The Karate Kid (1984) was a hit film that was the fifth highest-grossing title of the year of its release. It spawned three sequels and a loose remake, as well as two TV series, a cartoon on NBC and a legacy sequel on Netflix. The original story followed a teenage boy who moves from the east coast to the west coast with his single mother. Bullies from a martial arts school attack the boy. An older man trains him and the boy fights the bullies in a karate tournament. This was the template. The loose remake and even the Netflix series followed this same formula. Often, the only difference to the formula is the identity of the main young person or the location. The third sequel, The Next Karate Kid (1994) had the main young person be a girl and it was set mostly in Boston. The loose remake, The Karate Kid (2010), had the young person be African American and it was set exclusively in China. The Netflix series, Cobra Kai (2018) had the main young person be Latino, but that series had a lot more going on in that it re-contextualized the events of the first three films and told the story from the bully's point-of-view 40 years later. It provided an alternative and fresh perspective.
The Netflix series ran for six seasons, so it was clearly successful and is probably the best entry in the franchise. Yet, if one was hoping that this film would build on that series, it doesn't. The Netflix series was all about acknowledging the history of this franchise and continuing growing new characters but also the old ones going back to the 1980's. Yes, it played heavily on nostalgia, but it did so in a very fulfilling narrative that did right by those old characters. This film mainly does what the 2010 film did and ignores all of that history and doesn't really build upon them like the Netflix series did. If anything, this film is simply a sequel to that 2010 entry, parroting the same narrative formula, only this time making the main young person Chinese and setting the story in New York City.
Ben Wang (Mean Girls and American Born Chinese) stars as Li Fong, a student at Han Academy in Beijing, China. He's also the nephew of the founder of that martial arts school that teaches kung fu. One day, his mother gets a job at a hospital in New York City, so she decides to move herself and Li to the United States to start a new life. What's revealed is that the reason she wants a new life is because a year ago, her son, Li's brother, was killed on the streets by a rival that Li's brother had in a kung fu tournament. As a result, Li's mother doesn't want her surviving son engaging in any martial arts any more. She wants no more violence. Li doesn't agree with her, but he feels guilty because he witnessed his brother getting killed and didn't do anything to help. He was frozen in shock, which wasn't his fault.
Like the original film, there are a group of teenage bullies who train at a martial arts facility. Instead of "Cobra Kai," the martial arts facility is called "Demolition" and it's based in Brooklyn. Like the original film, there is a martial arts tournament. Instead of the "Under 18 All-Valley Karate Championships," the tournament in question is called the "5 Boroughs." It's supposed to gather all the best fighters from martial arts facilities all throughout New York City. Like the original film, there is an older person who is introduced to train our young person, to train Li.
Joshua Jackson (The Affair and Dawson's Creek) co-stars as Victor Lapani, a former boxer who now owns and operates a pizza shop. He also is a single father with a teenage daughter named Mia, played by Sadie Stanley (Cruel Summer and The Goldbergs). His business had some trouble and so he had to borrow money from a loan shark. That loan shark wants his money and is willing to send thugs to get it, thugs who aren't above beating up Victor. He's in his mid 40's and he's not in the best shape any more, but there are boxing matches that he can enter for money. He sees it as his only way to pay back his debts. Victor needs some good training, so he actually asks Li for help.
This is where the formula takes an interesting turn. Normally, the formula has an older guy train a younger one. This film, directed by Jonathan Entwistle in his feature debut, reverses that formula. This time, the younger one, in this case Li Fong, trains the older guy, in this case, Victor Lapani. If this film had stayed with this reversal and really dug into it, it could have had something really special. However, the film abandons that premise to veer back to the hackneyed premise.
Jackie Chan (Kung Fu Panda and Rush Hour) reprises his role from the 2010 film of Mr. Han, the man who runs Han Academy in Beijing. He's also the uncle of Li Fong. He travels all the way to New York to train his nephew in the 5 Boroughs competition, but this is something that happens half-way through the film. At the same time, he also travels all the way to Los Angeles to retrieve Daniel LaRusso, played by Ralph Macchio, the titular character of the 1984 film. Now, if you're watched Cobra Kai, then you know that Daniel started his own dojo where he trains people in karate, using techniques passed down to him from Mr. Miyagi, played by the late Oscar-nominee Pat Morita. Mr. Han was the equivalent to Mr. Miyagi back in the 2010 film, so having Daniel in this film is a nice homage that makes that connection between the older films and this one more clear.
However, Daniel's presence in the narrative is not all that strong. He and Mr. Han basically coach Li together because Mr. Han believes that Li needs to learn the Miyagi-style of karate that Daniel teaches regularly, but there's no real explanation as to why. Fans of Cobra Kai will note that Daniel teamed up to be co-trainers with Johnny Lawrence, played by William Zabka, the original bully from the 1984 film. The reason is because Miyagi's style was a defense-based form of karate, whereas Johnny taught an offense-based form of karate. Daniel realized that his students needed to learn both forms, so that's why he and Johnny teamed up. There is no such explanation as to why Mr. Han and Daniel team up here. Mr. Han's academy in Beijing teaches kung fu and kung fu was enough for his student in the 2010 film, so it's unclear why it isn't enough now. The subtitle of this film is "Legends" and Mr. Miyagi was a legend, so incorporating him or his fighting style into this narrative makes sense, as an idea, but it needed fleshing out. I'm not so sure the film takes the time to underline the need for Miyagi's style of karate here.
Aramis Knight (Ms. Marvel and Into the Badlands) plays Conor Day, the bully of this narrative who harasses and even beats up Li. His bullying stems from the fact that Conor's ex-girlfriend, Mia, now likes Li and is spending more and more time with him. Most of these kinds of films don't spend that much time with the bully, but, given the success of Cobra Kai and the fact that we spent so much time with Johnny Lawrence, a bully who we came to understand, it feels like a missed opportunity not to spend more time with Conor, so that we understand him more. He seems to be coded as being a replica of Johnny Lawrence from those 80's movies with potentially the same backstory, but that's only a guess because the film doesn't flesh him out beyond that.
Honestly, Li Fong as a character could have also used some fleshing out. He's good at kung fu. He speaks Mandarin. He listens to hip hop music and he likes stuffed-crust pizza. I suppose that's enough in terms of his characterization, but I feel like Entwistle spends a lot of time in montages, showing the training, which is good for fans of martial arts because we see Ben Wang in action doing a fantastic job with the physical requirements needed here. However, a big plot point is the fact that Li witnessed his brother's murder, which obviously is a highly traumatic event. Yet, there's hardly any scenes of him talking about his brother or dealing with that trauma. In theory, his competing in the 5 Boroughs is meant to be how he deals with that trauma, but even Cobra Kai realized that fight competitions were not the ultimate arbiter of dealing with mental trauma.
Ming-Na Wen (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and ER) rounds out the cast as Li's mother, Dr. Fong. The only thing we know about her is that she's a doctor who is against her son fighting because of what happened to her eldest son, Bo. One would think that she and Li would have some kind of reckoning. There isn't even a scene where the two sit together and reminisce about their lost loved one. The film doesn't really dig any further into the relationship between Li and Bo or their mother and Bo. I feel like I'm repeating myself, but again Dr. Fong could have done with some fleshing out.
Rated PG-13 for martial arts violence and language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 34 mins.
In theaters.