'Karate Kid: Legends' Review: Jackie Chan charms, plot trips, 'Cobra Kai' lives on

Karate Kid: Legends

In theaters

Rating - *** (3/5)

Cast: Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Ben Wang, Sadie Stanley, Ming Na-Wen & more

Directed by: Jonathan Entwistle

I can’t even recall just when films about Karate and Kung Fu began becoming easy-breezy. Oh wait, now I do. Just when the 1984 film Karate Kid came on, and then it was just the beginning of a franchise that doesn’t seem to die. That was the beauty about the Karate Kid series, making a film about heart-pounding, sleek and quick action be so emotional, breezy and even delightful. A formula that never dies, and let’s admit it, a formula and the outcome of which we need today more than ever.

Thus arrives Karate Kid: Legends. This aptly titled film, as known, unites the two legends from the two iterations of this world and that should be an absolute winner, right? Well, almost.

Same Blueprint, New Wallpaper

The base plot is similar and more an homage to the franchise’s one-line plot. A kid moves to another country and while finding it difficult to adjust to the new culture, somehow finds himself in the middle of a love interest, a karate or kung fu tournament and a bad guy who he basically needs to overcome to be the ultimate winner. There’s no room for surprises here. We all know the drill enough.

With Karate Kid: Legends, the roles are reversed a bit and here we see a Chinese kid, already doing well in Han’s school of Kung Fu, forcefully shifted to New York. The rest is the same, but just in the USA. The plot isn’t even the intention for you to be invested in and there’s little room for emotions beyond a certain point because here, just like those quickfire chops and jabs in the martial art form, things are moving almost too quickly. It almost feels like the director Jonathan Entwistle has been given a timer and needs to wind things up in less than 100 minutes.

It is way too seldom when we end up highlighting how short the film is. It’s always the other way around. But here it is a concern. Clocking just about one hour and thirty-five minutes, the film is hurrying a little too much, giving no room for character development, breathing space and feeling anything beyond a point. That’s also a double-edged sword situation here though because with a film so little in meat, it does help that you are breezing through it and before you can ponder much on it, the film is over.

Of Plot Holes, Potholes and Perplexities

There are so many loopholes for one to even see from the most layman’s perspective here. Way more than the potholes in a metro city in India. What’s Xiao Li’s mother’s backstory and why doesn’t she have a husband? Why does Han randomly, in the middle of the night, fly to the USA for Li’s help without having any pound conversation? Apart from being a douche, why is Connor so douchy that he has almost no redeeming qualities, and why is the main bad guy barely there?

Why does Ralph Macchio only enter the film about one hour into it? I mean, you can literally call Ralph’s Daniel character an extended cameo rather than billing him as the main guy. But that wouldn’t sell tickets especially riding high on the Cobra Kai success, would it? We can go on with the never-ending questions here.

Jackie Chan: The Last Man Standing Who Isn’t Trying Too Hard

But, as weird as it may sound and sometimes one cannot quantify why, Karate Kid: Legends works on a few levels. The film, to its credit, isn’t trying too much. It isn’t willing to intellectualise things apart from giving basic high pointers here and there. And further to the director’s credit, he uses Chan in the most effective way possible.

An aged Chan isn’t here for your heroics that you are otherwise accustomed to see from the past but his natural knack for comedy cannot get old. The writers and the director are able to infuse Chan’s ease with comedy expertly into the narrative where his almost deadpan-like delivery is funny and charming even. His underexplored and brief dynamic with Daniel-san is fun, endearing with just the right amount of nostalgia and callbacks.

He is like a perfectly steeped cup of tea. Not boiling anymore, but still strong, familiar and comforting. And in a film that zips past like a TikTok reel on Red Bull, Chan grounds the chaos. His comic timing feels inherited from a different era, one where action was physical poetry and not just spectacle. He might not fight like he used to, but he still performs like someone who never stopped watching.

Love and Side Quests

And surprisingly, unlike the 2010 version, the teenage romance between Li and Mia is also effective and organic. The entire parallel story about Li training Mia’s father is also fun and adrenaline-packed till a point but it starts becoming a bit boring once it goes on for too long.

The romance doesn’t yell for attention but instead simmers in the background like slow jazz in a noisy diner. It’s oddly endearing to see two teenagers bond over combat stances and uncertain futures. Sadie Stanley’s Mia is played with warmth and just enough awkward spark to make her believable as both muse and teammate.

When Mothers Vanish into Script Holes

It is almost criminal not to give an otherwise fine actor like Ming Na-Wen enough to work with here. As Li’s mother, you are first trying to buy into why she is so emotionless and stoic but the more it goes on and the backstory about Li’s brother comes to foray, it keeps getting bewildering.

It ideally wouldn’t be fair to compare, but to think how impactful Taraji P. Henson was in the 2010 version as Dre’s mother, almost having a similar arc, just makes you feel even more how bland Na-Wen’s character and performance is. It’s a part that screams for nuance and depth but is barely given any room to breathe. She exists more as an idea of struggle than an embodiment of it.

There is a motherly silhouette in the script, but no flesh and blood. Even her grief is reduced to a few monologues and solemn glances. It’s like watching a powerhouse actress sit in an unplugged toaster — you know it could sizzle, but it just sits there cold.

The Nostalgia Industrial Complex Lives On

Till the last few minutes, Karate Kid: Legends is the film you anticipated it to be. But by the last few minutes, with a surprise cameo, it becomes crystal clear that the attempt here is simple. Extending and expanding on the immense success of the series Cobra Kai. A show no one expected to be successful in the first place and after five off seasons, turned out to be a total knockout.

It is smart to do it through the legacy of Karate Kid and it does feel a bit poetic that we might be in store for new chapters in this universe that started with Miyagi and Daniel-san and is now diversifying while blending the Jackie Chan love from the 2010 film and now courtesy the Cobra Kai franchise.

You have to credit these people on milking the hell out of this concept enough to make it quite entertaining, a bit poignant, relevant through multiple characters and still sprinkling some lovely nostalgia here and there. That’s enough for a good time at the movies these days.

The film is less a standalone movie and more a narrative bridge. A beautifully polished stepping stone across a franchise river. It doesn’t aim to wow you but nudges you with a familiar grin, telling you the party’s not over yet. Just changing venues.

Final Thoughts from the Dojo Floor

Karate Kid: Legends is a film that feels like a high-five from a childhood friend who moved away but still remembers your birthday. It is clunky, inconsistent and often undercooked. But it is also sweet, undemanding and well-meaning. It won’t knock you out with cinematic brilliance but it might leave you smiling with soft-edged nostalgia.

And sometimes, especially in an age of constant overreach, a warm-hearted retread of familiar ground with a couple of great kicks and kind eyes is enough. Wax on, wax off. Rinse, repeat. Still works.