In what is perhaps a novel twist, the screenplay by Ron Lieber refactors the aforementioned remake into the continuity of the previous films. It turns out, as explained in a flashback to The Karate Kid: Part Two, Mr. Miyagi's (Pat Morita) brand of Karate has its roots in Kung Fu. As we officially open the film, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), the Mr. Miyagi of the "remake," continues teaching Kung Fu in China. One of his students is his grandnephew, Li Fong (Ben Wang), who gets dragged off to New York when his doctor mother (Ming-Na Wen) gets a job there. Li immediately befriends Mia Lipani (Sadie Stanley), daughter of local pizzeria owner Victor (Joshua Jackson). All's good, right?
Unfortunately, Li also meets Mia's ex, Connor Day (Aramis Knight), an unhinged martial arts champion. Connor's instructor, Mr. O'Shea (Tim Rozon) is a loan shark who wants Victor to pay up or else. One night, Li fights off some of O'Shea's goons, which gets Victor, a former fighter himself, to ask Li to be his Mr. Miyagi. That's admittedly an interesting twist on the franchise's well-established formula. But eventually, circumstances force Li to get into the ring himself in an upcoming martial arts tournament, The Five Burroughs. Mr. Han and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), the original Karate Kid himself, show up to train Li for the tournament. That's pretty much it.
So, when do the Shifu and the Sensei team-up? At least half-way through this 94-minute movie. It's kind of a long wait considering that's the selling point of the advertisements. They rush through Li into the formula in its remaining minutes; it could've been better if one or both was present at the start. They could've helped develop the conflict between Li and his mom over his taking up martial arts again. Instead, she accepts it off-screen; I'll explain the conflict a little further down. Even worse, it ends so quickly that Mr. O'Shea becomes a Karma Houdini, unless he becomes the new John Kreese in a sequel. It's not a perfect plot, but there's plenty to admire and enjoy about it.
One such aspect is the new Karate Kid himself. Throughout the movie, Li is haunted by the death of his brother, a Kung Fu champion who got murdered by an angry rival and his gang. That incident is why his mother doesn't want him taking up martial arts again. His PTSD is palpable before the reveal, and the audience can easily sympathize with his reluctant hero status. You can't blame him when he freezes up after Victor's comeback fight goes horribly wrong; neither can you blame Mia, for that matter, for being mad at him. Of course, all of that makes it spectacular when he beats the odds in the final round.
So, who's in this new Karate Kid's corner? Well, Mr. Han proves that Jackie Chan is just as spry in his seventies as he was in his thirties. He proves that much when he breaks into Li's apartment and gives him a sudden sparing lesson. He's just as eccentric as he was in the "remake," and all the more delightful for it. His best scene is when he consoles Li over his failure to help Victor. His co-Sensei, Daniel, is quite moving when he speaks of the late Mr. Miyagi with reverence (even if it's played for laughs in the epilogue, which has a surprise cameo). Both legacy characters are great together, even if it's not for the whole movie. Li has great chemistry with not only the Lipanis, but Alan (Wyat Oleff), his student-tutor, wingman and unofficial third sensei.
This brings me to the bad guys. Connor is the type of villain whose very presence will unnerve you. What does he do to deserve that reputation? He's excessively violent to his sparring partners, punches Li on the subway and even attacks a referee or two. He barely tries to pretend to be nice; one exception leads to the subway punch. I wasn't kidding when I called him unhinged earlier. Mr. O'Shea, meanwhile, isn't nice either, which he proves when he gets Victor nearly killed at his comeback match. Unfortunately, he's out of focus for most of the film. But both he and Connor continue the series' proud tradition of villains you can't believe weren't already in jail. Again, it's still beyond satisfying when Li knocks down Connor at the end.
It doesn't disappoint with the fight scenes, even if some of them are slightly over-edited. Li saving Victor from O'Shea's goons deserves a special mention, as that one has Li swing from a fire-escape for a kick! Li's decisive move is another spectacular kick, which he practices on a subway turnstile in a very funny montage. It's beyond obvious who the mysterious intruder attacking Li is, but it's still entertaining to watch it play out. Let's not forget the tournament, even those fights just there in a montage. These fights are accentuated quite nicely by Dominic Lewis's score. The graphics used to illustrate the countdown to the tournament and its point-system were pretty nifty, too.
It has some writing issues, but at least its callbacks to the previous films aren't so intrusive. You might need some familiarity with them, but you don't need to binge them beforehand. Its new Karate Kid is so compelling that you might want to break into applause at the end (my screening did). I'm sure this might get one to check out the previous films, or even the sequel series Cobra Kai, but I've had plenty of fun with its recent video game, The Karate Kid: Street Rumble. It's a bit hard in places, but it's spectacularly entertaining, much like this film. I definitely recommend you check out both.
That's it for now.
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