Road to Karate Kid: Legends - The Karate Kid (2010) Review

 

Alright we're back the on the Road to Karate Kid: Legends. Hopefully this one will be better than the last movie I reviewed.

The Karate Kid (2010) is a martial arts drama film and the fifth movie in the franchise. It originally served as a loose remake but because of the upcoming Karate Kid: Legends, it's now retconned as taking place in the same continuity in the original film series' universe. The companies in charged of production were Columbia Pictures, China Film Group, Overbrook Entertainment, and JW Productions with Sony Pictures Releasing doing distributing. Robert Mark Kamen and Christopher Murphey wrote with Harald Zwart directing.

The story is, after getting a job transfer widowed mother Sherry and her 12-year-old son Dre move from Detroit, Michigan to Beijing, China. If handling moving to a different country wasn't bad enough Dre is being relentlessly bullied. He soon finds an ally in maintenance man Mr. Han, who teaches him the secrets of self-defense.

• Negatives

I've got nothing to say here.

• Mix

There's two mix bags here, staring with the pacing. While some moments move at a pretty good speed there are scenes where stuff can drag. To the point where you can almost feel the 2hr runtime.

Then there's the story. Now it is predictable. Kid is bullied and then by the end he isn't because he's proved himself but, but, there is a lot of good to it. It's got good themes of growth and finding belonging. So while you do know what's gonna happen next, especially if you're familiar with the 1984 film, at least there is a lot of heart put into. So the story doesn't feel like a cash grab when compared to other remakes.

• Positives

One of the few good aspects is the cinematography. It's beautiful. You get visually striking images of China's landscapes, along with some nicely done urban settings. So thumbs up to the late Roger Pratt. 👍🏻

Then there's the fight scenes. I know some people complain about them looking to polished, but that didn't bother me too much. Sometimes I wish they were a bit more gritty, but I still had some fun with them. You'll get a kick (does this count as a pun?) out of them. Because there is a lot of authenticity to them and like all good action scenes, they do bring some pretty good character-driven stakes and growth to them.

The last praise will go to the performances. First there's Jaden Smith. He's really good when it comes to the more quieter moments and has some good charisma to him as well. Although sometimes he does force it with the dramatic stuff. But I think we should give him a pass on that. 1) He was 11 at the time of making this. 2) He only did two other movies prior to this so there wasn't that much experience under his belt and 3) there are way worse child performances than this one. But then we have the other star of the movie, Jackie Chan. He really grounds the whole movie, while still bringing humor and charm along the way. But wow, he is amazing at drama. There's one scene where his character [Mr. Han] is telling a story of terrible tragedy that happened to him in the past, and Chan kills it.

While not flawless a lot of the good helps bring balance to the more gray areas. It's not perfect but the movie still has a lot going for it.

My final rating is, Good.

Okay, that was way better than The Next Karate Kid. But that's a wrap for this road. Hopefully in May Karate Kid: Legends will be good. Anyways, that's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Apr 24th, for my A Look Back at review of 2016's The Accountant. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.