In the pantheon of unnecessary legacy sequels — distant continuations that dig up decades of history to occasionally transcendent but mostly exasperating effect — it’s hard to come up with a film that gains less from its connections to the work it’s tied to than “Karate Kid: Legends.” Partly, there’s a deep sense of redundancy: the iconic ’80s “Karate Kid” martial arts franchise has already been the subject of a six-season sequel series “Cobra Kai” that just concluded a mere three months ago, which had flaws but nonetheless inspired affection for its cheeky reverence to the cheesy charms of the 1984 original film.
But more importantly, “The Karate Kid,” for as much as it reigns supreme as one of the most famous sports/martial arts films of its time, is an exceedingly simple story about a boy, his mentor, the girl he has a crush on, and the bully whose ass he kicks. A movie that carries the weight and mythos to power decades later sequel films? Not exactly. And in tying its story to the saga of Daniel LaRusso, “Karate Kid: Legends” resorts to repeating his journey entirely, leading to a martial arts film that has limited new moves compared to what audiences have seen 40 years ago.
Although “Legends” begins with old footage from “The Karate Kid Part II” of a baby-faced Ralph Macchio as David, and the late Pat Morita as his beloved trickster mentor Mr. Miyagi, for much of its running time, it’s strongest connection to the franchise at large actually comes from the (slightly over)hated 2010 “Karate Kid” update, which starred a very young Jaden Smith as a boy who moves to Beijing and trains under kung fu master Mr. Han, played by an actual kung fu master Jackie Chan. If you haven’t seen that remake/now retconned in sequel, it’s easy to miss this and assume Han is an original character — nary a reference to Smith’s pupil is to be found. That’s a good thing for a movie that’s already overburdened by the past, but it’s a bizarre coincidence how Han had no less than two young students with remarkably similar coming-of-age journeys.
In this film, his protégé is Li Fong (Ben Wang), a quiet teenager who gets dragged out of Han’s dojo by his protective mother (Ming-Na Wen, utterly wasted) to move to New York City. His mother is determined for him to leave his fighting days behind and focus on his SATs, but Li is more interested in flirting with Mia (Sadie Stanley), the cute pizza parlor employee around the block. Said flirting gets him in the crosshairs of Connor (Aramis Knight), Mia’s ex and a karate practitioner who studies at a dojo run by a shady master while training for the Five Boroughs Tournament, a series of fights occurring across the city. If that sounds remarkably like the storyline of the 1984 film, with some proper nouns subbed out (“Los Angeles” for “New York City,” “Under 18 All-Valley Karate Championships” for “Five Boroughs Tournament”), then, well, that’s the intent.
There’s one or two wrinkles here to switch things up: having already trained extensively in martial arts, Li is plenty capable in fighting already, and the first obligatory training sequence is actually him coaching Mia’s former boxer dad Victor (an ultra charming Joshua Jackson, easily the film’s MVP) to help him get back in the ring. Instead of being a vaguely fascist aryan masculinity cult like the iconic Cobra Kai, Connor’s dojo is run by mobsters and loan sharks. But it’s not exactly a surprise when circumstances push Li to enter the Five Burroughs Tournament to settle his beef with Connor and win Mia’s heart, or that Han eventually follows him to the States to fill in the Miyagi role. From there, “Karate Kid: Legends” pretty much hits every beat of the original film to a tee, and while much of that is just par for the course for any sports drama, it’s explicit aping of its source material just exposes the glaring flaws of its execution.
The debut directorial feature film by Jonathan Entwistle (best known for creating the Netflix TV series “The End of the Fucking World” and “I Am Not Okay With This;” star of the latter Wyatt Oleff gets a fun side part as Li’s math tutor-turned-wingman), “Legends” mostly looks like a slightly upscale version of a Netflix show, a “Cobra Kai” episode made on a bigger budget. There’s some fun graffiti-style graphics here and there when the Five Burroughs Tournament kicks off, but otherwise, the film’s New York City feels absent of grit (it won’t be a surprise to learn the movie was filmed in Montreal). The fight choreography is passable but never impressive, and an over-reliance on shaky quick cuts drains out some much needed physicality. It doesn’t help that there’s surprisingly few of them, and that the film has little interest in compellingly building out its pulpy karate-fueled world, rushing through the Five Burroughs Tournament at the end without taking advantage of the concept.
Not helping the fights hit to their fullest potential is that we don’t have much opportunity to care about the people fighting them. Wang tries his best, but Li is a wafer-thin cut-out without much charm, and his romance with the equally vapid Mia lacks spark. Connor is somehow more of a one-dimensional monster than Johnny Lawrence of the original films, and there’s zero juice to his rivalry with Li considering how little the characters actually interact. Most shortchanged by the script Wen, whose character’s trauma and relationship with her son is set up as a vital part of the narrative, just for her to get confined to the margins of the narrative and for her conflict to resolve with little fanfare. There’s some interesting potential in telling “Karate Kid” story that actually centers on its Asian characters rather than leaving them in mentor or supporting roles, but “Legends” doesn’t seem to actually care about that possibility at all.
Not helping the unbalanced narrative is that, in between rehashing all the plot points of the original, it needs to bring the hero of the original back. Despite his prominent place on the poster, Macchio is actually in the movie less than you’d think, only appearing in the third act, but it’s not welcome when he finally makes his entrance. That’s no disrespect to the actor, but Daniel’s presence saps time away from characters who desperately need more development. Han and Li’s student-teacher relationship in particular is diluted and lacks necessary grounding, and there’s little compelling friction between the two masters to make up for it. Macchio gets very little to do in fact, and his presence has almost zero meaningful impact on Li. He could be cut out entirely, if the movie didn’t care about reminding the audience of the original.
“Remind the audience of the original” seems to be all that “Legends” really aspires to, unfortunately, rather than using its decent cast to tell their own story. Notably, the closing scene doesn’t even feature Li or his supporting cast, instead pairing off Daniel and a cameo from the franchise’s past for an extended, unfunny gag. It’s as if the movie itself is finally giving in to what it presumes audience members are actually here for, while tacitly admitting that none of the new things it brings to the table have the punch (or the kick) to stand alone.
Grade: C
Sony Pictures will release “Karate Kid: Legends” in theaters May 30.
