acid reflects

“One tree, two branches,” says the new Karate Kid film that aims to fold the “wax on, wax off” of classic The Karate Kid (1984) with the “jacket on, jacket off” of the not-so-old The Karate Kid (2010) into one martial arts universe because, I dunno, Confucius says?

Karate Kid: Legends unites Jackie Chan of Karate Kid 2010 with Ralph Macchio of OG Karate Kid 1984 plus Ben Wang of Disney+’s American Born Chinese in the latest bid to keep this property kicking well into the 21st century, long after Daniel LaRusso crane-kicked the boxoffice in 1984.

To be fair, I was prepared not to like this before I saw it. But afterwards, I didn’t like only half of it. The other half of the story was acceptable.

“One tree, two branches” sounds like the marketing tagline for a 2-in-1 genealogy website, but Karate Kid: Legends takes this phrase seriously because karate is also kung fu. Confusion stays.

Alright. Legends is about young Li Fong (or Fong Li, if we’re truly Chinese about the name) who is plucked by his mother-with-no-first-name (Ming-Na Wen) from the Shaolin school of Han (Jackie Chan) in Beijing to relocate to New York. Mother Fong is the Asian-American archetype, successful and blended in, while Li isn’t the stereotype. He’s not even good at math. Haiyaa!

Li soon establishes rapport with schoolmate Mia (Sadie Stanley) and her father Victor (Joshua Jackson), who run a pizza place near the Fong neighborhood. But Mia’s ex Conor (Aramis Knight), who happens to be the karate champion of the Big Apple, plans to deal more than emotional damage to anyone who tries to get close to Mia.

In a fit of reverse-Uno studio genius, Li becomes Victor’s shifu (teacher) after Li defends Victor from loan shark henchmen in an alleyway brawl whose action choreography is classic Jackie Chan and the film’s best display of martial arts stunts. Victor, himself a former boxing champ, enlists the aid of Li in order to win some cash and pay off the loan sharks. Li trains Victor using kung fu techniques he has mastered from Han.

So far, bits and pieces of the Karate Kid grocery list – a master, a student, a romantic interest, a jealous bully, and a tournament fight. Except the part where the main character has to karate instead of kung fu and the tournament is boxing.

The fix: Victor is unable to pay off his debts, so Li takes it upon himself to enter the Five Boroughs karate tournament to win the cash, the girl and himself. But how to learn karate quick in order to join? Han helps Li by seeking the help of – you guessed it – Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio.) Actually, Han was looking for his old friend Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), who in the story traveled to Beijing long before he became a karate sensei in Osaka. “One tree, two branches” would probably rattle some purists on the origins of karate, but they’re all Asian, right, Hollywood? (I must say, opening the film with beautifully restored archival footage from Karate Kid II was a pleasant surprise.)

With the karate in the kid established, the last ingredient missing is the signature “move” that always finishes off the antagonist. Li polishes his kung fu with Han and learns karate from Daniel to master the secret dragon kick that no one in the five boroughs knows about. Suffice it to say, the movie, like all Karate Kid installments, ends in a crowd-pleaser.

While action choreography is commendable (most likely due to the presence of Chan), the film’s storytelling suffers from jarring editing that defies emotional, time, and visual continuity. Unnecessary cutaways to a surly Connor. Unclear passage of time (or the lack of it.) Sudden emotional shifts. It was like the editor was ticking of a grocery list of shots. It would have been nice to see each of the five boroughs of New York shown during the Five Boroughs tournament, but the suggested places are perfunctory. It just is “Five Boroughs.” Wen and Knight’s characters are mere caricatures, and while half of the film revolves around solving Victor’s problem, Jackson’s name isn’t in the film’s billing. He literally is half of the story.

So the new film isn’t a total disappointment. It retcons the 2010 “Kung fu kid” back into karate despite the presence of Han. Wang ably handles both the dramatic and the physical requirements of Li, although to us Asians he clearly doesn’t look like a teenager anymore. As a coming of age film, Wang doesn’t fit the glove in this sense.

With Daniel’s re-introduction into the films, the franchise is open to further explore the Miyagi universe on the big screen in ways that they haven’t in all six seasons of Cobra Kai. Bullying, romance, teen angst, coming of age, internal reflection, mystical philosophies – whatever they haven’t explored yet, whether or not it makes sense. Taekwondo aliens? Maybe not. Jedi karate? Who knows?

Karate Kid: Legends is out in cinemas now from Columbia Pictures.

(Images and trailer link courtesy of Columbia Pics PH)