GLKnight Spotlight: Karate Kid

    The world of remakes goes round and round. When the Well of Ideas in Hollywood runs dry, then  they have only two options: either they drink their own urine and rehash the same old same old, or they wait for a foreign rainstorm to to fill their well. In the matter involving the Karate Kid, it's a little bit of both. There may be some urine, but it's quickly washed downstream.

    Dre Parker (played by Jaden Smith, son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith) is not happy. His mother (Taraji P. Henson) has decided to make a monumental decision: she and Dre are moving to China because she was transferred by her work. No friends, a new language barrier, and absolutely no knowledge of what the culture is like, Dre is frustrated and not exactly willing to find out what the other kids are like when he gets to Beijing. But on his first day, he meets a girl, Meiying ( played by Wenwen Han). But unfortunately, Cheng (played by Zhenwei Wang), a boy that likes Meiying, confronts Dre and humiliates him in front of the other kids at the park by his apartment complex.

    His school life doesn't fare much better. As it turns out, Weng and his friends go to the same school as Dre. The only upside is Meiying, who as it turns out, not only also goes to the same school, but inspires Dre to keep on trying after he finds out that she studies the violin. In fact she has an upcoming audition, and Dre continues to support her, getting closer to her than to any other kid in his school. Meanwhile, as his relationship progresses, Cheng makes his life Hell. Dre turns to finding a Kung Fu coach, but his attempt to find his way in the Martial world is impeded, when he looks into Master Li's (played by Rongguang Yu, mostly well known in the West for Dr. Yang in Iron Monkey) school, where Cheng is a student. A few days later, Dre decides to get back at Cheng and his bullies, but is unable to escape.

    That's where Mr. Han (played by Jackie Chan, from... Wait, why the hell should I remind you?), the handyman for the apartments that Dre and his mother have moved into, comes in. Soundly defeating the kids without hurting them himself, Mr. Han takes Dre, makes sure he is alright, and goes to confront Master Li and his students.When Master Li suggests they handle the matter immediately, Mr. Han instead suggests he enter Dre in a Tournament in a few months, to which Li agrees to. When they leave the school, it is there that Han decides that he will train Dre himself.

    It's from that point that you know the rest of the story. You know it's a remake, I know it's a remake. There's no need to go into the fact that the movie is a remake. But here are a couple details that you may not know of. First and foremost, it's not a remake of the first Karate Kid. It's a revamped version of both Karate Kid, and the Karate Kid 2. How do I know this? Simple. The emphasis throughout the 2010 version is placed on the philosophy and culture of China and Kung Fu. And the second bit of trivia: Karate Kid isn't actually referring to the kid. It's originally the name of a comic character is DC comics, who was a member of the Legion of Superheroes, a futuristic (read: the comic takes place in the 31st Century) team of Earthlings and Alien races who protect then universe. Seriously, the character is awesome, and you should really check out the Legion of Superheroes comic, which is currently being written by Paul Levitz.

    When it came to the acting, far and away Jackie Chan stole the show. I know! Who would have thought that a guy that does mainly action and comedy roles could pull off such a feat? Well, apparently I did. Jackie Chan brings such a gravitas to the Miyagi role that it becomes almost a completely different character. When it comes to why Mr. Han is alone and damn near unrelated to the other characters, I was captivated. He brings such a great presence to the role that it was damn impressive for me to see him accomplish something other than Improv Fu. Jaden Smith is also quite impressive in the role of Dre. Whenever he acts, he carries it in his eyes. He tries his damnedest to get the girl, beat the bullies and earn the other kids' respect. In all, he makes it very believable for almost the entirety of the film. And the highlight of the rest of the cast is definitely Rongguang Yu. He brings a more sinister and fame hungry edge to his role, that when  he tells his students to hurt Dre, he does it in a way that makes you honestly think he could really screw these kids up in real life.

    Soundtrack wise, it's a mixed bag. On the one hand, you have song choices that definitely emphasizes Dre's upbringing in Detroit, and his eventual transition into life in Beijing. But on the other hand, you have James Horner, who is very wasted when it comes to his talents as a composer. In all honesty, it's evident that they wanted Hans Zimmer to do the soundtrack, but couldn't, so they got Horner, and bullied him into doing it. My favorite song chosen for the soundtrack is the version of Dirty Harry by the Gorillaz, sung by a choir of Chinese schoolchildren.

    Direction and cinematography wise, I thought it was very well done. There's a lot that was done with the character of the landscape, and it pays off in the film. Harald Zwart is very competent, but one thing he is definitely known for doing in his films is letting the landscape and scenery do a lot of talking. From old alleyways to high mountain tops, the films goes to some dizzying detail to illuminate some of the finest aspects of China's landscape. Perhaps a little too much attention, but there are some scenes that absolutely take your breath away. And one of those scenes will be parodied for the next year or so. But it's a great shot, nonetheless. The action direction, as it was, definitely was done well, however there is very little in the way of fight scenes and is very sparse.

    If you are going to see it for the fight scenes alone, you will definitely want to skip it. But if you want an entertaining film that actually wants to go farther in aspects that the others did not, go see it. In America, it's called the Karate Kid. In the rest of the World, it's called the Kung Fu Kid. Outside of that, there is very little that connects the two. If you go into it with an open mind, you just might be suprisingly entertained by the film. I say give this film a shot. You might learn Kung Fu in the process.




WARNING: This film will not teach you Kung Fu, It is a movie, not a class. The reviewer is doing that to screw with you guys because he has a sad, pathetic life and-

    HEY! What the hell are you doing? I thought I told you to mop the floors?!

WARNING: BABA BOOEY! BABA BOOEY! HOWARD STERNS PENIS! BABA -

    THAT'S IT!

WARNING: HE'S GOING TO KILL ME! HE'S GOING TO -






    Catch you guys in my next review!

    Knight Out!