There are a lot of Karate Kids. There's Daniel LaRusso, the OG, played by the inimitable Ralph Macchio; Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank), who only appeared in one film; and finally, there's Dre Parker (Jaden Smith), a character based on LaRusso and also only featured in one film. Fifteen years after Smith's turn, we get Karate Kid: Legends, a derivative, dull and redundant "sequel" which brings all of the films — and the Netflix series Cobra Kai — into the same universe, but fails as a worthy entry into the cannon.
The film starts in Beijing, where we meet Li Fong (Ben Wang), our hero and a student of Mr. Han (Jackie Chan, reprising his role from the 2010 reboot/reimagining). Li's mother (Ming-Na Wen), a doctor, has been relocated to New York, and he's coming with her. She doesn't like him fighting because kung fu led to the death of Li's brother.
In New York, Li meets Mia (Sadie Stanley) and Victor (Joshua Jackson), the father-daughter owners of a pizza restaurant. Victor finds himself in deep with O'Shea (Tim Rozon), a loan shark who also happens to own a martial arts gym. Li decides to train Victor for a boxing tournament so that he can pay off O'Shea and help send Mia to college. Simultaneously, Li wants to compete in the Five Boroughs Tournament, which pits the best fighters in New York against one another. The current champion is karate prodigy Connor Day (Aramis Knight), Mia's violent ex.
Even though it's barely over 90 minutes, Karate Kid: Legends drags horribly, with poorly written scenes and a haphazard structure barely connecting the dots. The parallel plots are laborious and convoluted as writer Rob Lieber piles on scene after scene, with each feeling more disconnected than the last.
While the film hits all of the Karate Kid beats — a big geographical move, a dickhead aggro enemy (albeit it one with absolutely zero character arc, motivation or development), a Miyagi-like sage, a signature move (dragon-based instead of crane) — it does so without any of its predecessor's fun, energy or originality. The dual storyline does the film no favours, splitting it awkwardly right down the middle, rendering the first half, where Li trains Victor, as filler, plain and simple. It happens, and then it's done, and there are zero consequences.
The structure in the second half is simply weird and confusing, with scenes from the Five Boroughs Tournament interspersed using kinetic zooms through the city showing us that we are off to another borough, and Li training and spending time with his mother and his teachers, Mr. Han and Daniel LaRusso (Macchio's back, baby!). The tournament ends up being an afterthought when it should be the film's centrepiece.
While the filmmakers, Lieber and director Jonathan Entwistle, try to deviate from the structure of the original Karate Kid, they overdo it, losing the simplicity that helped the original develop its signature fun and tension. The final fight happens atop a skyscraper, which begs the question: why wasn't the whole tournament here? It's a great, completely ridiculous premise, and it only appears in one scene. Pointless.
The stilted dialogue, particularly bad between Li and Mia, grows more than tiresome with the characters spouting clumsy catchphrases and recycling themes and philosophies from earlier entries in the franchise. At the start of the film, we're presented with Mr. Han's "jacket on, jacket off" mantra, which becomes this film's "wax on, wax off." Later, while training Victor, Li proclaims, "Everything is kung fu," while also espousing the Bruce Lee-inspired "move like water" philosophy. These philosophies come and go with little to no regard for continuity, another recurring problem.
Jonathan Entwistle's direction is similarly shoddy. The hyper-kinetic fights, characterized by dashing camera moves, quick cuts and choppy editing, lack rhythm and flow. Most shots barely last a few milliseconds as the camera clumsily bobs around the fighters, losing the fluidity necessary for good martial arts fight scenes. While the original 1984 film, directed by John G. Avildsen, had patience, letting the fights unfold with minimal cuts, over 40 years later, the action scenes are filled with incomprehensible Marvel-like blurs.
Most of the performances suffer because of the directing and writing, the actors doing what they can with their expository speeches, dull threats and saccharine sentiments. At times, it feels like Entwistle has never watched a scene of dialogue. Macchio, Chan and Wen are all horribly underused, but it's Wen who suffers the most. As Li's mother, she ends up as little more than a disapproving parental mouthpiece before she predictably accepts his martial arts ways. At least we get national treasure Joshua Jackson bulked up for Legends — good on you, Pacey.
One of the film's biggest shortcomings is its inability to decide who it's for or what it's trying to say — too violent for kids, but too cliché for everyone in general. Characters show up for a few scenes, then disappear. Wyatt Oleff plays Li's entirely unnecessary and painfully unfunny tutor, and the villains are less than one-dimensional. Li's fatal flaw — an inability to step up in emergency situations — is a flimsy set-up for the preordained hero moment.
Filled with hackneyed scenes and plot points, the film tries to pass them off as "references" or "homages." The "psycho-sensei" who craves violence returns, complete with goons who constantly pursue and undermine Li and Victor, while the inevitable training montage has serious Rocky IV vibes: Connor trains in a dull, sterile gym, while Li's organic DIY setup, located in the middle of a garden on a Manhattan rooftop, is practically transcendent.
After his initial introduction at the start of the film, it takes almost an hour — more than half the runtime — to bring back Chan. Soon after, Macchio also joins the team, but this protracted (re)introduction proves a huge mistake. The Miyagi-do/wuguan training scenes with Chan, Macchio and Wang not only offer some of the best scenes in the film, they may just be its only redeeming feature. Fun, well-paced and very necessary, the two should have been brought in much earlier.
The film is an exercise in wasted opportunities, with bad writing and even worse directing barely holding together a mess of a story riddled with clichés and confused plotting. Although there are a few moments of sincerity, particularly once Macchio enters the picture, they're very few and far between. They even miss an opportunity for a Miyagi-like nose flick!
Redundant, repetitive and almost entirely devoid of soul, Karate Kid: Legends demonstrates anti-climactic filmmaking at its finest, a film flatter than one of Victor's pizzas. Legends coasts off the success of Cobra Kai without any thought towards telling a good story or giving its characters life.
Loud, half-baked and a discordant disappointment, Legends is devoid of drama, tension or excitement. It's underdeveloped, with orphaned ideas aplenty and the barely-pulsing heart of an AI-level script.
During one of the training scenes, Mr. Han and Daniel encourage Li to sweep the leg, which says it all. That's sacrilege. Mr. Miyagi's legacy deserves better than this.