‘Karate Kid: Legends’ review: Franchise re-boot fails to land a punch

Dir: Jonathan Entwistle. US. 2025. 94mins  

Trying to revive a franchise whose final big-screen instalment was 15 years in the past, Karate Child: Legends echoes the principle plot factors from the 1984 unique, which solely underlines how little kick this materials maintains. Ben Wang proves to be a likeable hero making ready to compete in a New York Metropolis karate match, educated by Jackie Chan and Karate Child common Ralph Macchio, however the movie’s cynical, formulaic execution smothers any spark its younger star brings to the proceedings.  

Little grasp of the emotional undercurrents that made the unique resonate

That is the sixth movie within the franchise, which acquired newfound curiosity due to Cobra Kai, the favored internet collection that includes Macchio that premiered in 2018 and ended earlier this yr. Chan beforehand appeared within the 2010 movie, additionally referred to as The Karate Child, and the motion icon ought to additional appeal to nostalgic audiences wanting somewhat family-friendly martial-arts leisure. Legends might battle, nonetheless, amidst heavy competitors from Lilo & Sew and the forthcoming live-action How To Practice Your Dragon remake.  

Kindly teenager Li (Wang) strikes from Beijing to New York along with his mom, Dr. Fong (Ming-Na Wen), vowing to put aside his kung fu coaching after a horrible household tragedy involving his late brother. Failing to slot in in school, Li instantly takes a shine to Mia (Sadie Stanley), who lives along with her father Victor (Joshua Jackson). Mia’s possessive ex-boyfriend Conor (Aramis Knight), a karate grasp, doesn’t like Li spending time along with her. Inevitably, Li and Conor will sq. off within the 5 Boroughs martial-arts competitors to settle their feud. 

In his function debut, UK director Jonathan Entwistle (The Finish Of The F***ing World) efficiently establishes the rapport between his youthful characters, particularly as soon as Li and Mia start slowly falling in love. Wang and Stanley have a candy, dorky chemistry, and Jackson performs an affable father determine to the reserved Li. In Legends’ early stretches, Rob Lieber’s screenplay focuses on Li’s makes an attempt to get Victor, a former boxer and now a pizza parlour proprietor, again in form so as to win a prize battle that might earn him sufficient cash to repay some vicious mortgage sharks. However viewers can safely predict that it received’t be lengthy earlier than Li himself returns to the ring, regardless that he promised his mom he wouldn’t battle anymore. 

Legends doesn’t merely comply with the narrative of the 1984 movie; it additionally mirrors its considerably hypocritical perspective towards karate. In each photos, the preliminary emphasis is on utilizing the martial artwork just for defence, a platitude that can take a backseat as soon as our hero must beat up the dangerous man within the massive match. Within the place of the late Pat Morita’s sage coach Mr. Miyagi, the brand new movie provides us two mediocre mentors: Macchio’s bland Daniel and Chan’s solemn Mr. Han, who educated Li in Beijing and travels to New York to verify in on his pupil. Legends will get no increase from these acquainted faces — as an alternative, the story sags when it cedes screentime to its ageing stars, who lack Wang’s modest comedic charms.  

This franchise has gone a great distance on its amped-up coaching montages and big-showdown finales, however Entwistle proves merely ample in delivering these dependable pleasures. Too typically, Legends resorts to video-game aesthetics throughout Li’s match matches, and much more disappointingly, the movie’s villain is a complete bore. This new instalment is aware of which story beats to hit, but it surely has little grasp of the emotional undercurrents that made the unique resonate — the way it touched on adolescent insecurities, past love, and the scourge of faculty bullies.  

Then once more, maybe it’s higher that Legends so mechanically replicates the earlier instalments — when it tries to pluck our heartstrings, the outcomes are sometimes disastrously tacky, by no means extra so than throughout a strained flashback that explains what occurred to Li’s brother. After which there’s Daniel and Mr. Han, who largely communicate in bromides. Their each utterance is insultingly facile greeting-card knowledge that hurts the top greater than any roundhouse kick ever might.