Karate Child: Legends is the primary movie within the franchise in 15 years. The 2010 reboot of the franchise with Jackie Chan was profitable sufficient that improvement started on a sequel, however the momentum light and ultimately sputtered out. The IP went into hiatus earlier than the mostly-acclaimed Cobra Kai present debuted and revitalized curiosity within the property. Makes an attempt at a brand new movie have been reborn, however with the intent of remaining throughout the unique canon.
Legends is the primary notable franchise movie to retroactively flip a reboot into a part of the principle sequence canon, because the trailers teased Jackie Chan returning as Mr. Han and uniting with Ralph Macchio‘s Daniel LaRusso. The function movie is ready three years after Cobra Kai and brings collectively two icons of the sequence, however may it actually unite each a TV present and two (previously) completely different movie canons?
Sadly, Legends appears to have little curiosity in any of the fabric the trailers have been constructed round, and it merely makes use of its predecessors as window dressing for a brand new story. It looks like a film at conflict with itself, stuffing 2-4 storylines right into a mashed mess that’s each overstuffed and too quick all of sudden.
The movie’s strongest side is the brand new protagonist. Performed by Ben Wang, Li Fong is coaching in kung fu underneath the tutelage of Mr. Han in Beijing. The story kicks off with he and his mom (Ming-Na Wen) transfer to New York Metropolis following his older brother’s tragic dying. Li Fong’s mom bans him from persevering with to do martial arts. Li Fong quickly makes buddies with a peer, Mia (Sadie Stanley), and her father (Joshua Jackson) who run a neighborhood pizza store.
The primary half of the movie largely focuses on Li adjusting to life in New York whereas transitioning right into a reverse of the standard Karate Child setup. Li provides to show his buddy’s father kung fu to assist put together for a boxing match and repay his debt to a neighborhood shark, who additionally occurs to be the sensei of Connor (Aramis Knight), a neighborhood martial arts fighter and bully. Whether or not or not kung fu truly interprets to boxing is a query greatest left ignored, however this part of the movie proves an amicable showcase for the charisma of Wang as an actor, and that he’d be an admirable selection to steer a brand new model of this franchise.
The second half abruptly shifts to a extra conventional Karate Child story, with Li Fong now deciding to struggle in a martial arts match after Jackson’s character fails in his boxing match. With barely any connective tissue, Chan arrives in America to assist prepare Li, after which calls in Ralph Macchio to assist prepare him as properly.
In sum, the movie primarily tries to pack two completely different movies’ price of story into one, and suffers for it. Maybe this was a distinct script that was retooled within the wake of Cobra Kai‘s reputation in an effort to arbitrarily plug in LaRusso. Nevertheless it occurred, the movie rushes via its scenes with haphazard and odd enhancing, seemingly in a rush to pack in as a lot in as potential within the quick 94-minute runtime.
There isn’t any room for any of the characters to breathe, and little to no reference to no matter Mr. Han or LaRusso have been doing since prior entries. Calling this movie Legends appears totally wasted, because the film has no need to have mentioned legends truly exhibit character traits or something of substance. Whereas seeing Chan and Macchio banter with one another is vaguely amusing, they lack even one true character second with one another and even with the protagonist, making their inclusion useless.
It’s not solely the script that appears far and wide, because the directing fashion dramatically shifts from second to second. Chunks of the movie are edited and shot in zippy method with numerous visible graphics that really feel misplaced with the extra contemplative elements of the film. The soundtrack can also be a grab-bag of discordant songs that don’t all the time appear to match the tone of the scenes.
There are rewarding facets of Legends. It leans into the identical underdog storytelling that made prior movies work. However the all-over-the-place storytelling and enhancing restrict this movie’s potential. The dearth of significant character moments, sloppy cuts that make the fights troublesome to comply with, and extremely tacky dialogue make Legends a mediocre film. Like so many trendy franchise movies, it appears in a rush to be over, as if it doesn’t actually wish to inform its personal story.
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