One of the reasons I stopped rating movies on those movie-rating sites is because I kinda stopped caring about the difference between a good movie and a good movie. I don’t know if Commando is a good movie, especially if you compare it to contemporary action movies like Die Hard or The Terminator. But Commando is a great time: it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger hamming it up in a cheesy, over-the-top action movie involving endless one-liners and a ridiculous machismo. Whether or not it’s a good movie is almost irrelevant in light of how much fun it is.
By the same token, I’m not entirely sure if Karate Kid: Legends is a good movie. Parts of it feel underbaked — the big move from Beijing to New York happens without much drama, the relationship between Li and Mr. Han isn’t so much understated as it is underdeveloped, and Ming-Na Wen is woefully underutilized in her role as Li’s mother. And the film makes some very interesting choices with its editing that defy reason. But, but but, Karate Kid: Legends is also a movie that knows exactly the sort of movie it is and delivers.
Karate Kid: Legends is a Karate Kid movie and, vitally, it knows it’s a Karate Kid movie. It hits the beats and tropes of a Karate Kid: the titular kid moves to a new town, there’s a new school, there’s the middle-aged man around the corner who forms a meaningful bond with the kid, there’s the love interest, there’s the karate tournament, there’s the evil, rival dojo, there’s the cartoonishly evil kid at the evil, rival dojo. It’s all there and Legends chooses to lean into all of it rather than shy away from it, while still putting some fun little spins on the conceits.
Victor, the aforementioned middle-aged man around the corner, doesn’t train Li, rather the titular Karate Kid trains Victor to help the latter win a boxing tournament. It’s an inversion of the usual formula, enough to make it feel a little fresh but without feeling the need to reinvent the whole thing. But not once does the movie question why Li and Victor become friends nor does it feel the need to hang a lampshade or self-deprecate the situation: this is how the story of this movie goes.
The movie keeps that attitude as the other parts of the story come into play, like the evil dojo and all-important karate tournament. The movie’s not gonna apologize or try and rationalize how a city-wide tournament only has a few rounds (and how Li managed to get into it on such short notice) or explore the psychology of an evil karate kid who’s entirely personality is “karate asshole.” And in the end, it’s fun to have a cartoon of an antagonist with a paper-thin character and it’s fun to have a tournament finale on a rooftop. It’s all part and parcel of the story, just go with it and don’t think too hard about it.
I thoroughly enjoyed Karate Kid: Legends. I still don’t know if it’s a good movie per se, but it’s a great time and it’s refreshing to see a movie that’s so happy to be itself, to not feel like it has to elevate its narrative to be worth your time. This is a movie about a karate kid; he’s new in town, he’s gotta fight in a tournament to feel at home in his new town. It’s how it goes, enjoy.
Essays, Not Rants! 