I have been looking forward to Karate Kid: Legends before we even knew what Karate Kid: Legends was. The film was announced in 2022 but it took more than a year after that for the news to break that both Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan would star, combining the past, present, and future of the franchise. Macchio’s inclusion also assured that the story would have to link in some way to the hit Netflix show Cobra Kai, which was great because the movie seemingly existed in large part due to the show’s popularity.
Well now, almost three years since its announcement, the film is finally here, and I was supremely disappointed. There were good ideas in there, and a strong chance of sending The Karate Kid off in a fun new direction. But for the most part, the film fumbles all of that. In the end, I was left only excited about two things in the movie—the beginning and the end.
The beginning of Karate Kid: Legends is maddening because it sets such high expectations for what’s to come, but never delivers on them. “Okinawa, Japan, 1986,” the screen reads as we watch a scene from The Karate Kid Part II (which was released in 1986 but actually set before that, not that this movie cares). In the scene, taken from footage shot at the time, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) explains how his ancestor learned Chinese Kung Fu from the Han clan and brought that back to Japan. It was the beginning of a centuries-long bond between the families, one that, we know, will manifest later in the movie with Mr. Han (Chan) and Daniel (Macchio) as the respective representatives.
That retconning of footage we’ve already seen, coupled with an added animation to give it context, really makes you feel like what you are about to see is going to be epic. Two legendary martial arts families united as one for some big, important cause. Of course, what you then see is Mr. Han’s great nephew, Li (Ben Wang), training Pacey from Dawson’s Creek to box for an hour—but hey, the beginning is great.
Of course, eventually, Li’s uncle Mr. Han comes to New York to help him train for a tournament, and he, for some reason, decides Li needs Daniel to help too. So Daniel comes, trains Li, and—this is the spoiler zone—Li wins. That’s not the great scene at the end, though. The great scene at the end is when Daniel goes back to California, and Li sends him a New York pizza in the mail with a note teasing about future collaborations. Daniel accepts the package and turns around to reveal none other than Johnny Lawrence played by William Zabka.
Lawrence, of course, was Daniel’s nemesis in the original Karate Kid movie but then spent six seasons of Cobra Kai changing his entire life, eventually becoming the sensei at the most famous dojo in the world. None of that comes to play here, but just seeing Johnny post-Cobra Kai, cracking a few jokes about Miyagi-inspired pizza places, is inspired. In my screening of the film, it’s the only moment that elicited any kind of audience reaction. It’s funny, nostalgic for the originals as well as the show, and it reminds you that this is a larger world.
So is the existence of Karate Kid: Legends worth it for those two moments? Not really. But, Ben Wang as Li is a very cool character and maybe, if the film finds an audience, we can see him on the mat again in the future.
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