REVIEW:
Karate Kid Legends is a movie that is 100 % made because of the success of the super popular show Cobra Kai. That show revitalized the series in a way that nobody saw coming. And the idea to this latest movie is to bring stars Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio together, in one film. Machio is of course Daniel Laruso, the original Karate Kid. Now, ten years ago, this idea would have been laughed out of Hollywood, as Macchio was more or less a non-working actor. But in the time since then, Cobra Kai has become such a mega-hit, that everyone wanted to know what was next for the franchise. That led us to this movie.
In the time since that original trilogy, there were two other Karate Kid movies. One starred Hillary Swank in the Laruso sort of role (the Next Karate Kid, which also featured Mr Maiyagi.) The other featured Jackie Chan as the coach of his student, played by Jayden Smith (Will Smith’s son.) The movie wasn’t very good or popular, but the fact remains that Jackie Chan is a martial arts legend, and so just the idea that he entered into this series still give it more street credibility than just about anything else.
And so for the very first time these two characters come face to face. Only the movie isn’t really about them. It might advertise that it is, and show us these characters quite a bit in the trailers, and even the title, but the movie is really about a new kid who has just moved to New York. This is Li Fong (played by Ben Wang.) The movie is his story, so much so that Ralph Macchio doesn’t even appear until an hour into the movie. Now normally that sort of thing would make be frustrating. False advertising snd deception are a cheap trick. But in this movie, the first half (the one without Macchio,) is actually better than the second. The story about Li finding his way is better than the story of him training and of his coaches. So it’s hard to hold a grudge, when things turn out better than expected. At least in some regard.
The first half of the movie is about Li learning the ropes of New York. He meets and befriends a girl named Mia, who lives nearby, and gets involved not only with her, but also with her father. The father is played by Joshua Jackson (the once heart throb from Dawson’s Creek, now old enough to be playing the father of this teenage girl.) Jackson plays Victor Lipani, a pizza parlor owner who owes money to a man who runs the local karate dojo. This dojo is the one where the villains train at, and the former champion and main villain, Connor, also happens to be the ex-boyfriend of Mia. These ideas are riddled with one cliche after another, from the jealous ex-boyfriend to the evil instructor at the dojo where the villain trains. And yet still, despite its lack of creativity, we are interested. That’s because the movie keeps us curious and waiting to know more for a good deal of its first half.
We want to know what happened to Li’s brother, which is only hinted at in the first half. We want to know how and when Daniel Laruso will show up in this story. And what really throws us for a loop is a storyline that emerges in the first half about Li becoming a teacher himself, and training Victor to fight. All of a sudden, we’re saying, “wait a minute, isn’t Li supposed to be the one training and fighting? What is this weird story about Victor?” And it works. Mainly because of how unexpected it is.
The first half more or less ends with Victor’s fight and its consequences. That leads us into Li training for his own fight, spearheaded by Mr. Han going to California to find Laruso and persuade him to come to New York. That persuasion is unfortunately rushed over with Han telling Laruso, “see you in New York,” and Laruso responding, “I’m not coming to New York.” Then the next thing you know, Laruso is there. No explanation of what got him to come. That’s a little frustrating. Why spend the time showing us that Laruso doesn’t want to come if they have no solution to solving that problem? It would have been smarter if he had just agreed to begin with, or if we saw Han actually persuade him.
Once the training in New York starts, the movie falls into the routine of being just like every fighting film. Yes, the rooftop training where they use what the resources they have to make obstacles Li can train with, is cool, but other than that, it’s pretty ordinary. So is the storyline between Li and Mia. This movie is best in its first half, when we are thrown for unexpected plot ideas like the training of Mia’s father. After that, it becomes pretty ordinary.