First off, I have to say that love kung fu movies. And growing up with an older brother allowed me to watch the best. Drunken Master, Kung Fu Hustle, Enter the Dragon, Romeo Must Die, Unleashed, Mr. Nice Guy, Twin Dragons, and my two favorite movies of all time Kill Bill, and The Good, The Bad, and The Weird.
So of course I just HAD to watch the remake of The Karate Kid. A classic childhood movie that came out even before I was born, but like I said I have an older brother and was lucky enough to watch and appreciate old 80’s classics.
First best thing about the movie is Jackie Chan. My favorite kung fu actor. He does all of his own stunts, choreographs every move, and has broken every bone in his body doing it. Plus he can act. Jackie acts beautifully in this movie. He brings so much depth to his character as Mr. Han that he totally had me crying in a scene that reveals the mystery of Mr. Han’s deep and dark past.
Jaden Smith did a great job acting in this movie. He did a great job crying, a great job getting beat up, was good with his deliveries, and had good comic timing. He even made his relationship with Jackie Chan and the Chinese girl who played his love interest believable.
The worst part of the movie is the mother played by Taraji P. Henson which is extremely hard for me to understand because she was wonderful in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Her character was incredible undeveloped and poorly written and she lacked the motherly figure that this movie needed. Her scenes were awkward and unrealistic. Her character and acting plain out sucked!
Henson had terrible chemistry with Jaden Smith. She didn’t put her hands on him once! She’s a mother! There was no touching of the face when there was something wrong, no grabbing of the arm when he was in trouble, no hugging, no hand on shoulder, NOTHING! And above all she never rightly reacted to her son when he was badly injured in the final fight scene. There was no action of her getting upset and trying to stop the fight when he obviously needed medical attention, or no running down to the mat to see if he was ok. She just sat there and cheered him on. Now I KNOW that is not what any normal mother would do. And in the end, she didn’t go done to hug her little boy, she was just there to hold his trophy when he won. That part really pissed me off. You would think her acting would be better with Jaden’s mother Jada Pinkett Smith always there on set. Henson should have just have mimicked Jada’s motherly love.
Overall the movie had intense fight scenes, great, but kind of silly, kung fu moves, and was well written. There were beautiful cinematography of scenes and locations of China that added a nice taste of culture which was much need because this movie doesn’t really hold the Chinese in a good light till the end. The Chinese were made out to look kinda racist. First there’s the group of Chinese boys who right off the bat hate Jaden’s character, then there’s the Chinese girl who’s parents take one look at the little African American boy and tells her to tell him that she can no longer see him because “he is bad for her life”.
If you can get over the terrible character of the mother, and the small hint of racism, this movie is generally one to see because the story still hold strong. This movie touches a great lesson for young kids, how to be peaceful and gain self control. Not only can kids enjoy this movie but also adults and parents who were fans of the original. It’s a nice contribution to the kung fu genre and a great starting point for the young kung fu fans of the future.
Tata,
C
No comments:
Post a Comment