The Next Karate Kid

A surprise. I quite liked this one.

There may not be anything outstanding, or even massively good, about 'The Next Karate Kid', but I actually felt content with what I had just watched when the end credits came along. It turns into a sweet story, even after a fairly rocky start.

The villains are meh, a little iffy but fine... far better than those from 'The Karate Kid Part III', that's for sure. Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi) is a little cliché-filled but still super endearing and likeable. A young Hilary Swank, in her first major film role, brings a solid performance as Julie. At first I wasn't convinced, but by the end I felt like I saw a positive journey with the character.

In my opinion, it's the best sequel to 1984's 'The Karate Kid'. That's a big surprise, considering the downward trajectory of the preceding two. Don't get me wrong, it's close to being a not so good film. However, for me, it just about floats above the required marker. I like it, can't lie.

**Despite the heavy reviews and the public's disinterest, it's not as bad a movie as they say, and it was able to end the franchise on a positive note.**

After three very interesting films, the “Karate Kid” franchise had to continue, and a fourth film was made, this time with a young girl in place of the apprentice (Ralph Macchio was too old for the character, and he had no interest in calling more his image and career to the universe of martial arts films). It was a risky move, but necessary if they wanted the franchise to continue... but the public didn't buy in, despite the movie itself not being as bad as they say. In fact, I even consider it to be better than its immediate predecessor. With a weak box office result, largely as a result of the public's loss of interest in karate films, the film killed the franchise for a few decades, but I have no doubt that it was able to end it on a positive note.

The script is simple, but not without its flaws: Miyagi attends a military ceremony honoring the dead of his military unit, and ends up meeting the daughter of an ex-comrade-in-arms, Julie. She is a withdrawn young woman, with problems and angry due to the death of her parents in an accident. He decides to take her as a karate apprentice, it being obvious that she has a series of problems with other violent teenagers and will have to use martial arts to defend herself, but predictability is an agenda present throughout the film, which is not brings anything substantially new to the franchise. The film basically contains the same ideas and structure as its predecessors. The end of the movie is pretty hard to believe.

Despite the problems, the film brings back Pat Morita, who has already won us over with the friendliness and good humor of his character, and with an always very committed interpretation. He has always been fundamental to the success of the films in this franchise, and his funny and charismatic presence is even more important here, in a film where he assumes even more presence and protagonism. Hillary Swank is still extremely young in this film and is a long way from the glory days she will live in years to come, but she shows charisma and presence, and a latent talent that needs to be polished. The film also has the participation of Michael Ironside and Michael Cavalieri, in the role of the two main villains, both of which are predictable, flat and underdeveloped, but still worthy of our dislike.

Technically, it is a very discreet film, which invests more in discreet effects and in a clear sound and image than in more flashy things. The movie's pacing is slower than its predecessors, and that takes some of the fun out of the movie, makes it more sleepy, but it's not a serious problem. The cinematography and editing are good enough, as are the choice of filming locations, the design of the sets (in particular the monastery) and the costumes. Finally, but just as importantly, the action and fight scenes were good enough and very well choreographed, and while some thought they were too sparse, I thought they were more interesting than the two preceding films in the franchise.

Well, let's be honest, this one does clean up the problematic white patriarchy exhibited in the three other films, but it still stereotypes Asian people as....

....I fooled you didn't I? Yeah, I'm not at all one of those people.

Whatever, no one is going to read this anyway.

I do, however, feel the need to give this two stars on principle. I mean, I did remember that they made this film when Part III was (possibly) blocked from my memory to save myself the horror of it all... but that I don't think it deserves that.

When I was a kid, actually a Freshman in High School, I kind of had the attitude that no Ralph Macchio meant it wasn't a real Karate Kid film. I'd rather not see it made and I went out of my way not to watch it until I caught it on cable.

I'd like to think I've matured since, but they are rebooting Blade and...no Snipes. The same attitude applies. I guess I haven't grown.

At any rate, it's not just the lack of Macchio, it's the addition of Ironside doing his absolutely best impersonation of Michael Ironside and over-acting to the point where I'm actually shocked the rest of the cast made it through without groaning. He's kind of like Nicholas Cage without the charisma isn't he?

Moving on, Swank does an OK job of selling it physically. I mean, I'm a pretty big guy, I was certainly a big guy in High School, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that she could kick my behind from here to kingdom come. Unfortunately, as much as she does sell the physicality of the role, it doesn't take a trained eye to see she doesn't know the fundamentals of even a basic street brawl.

She made up for it later in here career, but it still leaves you with the impression that she never threw a real punch in her life.

And that, combined with Ironside is enough to really make this movie a flop, even if it had Macchio in it... which it doesn't, and I'm still going to be juvenile and insist it can't be a Karate Kid film without him.