New Karate Kid movie
So I went to see the new Karate Kid movie with a friend (Mio) last night. And... Well, it's very meh.
It's not merely a case of nostalgia talking: I watched the original Karate Kid with Mio last week, basically to introduce her to the cultural phenomenon, and to give her a basis of comparison (some of the jokes in the trailor referred to the original movie).
I have zero issues with this being called The Karate Kid, and the kid being taught Kung Fu. That is so not the point of the movie. The movie is about the exploration of culture, of bullying, of self-discovery, and of (above all) the cultivation of friendship.
The script is largely the same, which is fine. I don't have an issue with remakes. I'm a big fan of Jackie Chan.
But this movie sucked. And no, not because Will Smith's kid "can't act" (he can, and does, quite well).
The original movie, as this one demonstrates, would be *nothing* without the chemistry between Noriyuki Morita and Ralph Macchio. Take the scene after Daniel (and Dre) are beaten up, and Mr. Miyagi (Mr. Han) fight off the gang. At this point, old-guy tells young-kid to go to speak to the teacher of the bullies, and young-kid convinces old-guy to go with him.
In the original, this is a single master-shot. No cuts, no zooms, no nothing. It's perfect. Daniel's frustration is visceral, his dejection at being beaten down (again) is heart-felt. Miyagi can't help but be convinced, and be shown that he has, already, become involved.
I have no idea why Mr. Han decided to help Dre. None. It just seemed that by the end of the scene, Mr. Han was following stage directions.
The genius of 'wax on, wax off' was that it was an illusion, of training the student to do x, while they believed that they were merely doing y. Daniel never believed, at any point, that he was being taught anything at all. Worse: he believed that Miyagi was merely using him to get some chores done. There was a variety of work to be done, each of them teaching a different foundational technique. Each task had a clear start, and a finish.
Contrast that with repetitively taking the jacket on/off, hanging it up, taking it down, dropping it and picking it up. That just seems pointless. Because it seems pointless, the audience must seek a reason for it, and there's no easy conclusion like "Miyagi is a git", so there's no 'reveal' at the end when it turns out that he's being taught basic Kung Fu movements.
I'm sure that many people are going to complain about the age-change of the young-kid (and I agree), but imo the main failing of this movie is that there is simply no chemistry between Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.