More Than a Tournament–Karate Kid: Legends and the Fight to Belong

Crossovers and shared universes are all the rage these days, so it should come as no surprise that we’ve finally gotten a Karate Kid crossover that merges the original series of films and the 2010 remake into a single cinematic universe. Sure, fans may not have been clamoring for this franchise mashup, but if there’s one thing Hollywood studios do well, it’s following trends. This movie was bound to be made sooner or later, and even though I wasn’t particularly chomping at the bit to see Karate Kid: Legends, I figured I’d give it a shot. I’m a big fan of martial arts and the original The Karate Kid, so when tickets went on sale, I booked a seat for opening night and hoped for the best

Karate Kid: Legends was directed by Jonathan Entwistle, and it stars Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Ben Wang, Joshua Jackson, Sadie Stanley, and Ming-Na Wen. In the film, Li Fong is a teenager who studies kung fu in Beijing with Mr. Han, the “new Mr. Miyagi” in the 2010 The Karate Kid remake, but when he and his mother move to New York, he has to leave that life behind. However, as I’m sure you can guess, he can't stay away for long. He soon meets a retired boxer about to make a comeback, and he helps the guy incorporate a bit of kung fu into his repertoire.

Not long after that, Mr. Han visits his young protege in the Big Apple, and he convinces the kid to enroll in a citywide karate competition called the Five Boroughs Tournament. To win, Li will have to defeat Conor Day, a local bully who’s already proven himself to be a superior fighter, but the boy from Beijing just might have a shot. He begins training again with his old master, and Mr. Han also reaches out to Daniel LaRusso, Mr. Miyagi’s pupil from the original movie, to help beef up the kid’s skills. The Miyagi and Han families share a generations-old connection, and with this unique combination of karate and kung fu, Li becomes a much more formidable fighter than he ever was before.

If you think that plot synopsis sounds a bit overstuffed, you’re not wrong. There’s a lot going on in Karate Kid: Legends, and at only about ninety minutes, the film doesn’t have time to fully flesh out all of its characters and subplots. To take just one example, Li’s mother is played by the wonderful Ming-Na Wen, but the actress is woefully underused.

Her character spends most of the movie just disapproving of Li’s kung fu training, so Wen doesn’t get to show off her amazing acting chops. To make matters worse, when the woman has an inevitable change of heart in the final act, it feels completely unearned, so this character is just an all-around missed opportunity.

Thankfully though, that rushed pace isn’t nearly bad enough to ruin the entire experience. By and large, Karate Kid: Legends makes the most of what it does show, so I walked out of the theater with a big smile on my face. Take Li’s joint karate/kung fu training, for instance. The film flies through some of those scenes a bit too quickly, but it still gives us enough to make the dynamic between Daniel and Mr. Han a real blast. Sometimes their teaching styles betray the connection between their respective traditions, and other times they quibble about the differences between their arts, but no matter what they’re doing, it’s always an absolute joy to watch these two characters interact.

The rest of Li’s new “family” are pretty likable as well, but hands down the best character in Karate Kid: Legends is our new karate kid himself. He’s played by Ben Wang, and let me tell you, this guy has what it takes to be a star. Not only does he nail all the emotions Li goes through, but perhaps even more importantly, he just exudes charisma. You simply can’t help but love seeing him on screen, so you’ll have no trouble at all caring about Li, rooting for the kid, and getting deeply invested in his story.

Those fun protagonists are the heart and soul of Karate Kid: Legends, but they’re not the only thing this movie has going for it. The martial arts action is pretty good as well, but I have to acknowledge that it’s also a bit of a mixed bag. Let’s start with the good. Unlike in the original The Karate Kid, the majority of these actors can actually fight. Most notably, Ben Wang is one of the most acrobatic martial artists I’ve ever seen on screen, and Jackie Chan is a living legend for a reason. They execute their action scenes with blinding speed and pinpoint accuracy, so when they go all out, it’s truly a sight to behold.

On the flipside, these fights sometimes feel like victims of the film’s rushed pace, so as fun as they are, a couple of them are frustratingly short. More egregiously, there are also a handful of times when director Jonathan Entwistle falls prey to the biggest problem that plagues Western action filmmakers–He chops up some of his fight scenes with way too many cuts, so you can’t always see them in all their free-flowing glory. It puts a bit of a damper on what could’ve been some of the best moments of the entire movie, so if you’re a big action fan, you’d do well to temper your expectations a little (but thankfully, only a little!).

Last but not least, I want to talk about some of the deeper themes of Karate Kid: Legends. This film deals with the typical ideas you’d expect from a Karate Kid flick–like finding your place in the world, defeating a seemingly invincible bully, and respecting the traditions that have shaped you–and they'll all tug at your heartstrings just like they're supposed to. But if you ask me, the most interesting thing about this movie just might be the new ground it breaks for the franchise.

By combining karate and kung fu (as well as kung fu and boxing), the film updates the whole idea of this franchise for a world where mixed martial arts is the most popular combat sport around. Granted, the characters still compete in single-style competitions, so it’s not full-on MMA, but it’s a pretty good middle ground between the original movie's narrower focus and the amazing martial arts fusion we’ve witnessed in the last few decades.

It makes for a fun new twist on an old formula, and when you combine it with the (mostly) great characters, fun action, and time-honored themes that have always been part of this franchise, you get a worthy sequel to the original 1984 classic. Sure, Karate Kid: Legends is by no means the best film of the year, and it’s not going to end up on my top-ten list come December. But it gives you everything you want from a Karate Kid flick without feeling like a carbon copy of the movies we’ve seen before, and that’s enough to earn a thumbs up from me.