Entertainment—sometimes, just like God—works in mysterious ways. It’s like throwing spaghetti at the wall; you never know what trends will stick and which will not. There’s a very good argument to be made that when YouTube Red (remember that?) launched a sequel to “Karate Kid,” the chances it would last more than one season were very low. Damn! The chances that this new venture on YouTube will last very long were even lower.
In theory, it sounded like a great idea; then again, when you get something for free, it’s hard to convince people to pay for it despite all the best efforts. Six seasons later (one could argue they were at least a season too long), “Cobra Kai” proved to be so much of a success. Its blend of teen soapy melodrama and some solid fight choreographies was quite engaging. There are very few shows that had me binge-watching the whole thing in pretty much one sitting.
All of this prelude leads us to the first movie in the “Karate Kids” franchise in 15 years, in which we follow, you guessed it, a new “karate kid” (though just like Jaden Smith’s lead entry, he also does kung fu and other forms of martial arts), Li Fong, who moves from Beijing to the Big Apple to start a new life with his mother, played by the great Ming-Na Wen.
After the passing of his brother, her mother forbids him to get himself into any fighting, but this is a Karate Kid so obviously this doesn’t last very long as he falls in love with a girl who, of course, was dating a bully who also happens to be an ace in the martial arts, even more than our lead. But don’t go expecting a Johnny/Daniel situation here; this dude is truly a goon. As events unfold, Li finds himself entangled in a tournament that will determine the fate of his newfound friends.
Okay, so where do I start with this one?
Well, first of all, as many who have had the chance to meet Ben Wang have been saying to exhaustion, the kid oozes with such a magnetic charm, it’s insane. The kid is truly poised to be a superstar. I’d go as far as to say he’s the most likable of all the protagonists in this series. And then you learn he apparently did a lot of his stunts. Like, you’re kidding me?! Get out of here! The dude’s fly-kicking and parkouring in the alley as he kicks the asses of people twice his size. It was insane. I am serious when I say he could easily become the next Jet Li or Donnie Yen; he’s that good.
The rest of the cast are also pretty good. Our main bad guy has little to no character development. He’s just there looking all mean. They made him an equal badass. That scene in the school with him dodging every move like f—ing Neo or something was so cool. The final showdown had him doing some crazy, awesome moves. It was pretty good to see Jackie pulling some punches and kicks, though if you come expecting a lot of him, you’d be disappointed. But more of that later. Macchio was also pretty good; he gets to do some fighting, but mostly in practice. Indeed, even Joshua Jackson manages to deliver a few punches.
…which I guess leads me to my next point. Despite what the trailers have led you to believe, this is Ben Wang’s movie through and through. Normally, in all the other movies we see, do follow most of the story through the perspective of our main youngster, but usually midway through the film, you get this whole student-master dynamic.
Not sure if this counts as a spoiler, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. While Jackie appears in the opening and throughout the film, he and Ralph don’t actually start training Li until, like, 30 minutes into the film. Until then, we actually have Wang training Joshua Jackson’s character, Victor, a former boxer turned pizza owner, as he tries to get back to the ring in order to make some money and pay some debts to the bad guys.
So we have Ben training him through a lot of the same methods you would expect from Macchio or Chan. Something I honestly found very refreshing. At first, the whole film seemed like it was going to be a rehash of the first and Smith’s movies, you know, the kid moves to a new place, he encounters a bully that wants to make his life miserable after he falls for his “girlfriend,” etc. Same old formula. And while it does stick to a lot of those conventions, the whole addition of boxing to the mix and the dynamic between Wang and Jackson was very, very interesting. And like I said, it gave a really good and fresh spin to what some may call a tired formula.
All in all, another fantastic addition to a franchise that found its way to revitalize itself in the most unexpected way possible, as an underdog who rises to the occasion. I’ve yet to see the other entries—haven’t seen them in a while—but this is easily at least the second-best entry. Ben Wang is a star in the making; his skills are on another level. The chemistry he shares with everyone is fantastic.
I would have loved more Jackie and Ralph. I was honestly very nervous when the film clocked 50 minutes and we still had no signs of them teaming up. The final showdown was fantastic in large part because of the crazy good fight stunts. Maybe with a better character development, especially with the villains, it could have added a good level of drama like we had with Johnny and Kreese, so maybe we get some of that in the next sequel, which hopefully will not get released in more than a decade.
