FILM
KARATE KID: LEGENDS
WAX ON, WAX OFF WITH TWO MARTIAL-ARTS MASTERS
Here: Street fighter: Ben Wang as Li Fong.
★★★
OUT NOW / CERT 12A / 118 MINS
DIRECTOR Jonathan Entwistle
CAST Ben Wang, Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Sadie Stanley, Ming-Na Wen, Joshua Jackson, Aramis Knight
PLOT After teenager Li Fong (Wang) moves from Beijing to New York City, he must learn to master both kung fu and karate techniques.
FUN FACT: ORIGINAL Karate Kid and Cobra Kai star Ralph Macchio is now older than Pat Morita was when he last played Mr Miyagi (1994’s The Next Karate Kid). Meanwhile, the Karate Kid remake’s Miyagi-surrogate Jackie Chan (aka Mr Han) is now only two years younger than Morita was when he passed away in 2005. Age has been super-kind to both, but given this long-running franchise has always focused on its youthful protagonists, it should really come as no surprise that, despite their prominence on the poster and the enticing promise of a remake universe/Cobra Kai crossover, much of this instalment’s runtime is devoted to complete newcomer Ben Wang.