Karate kid - 3
https://jaabali.blogspot.com/2025/08/karate-kid-3.html?m=1
KARATE KID -3
Karate kid: Legends Leans Into Martial Arts Movie Tropes — And It Works
julianlytle
|
May 29, 2025 • 8:00AM
For the most part, I was not looking forward to Karate Kid: Legends, and it’s hard to explain, but I think I felt it was trying to please too many people at the same time. Can it be enjoyable to people who are only familiar with the original The Karate Kid films? Is it for the people who only saw the Jaden Smith/Jackie Chan reboot? What about the fans of Cobra Kai, that reignited the franchise and made a lot of new good characters? But once I was sitting in the chair and ten minutes in, all that went out of my mind. I think mostly I was thinking about others too much. See, I’m about this The Karate Kid life. I’ve seen all the movies and watched most of Cobra Kai (that staggered release thing doesn’t work with my schedule), so it doesn’t matter to me what this is. I’ll no-prize into canon anyway in my head. Karate Kid: Legends essentially does the work of connecting what was a reboot to the original franchise’s story.
The film starts with a scene from The Karate Kid Part II, where Mr. Miyagi and Daniel are in Okinawa, and he explains the origins of Miyagi-Do Karate to Daniel, including its connection to China and Kung Fu. This is something that is tied to the actual history of Karate and Kung Fu, but that’s another story. From there, we see Jackie Chan‘s Sifu Han in his school, teaching many students. Our main character Li Fong, played by Ben Wang, is one of his students who must move to New York City when his Doctor mother (Ming Na Wen) gets a new job there. There is an unspoken tragedy in the early part of the film that makes her not want her son to study or practice Kung Fu or fight in capacity. Yet, as we know from Karate Kid stories, a mother and son moving into a new place often leads the son into an environment that forces him to throw hands. The difference in this one is that our new hero, Li, already knows but must learn a new style to overcome his rival and internal obstacle. It’s a classic old-school kung fu movie trope and something core to Jackie Chan’s films.
The film jumps around a bit, that could throw some folks off. Li instantly makes friends with a father and daughter who runs a pizza shop near his new home. Joshua Jackson plays Victor Lipani, the dad and owner of the restaurant, who’s his usual charming self. Sadie Stanley plays his daughter, Mia Lipani, who Li gets a crush on at lightspeed. The cute girl, of course, has a boyfriend, and he, of course, practices Karate because it’s the Karate Kid of course. Aramis Knight is Connor Day, the bully boyfriend who doesn’t do much but still makes a good onscreen presence as a heel. I can’t lie; when watching him, I thought he’d be great in a new Power Rangers show as Tommy Oliver, but that is a tangent. The story here goes in a different place where Li has to help teach Victor Kung Fu to train for a fight, but that connects to his tragedy that he can’t get over; this leads to Sifu Han coming to the US and then, of course, Han going to get Daniel so that Li has to essentially mix his Kung Fu with Miyagi-Do to overcome his final challenge.
Learning a new style to win is a staple in martial arts cinema, and it is also reminiscent of Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master and Snake in Eagle’s Shadow in some ways. Wang does a fantastic job in both his performance and his fight work. He, of course, has a scene where he fights multiple foes and where he takes damage as much as he gives it. The scene, much like most of the fight scenes, are well shot and clear for the viewer to make out the action. They have great character and highlight big attacks on screen with the right amount of focus. I could see how it is supposed to feel like an homage to Rumble in the Bronx. Wang’s Li is so likable he’s a great stand-in for Chan in these types of scenes. Ming Na brings a lot of emotional heft to her scenes, even though she’s not onscreen for long; she grounds the parts of the movie she’s in. Ralph Macchio‘s return as Daniel LaRusso is cool, even though he doesn’t do that much. It’s good to see in him some action scenes. I think for people who watched Cobra Kai, and it’s not a big moment as much as it might be for people who might’ve only seen a few of the earlier movies. For Cobra Kai watchers, you kind of know where the character is and what he’s capable of, more than what we see in the film.
At a nice ninety-four minutes, you’re not in the theater long. It does have some Sony product placement that isn’t too annoying, but Tekken 8 placements work well. Taking some influence from Fighting Games and connecting them worked for me. I love it when my favorite things come together. You won’t see Jaden Smith return or Hilary Swank, but I think this is a good reintroduction to the franchise and a good sports/fight YA movie for the younger generation to watch. It doesn’t focus more on nostalgia than on establishing something new. Karate Kid: Legends isn’t amazing, and I’m unsure how it’ll fare against the competition, but it was a really good movie that I hope people take the time to see.
Score: C+
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