THE STORY – After kung fu prodigy Li Fong relocates to New York City, he attracts unwanted attention from a local karate champion and embarks on a journey to enter the ultimate karate competition with the help of Mr. Han and Daniel LaRusso.
THE CAST – Ben Wang, Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Ming-Na Wen, Joshua Jackson, Sadie Stanley, Wyatt Oleff & Aramis Knight
THE TEAM – Jonathan Entwistle (Director) & Rob Lieber (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 94 Minutes
After seeing “The Karate Kid” back in 1984, who could’ve expected that it would spawn an entire franchise consisting of five sequels and a spin-off television series that would go on for six seasons? It’s a series after the original trilogy (honestly, after the second film), where the wheels began spinning, showing the limitations of the winning recipe that John G. Avildsen created. It’s baffling how studios attempt to breathe new life into this franchise every few decades, hoping that the pure magic of nostalgia is enough to motivate modern moviegoers to return to the dojo. So it’s no surprise that not long after “Cobra Kai” aired its final set of episodes, Hollywood would take advantage of its goodwill to bring another “Karate Kid” film to the big screen. “Karate Kid: Legends,” the sixth entry in this series, is just another display of legacy sequels at their lowest and why this was the wrong move in a post-“Cobra Kai” world.
Director Jonathan Entwistle immediately tries to win the audience’s goodwill by taking us back to memory lane by using the scene of “The Karate Kid Part II” where we see Pat Moria’s Mr. Miyagi explaining to his apprentice Daniel LeRusso (played by Ralph Macchio) the history of the Miyagi family. A sweet moment used not only to soften the hearts of those watching but also to sneak in some new exposition that bridges the world of the original 1984 film and the 2010 reboot, which features Jackie Chan’s mentor figure, Mr. Han. Jump forward to now. We’re in Beijing watching Mr. Han train his nephew Li Fong (played by Ben Wang) and a new generation of students in the ways of Kung Fu. Li’s mother (played by Ming-Na Wen), desperate to have her son avoid a life of violence after experiencing a family tragedy, accepts a job in New York, entirely uprooting Li’s life. “Karate Kid: Legends” begins to slide into familiar territory as the fish-out-of-water story we’ve come to expect from most of the films in this franchise starts to plant the seeds for the friends, romantic interests, and, of course, an emotionless antagonist that Li will have to square off with in the film’s finale.
Rob Lieber’s screenplay is a blenderized puree of all the previous “Karate Kid” stories that have come before it. The only thing interesting about “Legends” is the inverse presented in the story, where the traditional dynamic of mentor and apprentice flips. Li steps into the shoes of the teacher helping out Joshua Jackson’s Victor Lipiani, a local pizza shop owner who befriends Li and needs help training for a boxing match to escape the clutches of a loan shark to whom he owes money. A decent portion of the film’s runtime is shockingly committed to this beat and how it also ties into Li’s blossoming relationship with Sadie Stanley’s Mia, Vincent’s daughter. Inside this beat is a whole film that could’ve rejuvenated this story only before devolving back into the tired blueprint the franchise has continuously operated around. We soon get Chan’s Mr. Han back into the fold to help our karate kid enter another tournament to not only help those he cares for but to avoid running from his greatest fears. What are those fears? It doesn’t really matter, but at least it’s what gets Macchio’s LaRusso back into the mix.
It’s shocking how one of the most heavily marketed aspects, the involvement of Macchio, the one who started it all, doesn’t appear until halfway through the film. It could be a sign of strength that “Legends” isn’t in a rush to implement member berries from the franchise, but it’s not like anything before his involvement is that much better. In a legacy sequel like this that banks on the audience’s pre-existing love for the franchise to enjoy it, Lieber actually avoids annoyingly referencing the previous films. “Karate Kid: Legends” avoids anything from “Cobra Kai” like the plague (minus one appearance towards the end), which is honestly not the worst thing ever.
Macchio, who was solid in the original films, is fine at best in this film, embodying the personality of cardboard in his older age as an actor. Chan, who is only somewhat better, at least is clearly attempting to show off his physicality as a performer, but it is far from a career-best performance. Wang is also good in the film as our new lead stepping in the shoes of where many young actors in this franchise have before him. Wang’s charm and physicality lend themselves to giving dimension to a character that has been offered before. Even the antagonist, Connor Day, played by Aramis Knight, is the most generic offering this series has provided. To be fair, no villain in the Karate Kid films has been interesting since “Karate Kid Part III.” It’s like it’s a requirement for our lead to square off with someone devoid of any aura. Pair these performances with fight sequences that are sloppily edited and vary in interest; we’re left with a “Karate Kid” film with little to offer.
There’s a moment in the final fight in “Karate Kid: Legends” where the film reeks of desperately aspiring to be in the vein of something like “Creed.” Instead, it looks and feels like an extended TV special made for Netflix. It’s a film more preoccupied with training montages set to terrible pop music and breezing through the actual fights we came to see. Those hoping “Karate Kid: Legends” is up to par with any season of “Cobra Kai” are sure to be disappointed. It makes one yearn to be taken back to the 2010 reboot, which should tell audiences all they need to know about this latest film.
