Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make the bed! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the high kicking “Karate Kid: Legends,” the mannered “Phoenician Scheme” and the horrific (in a good way) “Bring Her Back.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: Set three years after the events of “Cobra Kai,” “Karate Kid: Legends,” the sixth film in “The Karate Kid” franchise, sees teenage kung fu prodigy Li Fong (Ben Wang) and his mother relocate to New York City from Beijing, China after a family tragedy. Li befriends classmate Mia Lipani (Sadie Stanley) and her pizzeria owner father, which puts him in the crosshairs of Mia’s ex-boyfriend, aggressive karate champ Connor Day (Aramis Knight). Challenged to a karate showdown, Li trains with kung fu teacher, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), and the original Karate Kid, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) to prepare. “Li is to me what you meant to Sensei Miyagi,” Mr. Han says to Daniel LaRusso.
CAST: Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Ben Wang, Joshua Jackson, Sadie Stanley, Ming-Na Wen. Directed by Jonathan Entwistle.
REVIEW: At a tight 90 minutes, the new movie in the “Karate Kid” franchise doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel. Essentially a remake of the original film, it treads a familiar path with a simple feel-good story of an underdog and a bully.
“Karate Kid: Legends” is formulaic, predictable and leans heavily into fan service, but in this case, familiarity doesn’t breed contempt. Director Jonathan Entwistle rushes through the narrative, attempting to deepen the story with a tragic history for Li Fong and his mother, a budding romance and a shake-down gang story. None of them are particularly well developed—although as Li and Mia, Ben Wang and Sadie Stanley have good chemistry—and all serve essentially as McGuffins to point the plot in the direction of Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio and the film’s climatic showdown between Li and his nemesis, a one-dimensional Karate expert named Connor (Aramis Knight).
The presence of Chan and Macchio goes a long way to make up for the film’s complete lack of innovation. As Li’s mentors they bring humour and a warm nostalgic feel. Like so many of the film’s elements, they’re underused—Why wouldn’t they examine the parallel life paths of Li and the original Karate Kid, Daniel LaRusso?—but when they are onscreen the movie perks up.
“Karate Kid: Legends” isn’t a great movie. Six movies in, it feels as repetitive as the endless “jacket on, jacket off” training Mr. Han subjects Li to throughout. It’s a film that could have gone directly to streaming, but its short runtime doesn’t overstay its welcome, and the classic underdog story still works, even if it feels a bit frayed around the edges.
Producers of this weekend’s 1980s reboot, The Karate Kid with Jaden Smith, must be hoping for a little of the Ralph Macchio “wax on” magic to rub off on their film. The original movie, a 1984 crowd pleaser that made Macchio an underdog icon, grossed $90.8 million and spawned three sequels, all of which made money until the last one, sans Macchio, made only a tenth of the first.
The original series made Macchio and Pat Morita superstars but what happened to them and their Karate Kid alumni once the final tournament was over?
Macchio’s years as a box office draw extended past Karate Kid III, but just barely. After parts in Crossroads and My Cousin Vinny, he couldn’t make the transition into adult roles. Luckily, he avoided the post-fame pitfalls of other ’80s kid actors like the Coreys, but despite steady gigs in low budget film and episodic television he hasn’t been able to shake the spectre of his most famous character.
“‘Wax on, wax off,’” he says. “Every week someone yells out the phrase as if they’d just come up with the idea, thinking, ‘Whoa, isn’t that genius? Hey Ralph, wax on, wax off!’”
Macchio’s replacement in the franchise fared slightly better — like two Oscars better. In an attempt to inject some new blood into the series — “Who says the good guy has to be a guy?” read the advertising tagline — the 20-year-old Hilary Swank beat out hundreds of other girls to don Macchio’s gi in The Next Karate Kid. It was a flop critically —“The franchise is still kicking, but not very high,” wrote Variety — and commercially but only slowed her career momentum momentarily. By 1996 she was working regularly and by 1999 it was Oscar time.
The only actor to appear in all four of the original movies was Pat Morita, who became the first American-born Asian actor nominated for an Oscar for his performance as sensei Miyagi in the first film.
It’s impossible to imagine the films without him but he nearly didn’t get the part. Producer Jerry Weintraub initially rejected Morita, claiming he was too well known as Arnold on Happy Days.
Determined to win the role, Morita grew a beard, mimicked his uncle’s Japanese accent and screen tested.
“When Jerry saw it, he said, ‘That’s what I want — a goddamn actor,’ not realizing it was Pat,” said the late actor’s wife Evelyn.
