie Stanley as the lovably sarcastic Mia. You feel the connection between the two, and these young actors really give it their all. Jackie Chan, Joshua Jackson and Ming-Na Wen also shine in their supporting roles, with Chan's Mr. Han being a worthy successor to the great Pat Morita, Jackson's lovably goofy father role to Mia, and Wen's very underutilized role that would've been totally invisible if done by a lesser actress, but Wen does a lot with little. The villain of the movie, Aramis Knight's Conor - is a low point of the movie, as his character is never developed outside of being Mia's jealous ex-boyfriend, bully, and champion.
Then there's Ralph Macchio, who is the Sylvester Stallone in this "Creed" version of "The Karate Kid." The trailers hype up his role, but he hardly appears in the movie, and serves to co-train Li with Mr. Han (another highlight is the banter Macchio and Chan deliver, and how they treat Li during the rooftop trainings, which I would've loved to see more of). You can't have a legacy sequel without legacy characters nowadays (Jamie Lee Curtis in "Halloween," Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette in "Scream," Jennifer Love-Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. in "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and the aforementioned Stallone in "Creed" to name a few), and while I liked seeing Daniel all grown up, this movie ultimately didn't need him in it.
The karate was impressive to say the least, and Ben Wang really showcases his ability, especially during the championships (which, also, is very rushed). I wish there was more of that and less of the subplots that drag this legacy sequel down.
The Score: B
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