Karate Kid: Legends – Review

Nostalgia in Hollywood can be a powerful, but at times blunt weapon, in the hands of different people. Top Gun: Maverick (2022) showed that gloabl audiences were hungry for a sequel to the 1986 Tom Cruise-led classic, and the last two Ghostbusters sequels, Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), showed how a mix of original and new cast could take the franchise in new directions.

Yet, there have been an equal number of misses. The last two Die Hard films, Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), tried but failed to live up to the original trilogy despite the presence of franchise lead, Bruce Willis, while the recent Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) failed to connect with audiences young and old, likely due in part to an ageing Harrison Ford, and the absence of co-creators Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

Then we have The Karate Kid, a wonderful 1984 film about a mother and her son, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) who moves away from home to a new city, meets a girl and gets in trouble with the girl’s male friend, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), and learns karate from an old master, Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita), to defend himself. That film resonated with fans and spawned two sequels with Macchio and Morita, until a fourth movie saw only Morita return but with a new disciple.

Morita’s death in 2005 would have led to the franchise’s end, since he served as the mentor and heart of the series, but with Hollywood, what’s death got to do with anything? A 2010 remake, starring Jackie Chan as the ageing martial arts master, Mr Han, was originally a remake of the 1984 film, which saw a mother and her son move from the US to China, only for the son to meet a girl and get in trouble with her male friend, and this time, he has to learn kung fu to defend himself.

Even though many lamented calling a kung fu-inspired remake The Karate Kid, that film was a hit, though no sequel ever materialised. Until 2018, when Cobra Kai, a streaming series revival  focusing on Lawrence, made its debut alongside a long list of characters retruning from the original trilogy. The reunion of Macchio and Zabka, along with new characters, saw the series achieve almost universal acclaim among fans young and old.

Which leads us to Karate Kid: Legends, the first big screen outing that retcons previous narratives, as it places both Macchio and Chan’s movies as part of the same narrative universe. The opening scene, which borrows heavily from a sequence from 1986’s The Karate Kid Part II, expands on the original narrative that saw Miyagi and Han’s ancestor establish relationship in China, to set-up how LaRusso and Han share a strong connection.

But this isn’t their movie, because, and stop us if you’re read this before, it’s about a mother, Dr. Fong, (Ming-Na Wen, The Mandalorian)) and Han’s niece, and her son Li Fong (Ben Wang, American Born Chinese), moving from the China to New York City, only for the Li to meet a girl, Mia Lipani (Sadie Stanley, The Goldbergs) and get in trouble with her male friend, Conor Day (Aramis Knight, Ms. Marvel) and this time, he has to learn kung fu to defend himself.

In fact, aside from short appearances at the start, with archival footage of Macchio, and by Chan  in events in China, the film spends the first half dealing with Li dealing with his new life in America, and saving Mia’s father Victor (Joshua Jackson, Doctor Odyssey) from loan sharks. It’s a nice set-up that reverses the premise of the Macchio and Chan’s first films, thereby setting up Li to swap out his kung fu capabilities for some karate chops. While the foundation of boy meets girl and pisses off her ex isn’t new, it’s nice to see some solid chemistry between Wang and Stanley, and of course, Wang’s natural skills in Chinese martial arts. His scenes, fighting with others, and sparring with Chan are highlights.

Those skills come in play when Li plays shifu (master) and coaches former boxer Victor, leading Victor to a showdown that see him hospitalised. Aspects of the Fongs are revealed, and in comes Han who decides that the only way for his nephew to get past the trauma of fight or freeze, is to enter him in a karate tournament.

And it’s the last half hour that fans will enjoy, when Han recruits LaRusso to train Li in karate. Narratively, this will only make more sense if you’ve seen Cobra Kai, and know that across six seasons of that series, LaRusso went from having given up on karate, to opening a dojo and training students. Otherwise, how does it make sense for a former karate champion audiences last saw in a 1989 film, to emerge from out of nowhere, to help train a student in 2025? It’s this part where British filmmaker Jonathan Entwistle (The End Of The F***ing World) drops the ball somewhat, as he does nothing to little to introduce LaRusso and you need to be a fan of the 41-year-old franchise, to understand his significance to the movie. 

But if you’re a fan, you get to understand how quickly LaRusso adapts, to be able to learn how to support Han and combine two forms of martial arts – it’s what he did on Cobra Kai, merging his and Johnny Lawrence’s different karate style, to reclaim the glory for his new students in the streaming series. Yet, because this movie and that series are linked but creatively separate, it’s this gap that doesn’t show up in a flashback or montage, that skips telling audiences why LaRusso’s input matters. Yes, he’s Miyagi protege but the film doesn’t show us the how and why. It’s only in the start where you see footage from the second film to get a hint, but the absence of it is frustrating to longtime fans. 

The ending is as anticipated, and not even surprising, as the finishing move was orchestrated from the get go, but it’s nice to see some fancy footwork between Wang and Knight on screen.

If anything, the combined might of Han and LaRusso, sparring physically and verbally are the highlights that could have been better fleshed out. Fans are treated to the jacket on, jacket off, and jokes about which style or form of karate or kung fu is superior, and stay to the end for a cameo that again, ties back to the first movie and the recently concluded streaming series – you won’t understand or appreciate it as much if you didn’t watch all six seasons of it.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?