Karate Kid: Legends feels like a reverse kick in time. It offers a double-dose of nostalgia as Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han from the 2010 reboot joins forces with the OG Karate Kid (Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso) to train Ben Wang’s Li Fong, the new kid on the block. It’s also two martial art forms coming together: Mr. Han’s Kung Fu and ‘Danny Boy’s’ Karate, but Miyagi style. Karate Kid is a wide-spanning franchise. There are the 80s original films: The Karate Kid (1984), Part II (1986) and Part III (1989), followed by a deviation (The Next Karate Kid, 1994), the aforementioned reboot starring Jaden Smith, and the spin-off series Cobra Kai (2018-25).
For the new instalment, the directorial reins have been taken over by Jonathan Entwistle, the brain behind coming-of-age black comedy series like The End of the F***ing World (2017-19) and I Am Not Okay With This (2020). A theatrical, that too of an established franchise, is new grounds for Jonathan, who has mostly dabbled with shows in the past. The director, however, has his eyes set on the prize. “The most important thing while making a theatrical is the audience,” he explains over a Zoom chat. “It’s all about their experience in that darkened room. There were these amazing story-threads from the original movies and the subsequent TV show, but for me it was about bringing all of it together while making sure that the experience for every audience member in the theatre remains an exciting one.”
Karate Kid: Legends is a modern reproduction of the franchise’s “fish out of water” template. A new kid arrives in a new city, rubs off the wrong people, and then has to, literally, fight for his space. Li Fong (Ben Wang) moves to New York from Beijing. Initially, there is a wide-eyed excitement of new experiences and a promise of a blossoming love story amidst towering skyscrapers. But soon, this move to the Big Apple turns sour as his lady-love’s ex-boyfriend--a ponytailed bully unwilling to move on--enters the picture. To make matters worse, he can deliver knockout kicks. No mercy.
Zeroing in on a new kid was a tricky task for Jonathan. “It was a very challenging role to fill,” he says. “We wanted an actor who speaks Mandarin, is well-versed in martial arts, and is also westernised enough to carry the film for that audience.” Ben, who gained some popularity with the Disney+ series American Born Chinese (2023), bagged the role amidst a pool of about 10,000 hopefuls. “When I saw his tape, I realised his acting was outstanding,” adds Jonathan. “But when I saw how hard he worked to bring the martial arts level to something that looks impactful on camera, that’s when I realised he was the one.”
The new instalment also gave Jonathan the opportunity to turn his camera on a legend like Jackie Chan, whom the director described as “marvellous”. “Everything you think about Jackie is true,” he says. “He did all of his own stunts but more than that, what was exemplary was the way he raised everybody’s game on the set from the stunt team, to the actors and also the camera team.”
Jonathan couldn’t help but be amazed by Jackie’s keen eye for comedy and how it plays out on screen. “During fight sequences, he would always look for a piece of set, a prop, or something he could use to bring more story context to the martial arts,” he says. It was a vital lesson for Jonathan. “That was something we grabbed early on. You could do choreography in Jackie Chan-style, but the magic only happens when he comes on screen. He picks up a shoe, he picks up a phone, he picks up a cat, and then it truly becomes a Jackie Chan moment,” he concludes.