by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
The first thing to point out here is that Karate Kid: Legends’ story, somewhat confusingly, intertwines the two Karate Kid stories, and is a sequel to both the 1984 and 2010 films. Ralph Macchio reprises his role of Daniel LaRusso from the original films, and Jackie Chan reprises his from the 2010 remake, which should have been called The Kung Fu Kid, but that’s another story. I understand making another film, and why you may want to ride the wave of Karate Kid hype that came with the sequel series Cobra Kai, which finished earlier this year. But why does it also have to be a sequel to the remake, especially given the lukewarm fan reception to that film? Is it simply because Chan was in it, and the producers were looking for an excuse to attach a Hollywood A-lister to this project?
That said, I did like the setup for Legends’ story. When Li Fong (Ben Wang) and his mother (Ming-Na Wen) move to New York, he quickly befriends local girl Mia Lipani (Sadie Stanley) and her father Victor (Joshua Jackson), who runs a pizzeria and is a former boxer. However, when Li attracts the unwanted attention of kung fu talent Conor Day (Aramis Knight), he must call upon the help of his former Shifu, Mr Han (Chan) and former All-Valley karate champion Daniel LaRusso (Macchio), to help him do away with the newfound trouble.
In a sort of reverse of the 2010 remake, Li and his mother are Chinese and have moved to America. Another interesting tweak is that Li already knows kung fu at the start of the story, having been trained by Mr Han. This leads to another reversal in the narrative, as Li trains Victor for a boxing match in a sequence that reminds me a lot of Rocky Balboa. Meanwhile, the central conflict in Li’s fighting comes from his mother’s disapproval due to a tragic event in Li’s past. So the first half of the story feels like a spiritual sequel to The Karate Kid story, with the kid now being the teacher.
The boxing sequences are also fun. Victor is trained for a match using the same training methods of doing everyday tasks repeatedly. Then, later, we saw him fight. But then, this plot thread is suddenly dropped about halfway through in favor of Li preparing for a fight.
From then on, the plot follows many of the same beats you would expect from a Karate Kid-type story. The kid is unhappy at school; there’s a bully and a love interest who has a rough history with said bully, a mother who wants the kid to stay out of trouble and the tournament final as the climax. For the story that is meant to be a sequel to a story that has already been told twice, it all feels a bit too similar, and to the point where it borders on being another remake.
It’s not helped by the fact that despite additional plot threads, it has a modest runtime that is more than half an hour shorter than the original, and more than 40 minutes shorter than the remake. The whole thing is slightly overstuffed, and many characters have minimal screen time. What made the original work so well was the relatively small cast of central characters, and the clean, simple setup: A kid is being bullied and needs to learn to fight. In addition to that plot thread, subplots involve Li’s mother, Victor preparing for a boxing match, and Mr. Han tracking down Daniel. If this one was going to be so much shorter, it might have been better off dropping the elements that make it feel more like a remake, because that is undoubtedly where things are the least interesting.
While there are too many characters for this story, they all do well in their respective roles. Li is immediately likable and much more accepting of moving than Daniel was in the original movie. But simultaneously, you sympathize with specific new difficulties that he face. Mia has good chemistry with him; they feel like friends just hanging out. You know they will develop a romance, because that’s the thing that happens in these types of stories, but it’s not telegraphed from their interactions. Mia becomes a little insufferable later on when specific conflicts arise, but otherwise, the two are a compelling couple.
Victor is an interesting replacement for the mentor, who is also a surrogate father since Mr Han isn’t with Li for large parts of the story. He is introduced as a kind of asshole, but he quickly shows a warmer, more companionate side that enables him and Li to bond promptly. The big disappointment is Li’s mother, who is so downplayed she doesn’t appear to have even been given a first name. Outside of a decent introduction that sets her up as having a good understanding of her son and his relationship with Mr. Han, she’s mostly pushed to the side for the rest of the story, and given very little to do.
Instead, a lot of the second half of this story focuses on Mr. Han tracking down Daniel in Los Angeles and persuading him to travel across the country to train a kid in a local kung fu tournament (despite the fact Li seems to be a pretty decent fighter already), because supposedly there is a particular type of fighting only Daniel can teach. It is a lovely scene between them as we learn Mr. Han also knew Mr. Miyagi, even if how he knew him seems far-fetched. From a story perspective, though, Daniel doesn’t need to be in this; he’s here to attract fans of the original film and the Cobra Kai series. Plus, the decision to have Daniel in this story makes me wonder why it was set in New York City. That requires us to believe he travelled over 2,000 miles to help train a kid, not to mention showing up at his training unannounced. I know characters seemingly traveling thousands of miles in a short period while off-screen is a common cheat in film, but it’s particularly preposterous here.
Despite this, another part of me loves the setting of New York City. It makes for many beautiful wide-angle shots of Manhattan and the city streets as the characters walk around. The setting for the climax is particularly stunning visually. It is a refreshing change of pace from settings in the warmer climate of L.A. seen in the original film and Cobra Kai, not to mention a film set in New York where you aren’t constantly bombarded with shots of places like Times Square or Brooklyn Bridge.
All in all, Karate Kid: Legends is a lot of fun; it doesn’t do much to give us anything we’ve not seen before outside of maybe the setting. However, everything it provides is compelling, with engaging, likable characters you genuinely want to see succeed. Anyone hoping for something new from The Karate Kid franchise won’t find it here, and fans of Cobra Kai may be disappointed that, aside from a pretty funny cameo at the end, nothing ties into anything that happens in that series (however, Legends does take place after the final season of Cobra Kai). Macchio is largely wasted, and is only here to better connect this story to the original. Compared to the other two films, there is a bizarre combination of more characters and a much shorter runtime. Despite this, things never feel rushed or too complex, and the conclusion to everything is satisfying. It’s a well-told story, just as it was in 1984 and 2010, but don’t expect anything too different.
Rating: High Side of It Was Just Okay
Karate Kid: Legends is currently playing in theaters
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