Karate Kid Legends Review
Here’s my Karate Kid Legends review which stars Jackie Chan, Ben Wang, Joshua Jackson, Ming-Na Wen, Ralph Macchio and directed by Jonathan Entwistle from Columbia Pictures Philippines!
Karate Kid: Legends sweeps the leg in all the right spots with humor, action and so much nostalgia. The writing is smart enough to connect all the various Karate Kid projects and try to streamline them with this one.
Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio return as Shifu Han and Sensei LaRusso as they join forces to train a younger student who stands to represent both branches of the Miyagi School Chan’s character has grown more ever since that Karate Kid movie with Jaden Smith years ago and I guess he’s back to running a school full time.
It was a fun experience to see the old and the new with a younger Li Fong (Ben Wong) being the catalyst for change. He also gets a rather fun supporting cast and we also got some good moments that grounds our hero. There’s also that bit where he shifts from being a student to a teacher before going back to being a student. That was a nice change of pace and something I wasn’t expecting.
Meanwhile our antagonist is pretty bland and generic but I sense that we could see more of this in the future if we do get a sequel. Aramis Knight who plays Conor had its moments but it was obvious they were trying to code him as a Johnny Lawrence with more subtle traits which I really think was the biggest chain in the film. I was expecting an over the top villain who will grind our gears and truly, truly cheer for Li when he gets his ass handed to him but we didn’t. It really did feel like a by-the-numbers thing for this part of the movie. Hopefully this could kick start the franchise once more and we can get more memorable antagonists. We also dropped the ball of the gym owner/ Conor’s teacher who had a score to settle with Victor. Did we completely forget about that?
I also felt that the whole reason for the fights to take place was just plain stupid. Like I really want it to make sense but this was one of the god-awful things about the movie. Are we seriously going to think that there’s a “secret” fighting tournament held around New York City with a big-ass prize money and nobody’s going to even mention it? And it’s on social media so should this be regulated or not?
The musical tracks are good and really vibes with the modern audience and we also get these Tekken vibes because of the previously announced Collab. God I’m old for also thinking we’ll be getting power ballads in the movie or at least in the end. Times change and we have to evolve. I guess that goes along with a new Karate Kid movie although if you’re watching Cobra Kai, this stuff is pretty normal so it’s not a big deal.
Check out the post-credit scene with a special cameo who may or may not appear in a potential sequel for this film.
I’m also quite good with the way they paced out the budding romance between Mia and Li. It wasn’t forced and it wasn’t perfect AND it wasn’t the whole story too. Super different from the original Karate Kid movie which was one of the main motivating force for Daniel (although jokes on us, they never ended up together).
Special thanks Columbia Pictures Philippines! Now Showing!
