Oh boy, this was a tough one folks.
The Next Karate Kid is a marital arts drama movie and the fourth installment of the Karate Kid film series. Columbia Pictures both produced and distributed, the story was written by Mark Lee and Christopher Cain directed.
The story is, Mr. Miyagi goes to Boston to attend a military reunion. During this he meets the widow of his old commanding officer and her granddaughter Julie, who is still struggling with the recent deaths of her parents. One day Miyagi is surprised with her knowledge of karate. He sees this as a opportunity to teach her the true ways of karate as well as help her with her anger issues.
- Negatives
Oh boy...do we have a lot of problems, starting with the humor. I laughed maybe twice, any other time I just sat on my couch in silence. Sure the previous three's comedy weren't breaking the mold, but they at least had more to offer.
Then there's the dialogue...wow. Just bare witness to this.
Did you get that? Did you get all of that info? Are you well informed that her parents are dead? Just...wow! The only reason that was said was to tell us, not the grandmother who already knows this, but was to tell us that the parents are dead. It's like the writer had no faith in the audience putting the pieces together, so poor Hilary had to say this clunky exposition line.
Speaking of Hilary Swank, let's move on to her character, Julie. This isn't a very likable character. For a major of the movie she sucks. And I get it, typically when someone loses their loved ones, in this case the parents, people will lash out. But there was a way to do this without making Julie so insufferable. And even when she becomes a "better" person it doesn't feel good. Mainly because she doesn't spend a lot of time with Mr. Miyagi. Yeah those two don't really do a lot of bonding. So when Julie has a more chilled attitude, it doesn't feel like a good moment, because it doesn't feel like we went a full journey, but an abridged version of that journey.
I'm gonna continue with characters with the next being the villains, Alpha Elite. Boy were they boring. I mean it, out of all of the Karate Kid villains, they were generic. They're so uninspired I forgot a lot of stuff they did. The only thing I remember was them bungee-jumping during the school prom.....don't bother asking me what that's about, the movie doesn't give any explanation.
Then there's the fighting, sadly it's just not very good. It's lackluster. There's no real energy or excitement to them. Which really sucks because the previous movies had great fighting in them. Even Karate Kid Part III, despite the poor quality it has still had some good fights for us to look forward to.
The last thing I'll touch on for this section is the story. Sure it has some focus on Karate and introduces SOME new stuff, but some of its just retreading stuff we've seen. But even with that, the primary focus is teen drama queen stuff. So if you like one-dimensional teenager angst, this movie's got you covered.
- Mix
I've got nothing.
- Positives
There's only two good things about Next Karate Kid, one is Pat Morita. Despite the absolute dog shit of a story he has to work with, he still manages to put his talents to good use. So he makes this movie almost of tolerable, almost.
Then there's how the credits just pop up quickly. No seriously, the moment Pat says his last line to Hilary we don't get some sort of epilogue, no! In what felt like the snap of a finger the credits start rolling. So good news, after the final fight no more of this movie.
Jeez, what a waste of time.
My final rating is, Awful!
That's all for now. Come back on Saturday, Mar 15th, for my review of the newest Russo Bros./Netflix movie, The Electric State. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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