The Karate Kid (2010)

So something else I will be doing for myself is reviewing movies. I am extremely passionate about cinema and for some reason I have lacked to include reviews in this blog. I will dedicate reviews of all sorts to this blog. I figure movies are exceptionally interesting so I will include them.

The first movie I would like to review is the Karate Kid staring Jayden Smith, Jackie Chan, and Taraji P. Henson.





Now, for starters, I was a huge fan of the 1984 film with Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita (RIP). They filmed a portion of that movie at a "Golf Land" that my grandparents use to take me to all the time. The storyline of a New Jersey kid that moves out to California and gets his ass kicked daily by a blonde surfing Kung Fu teenager had alot of potential in 84'. Alot more things were believable 25 years ago I guess, including a Gardner that lives in the valley and has a vintage car collection (right..). But there are some excitement in the film like the last scene of the Kung Fu tournament. Not to mention one of the best movie theme songs ever "Your The Best Around".

Now the 2010 "Revision", as I like to call them. filled in a lot of the gaps that the 84' movie didn't. In no way did it follow the original storyline which I thought was amazing. With all these remakes of 80's movies following alittle to close to the original movies just makes it a waste of money and time. If we want to see the original, we'll watch it, not some new movie with CGI enhancement just to fuck it up( IE. Nightmare on Elm St... yea, im talking to you).

Dre(Smith) moves to Beijing due to his mother relocation of work and is thrown into Chinese culture shock. Along the way he makes friends with another American kid and is introduced to a Chinese girl that is a over achieving, violin prodigy..(like thats not stereotypical). Dre creates an enemy on the basketball court that also has a crush on the same girl. For Dre's luck, this kid is a super star Kung Fu fighter that belongs the most respected dojo in Beijing. After endless times of getting his ass kicked, Dre enlists the help of maintenance man Mr. Hung (Chan) to teach him Kung Fu.The rest of the course of the movie is Hung teaching Dre the importance of Kung Fu and how to defeat his new enemy at the ending Kung Fu Tournament.

For me the movie was much more believable than the original. Though the original had its perks, so many of it was out line even for the time(1984). The 2010 film was based in a grimmy Beijing and Mr. Hung didnt have a fully restored 1955 Chevy pick up like Mr. Miyagi, he had a hole in the wall house with a beat up Toyota in his living room. Why you ask? CAUSE HE'S A FUCKING MAINTENANCE MAN. You can't afford much on a janitors budget. Maybe the setting being in China created a better atmosphere for the movie, but overall it was enjoyable and I will watch again many times.

Note:
Film is called "The Karate Kid".. Karate being from Japan, not China.

1984 Film +1
2010 Film - 1