In preparation for this one, I went back and watched the four key movies in the Karate Kid megafranchise to date. And seriously, it’s goddamn surreal that this is a megafranchise now.
The 2010 remake didn’t need a sequel. The Next Karate Kid didn’t need a sequel. And if we’re being totally honest, the original film didn’t need a sequel either. It’s one of the all-time happiest and unlikeliest accidents in cinema history that the original Karate Kid trilogy developed into a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Together with “Cobra Kai”, it became a grand coming-of-age saga that grew up alongside its stars and its audience.
All the same, my earlier review ended with an imperative open question: How much longer can or should this keep going? This question has only grown more pertinent with the release of Karate Kid: Legends.
The established franchise formula is firmly and strongly in effect here. You’ve got the young protagonist (Li Fong, played by newcomer Ben Wang) living with his single mom (the unnamed Dr. Fong, played by Ming-Na Wen), and they move to go start a new life someplace where they don’t fit in. You’ve got the love interest (Mia, played by Sadie Stanley), you’ve got the one-dimensional asshole bully/romantic rival (Conor, played by Aramis Knight), there’s the hot-headed shitheel who trains the bully (O’Shea, played by Tim Rozon), and you’ve got the climactic martial arts tournament where our protagonist can publicly humiliate the bully or vice versa. And all along the way, our young protagonist has to learn when and how to fight back without becoming another two-dimensional bully like everyone threatening him and his loved ones.
But for all of that, there are some neat twists on the established template.
To start with, this isn’t like the 2010 reboot: Li went to an American school in Hong Kong, and he and his mother both speak fluent English at the outset, so there isn’t as much of a Chinese/American culture clash like we got with Dre. Moreover, Li trained in kung fu before he came to NYC, so he doesn’t start out completely ignorant or defenseless, just outclassed.
Trouble is, we’re roughly a year out from the death of Li’s older brother (Bo, played by Yankei Ge), who got killed in a street fight after winning a martial arts tournament. So now Li’s mom has forbidden him from taking part in anything that vaguely resembles violence, to the point where Li gets a black eye from an unprovoked sucker-punch and he’s the one who gets berated for it.
We gotta stop there for a moment. Because we’re talking about Ming-Na Wen here. With the debatable exception of Michelle Yeoh, we’re talking about the most OG, most beautiful, most badass Asian bitch in the industry today. And she’s playing a resolute pacifist. Who never gets a fight scene. In a goddamn Karate Kid movie.
Granted, Ming-Na Wen has the steel to play a stern mother figure, but the point stands that this is not a good use of Ming-Na Wen. With the utmost of respect, I do not want to see her onscreen unless she is kicking everyone’s ass.
Moving on, there’s the other big twist: Mia’s father. Victor (Joshua Jackson) is a former boxer who owes money to the shitheel sensei O’Shea. In a desperate last-ditch bid to get the money, Victor turns to Li to try and get some kung-fu training as a complement to his boxing acumen. And this happens in the front half of the movie.
In any other Karate Kid movie, this would be the point when our protagonist is getting started. But this time, we’re watching him grow and develop through teaching kung-fu to someone else. Even better, this arrangement opens up a new dynamic between the protagonist and the love interest, who actually has some agency and personality in this entry. I might further add that Jackson has a flippant charm perfectly suited to this New Yawk boxer-turned-pizzaiolo, and his interplay with Ben Wang is great fun to watch. Best of all, Li’s struggles with his past trauma dovetail beautifully with how things play out between him, Mia, and Victor.
Oh, and I’d be remiss not to mention the comic relief character who actually plays a vital role in the plot instead of disappearing completely after five minutes. In fact, Alan (Wyatt Oleff) gets a few legitimately funny moments and provides material help in procuring a space for Li and Han to train. Very nice.
But then we come to the big question: How does this tie in with the rest of the megafranchise? What about Jackie Chan? What about Ralph Macchio? This was made and marketed as the big crossover event that continued the Miyagiverse and folded in the 2010 remake, so how does that factor in?
Well, the film helpfully opens with a flashback from The Karate Kid: Part II, skillfully retconning Han (Jackie Chan) and Miyagi (Pat Morita) as descendants of the same martial arts style that originated in China. Han is involved from the outset, as Li is his prized student and great-nephew. And Han travels from NYC all the way out to LA to bring in Daniel LaRusso (exec producer Macchio, natch) because — I really do hope you’re sitting down for this — the climactic tournament is a karate competition, so Li has to learn karate.
That’s it. That’s why the characters and filmmakers had to go 3,000 miles out of their way to bring in the original Karate Kid. That’s not even paper-thin, that’s freaking cellophane.
Granted, the story of “Karate Kid” is the story of Daniel LaRusso, and it’s been repeatedly proven that there is no franchise without him. I’ll further grant that watching him banter with Jackie Chan about their different martial arts styles and philosophies was amusing, and I appreciate the effort at getting Macchio a few fight scenes. Even so, it’s painfully and achingly obvious how far the filmmakers had to stretch to justify Daniel’s presence in this movie. Even as it is, Daniel could’ve been cut from the film entirely and the plot would’ve played out exactly the same.
On the one hand, it makes a kind of sense that Li’s development arc should be the central driving force of the plot. It’s a simple and straightforward story well in keeping with the established franchise tropes and themes, and focusing on a new lead character keeps everyone in the audience on the same page. The returning franchise stars are a condiment rather than an entree, in such a way that anyone coming in fresh will be perfectly capable of enjoying the film on its own, while the franchise faithful will get a little more mileage. It’s all a great idea… in theory.
In practice, the film is a little too self-contained for its own good. Dre never gets a passing mention, and who the hell knows what Mr. Han did or how he came to run this massive sprawling martial arts school in the past 15 years. Aside from that brief opening flashback and a last-minute cameo at the end, there’s nothing whatever to do with “Cobra Kai” or the original trilogy. Again, considering this was supposed to be a huge megafranchise crossover event, the lack of inter-continuity payoff is a serious problem.
There’s nothing wrong with Karate Kid: Legends that isn’t wrong with the franchise as a whole. The plot is formulaic, most of the characters are two-dimensional at best, and the internal logic is all over the map (Seriously, it’s distressing how often characters get away with illegal blows and outright assaulting the referees.), but that’s all par for the course with this franchise. The fight scenes are fun, the training montages are entertaining to watch, and we’ve got some empowering central themes of courage and personal growth through ethical self-defense. Ben Wang turns in a remarkable lead performance, and the student/teacher interplay is so much more entertaining with two teachers to contend with.
As a movie, it’s quick and mindless fun. As a Karate Kid movie, it fits right in with the other films in the megafranchise. But as a sign of where this franchise could potentially go in the post-“Cobra Kai” future, it’s a grim portent.
I completely understand why the filmmakers aren’t interested in following up with Julie Pierce or Dre Parker, and I’m not really interested in another film with Li Fong either. Mr. Han, Daniel LaRusso, and Johnny Lawrence have all settled so comfortably into their mentor roles, I’m left to wonder how many stories with them are left to tell until the characters finally die. For that matter, I’m not sure the franchise’s “fish-out-of-water coming-of-age” premise has many more variations worth exploring. And it’s not like rebooting the franchise is an option, because we tried that already.
Can we please just let this be the end of it? I’d be fine with that. Karate Kid: Legends is both a perfectly respectable entry in the greater megafranchise and a surefire sign of diminishing returns. Mark my words, it’s only downhill from here if the filmmakers decide to keep going.