Due to the return of original karate kid Ralph Macchio to the big screen, Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han making a welcomed comeback and the prospect of bringing together The Karate Kid (1984), The Karate Kid (2010) and TV series Cobra Kai (2018-2025), Karate Kid: Legends is one of 2025’s most anticipated movies. This time around we follow Li Fong (Ben Wang), who is uprooted from Beijing to New York by his mother after a family tragedy. When a new friend needs his help, Li enters a karate competition – but his skills alone aren’t enough. Li’s kung fu teacher Mr. Han enlists original karate kid Daniel LaRusso for help, and Li learns a new way to fight, merging their two styles into one for the ultimate martial arts showdown. Boasting a competent cast, entertaining fight scenes and a comeback for the ages, Karate Kid: Legends is both a fun nostalgia trip and sports movie. However, a clunky start with much unfocus and misdirection is bound to leave fans disappointed.
Karate Kid: Legends kicks off in a similar format to its predecessors; a youngster moves to a new location, sparks up a romance with a local girl and starts getting bullied by a peer that he’ll likely have to fight in an upcoming competition. Newcomer Ben Wang impresses greatly from the offset as Li Fong, with much natural charisma and likability that makes him easy to root for as our new lead. He’s funny, determined and witty, much like our prior leads, fitting in nicely yet providing something a little different with his tough background. Despite promising his mother that fighting is long behind him after the death of his brother, he soon winds up training the father of his love interest Mia (Sadie Stanley), who is undertaking a boxing match to earn some cash to pay off his loan to the local villain. It’s important to know that the above is what makes up the bulk of Karate Kid: Legends. Despite the marketing and trailers convincing us we’ll be receiving an Endgame-esque team-up movie, it’s mostly a film about boxing and repaying debt. And it’s disappointing.
Although this story gives us an excellent performance from Joshua Jackson (Cruel Intentions) as Victor, an ex-fighter who borrowed money from someone he shouldn’t have, as well as a few fun training sequences, it really does detract from the reason we’re here. With a lack of Macchio and Chan and a surprising focus on boxing and loan sharks, it winds up feeling quite disingenuous and misleading. It’s not just returning legacy characters that this story takes away from, but interesting ideas set up during those first 20 minutes. Emotional beats regarding Li and his late brother are glossed over, and we receive barely any scenes with him interacting with his mother, played beautifully by Ming-Na Wen. The promise he made to her at the start of the movie should be a central theme, but this does not get the development required to make it pack a punch. Despite their chemistry, Li and Mia don’t get enough time to develop relationship, which is a real shame given how believable, natural and sweet it feels. This franchise isn’t exactly renowned for strong villains, but Conor Day may just be one of the weakest yet. A strong performance from Aramis Knight (The Dark Knight Rises) and some good fight scenes unfortunately cannot save the character, as he merely comes across as a jealous, one-dimensional trope-heavy nemesis.
As soon as the boxing storyline comes to a close, and Macchio and Chan are re-introduced, Karate Kid: Legends doesn’t only become the movie we expected it to be, but the one we wanted – and it’s great. Li soon decides to start fighting again, realising that it may be the only way to help his girlfriends business and get Conor off his back for good. This leads to Mr. Han not only flying over to New York to train him, but enlisting the help of Daniel LaRusso so his prodigy can learn karate the Miyagi way. It’s from this moment that the film kicks into gear, with plenty of nostalgia and the much anticipated blend of kung fu and karate. Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan expectedly give wonderful performances, and having them on screen together is a blessing. The blend of the two techniques works nicely, with not only some fun training montages but much hilarious banter between LaRusso and Mr. Han as they argue over which method is best. Mr. Miyagi has always been the heart of the franchise, so seeing the pair reminisce about his legacy provides much charm and emotion. The competition itself is also entertaining, with five quick but powerful fight scenes and a rooftop finale that almost makes the journey seem worthwhile. It’s more than a shame that this portion of the movie was squashed into the final act, because it could’ve and should’ve been the bulk of the movie. Training sequences, integral conversations and even the final fight itself is completely rushed.
Karate Kid: Legends is also a mixed bag from a film-making perspective. The use of location is quite excellent, with New York feeling like a huge presence throughout the run-time. There is plenty of establishing photography that helps set the scene, and it utilises a range of locations to help us feel the scope of the city. The city centre location is a fun setting for this entry, especially as the closing competition takes place in five different boroughs, and the rooftop finale is simply stunning. The cinematography is mostly competent, but is unfortunately ruined by clunky editing and transitions that give it a juvenile feel. This vibe also floats into the original score and soundtrack, as the music cues feel misplaced and aren’t in keeping with the scenes they’re placed in. The score isn’t very memorable and doesn’t match the excitement of the rest of the franchise on that front. The karate/kung fu sequences aren’t quite Karate Kid royalty, but they’re well choreographed and highly entertaining, especially the finale.
Karate Kid: Legends unfortunately gets a lot wrong, which may lead to some fans feeling misdirected and disappointed. The moments we bought a ticket for don’t occur until the last thirty minutes and feel rushed, with the front half of the movie delivering a familiar and uninteresting narrative. However, once it kicks into gear it’s a sight to behold, and features some incredible character interactions, training montages and a much anticipated blend of karate and kung fu. Having Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan on our screens is just as exciting as expected, and Ben Wang holds his own as a tremendous newcomer. Karate Kid: Legends isn’t entirely what was promised, but whenever it is, it’s great.
