The Karate Kid - STEEL

My Rating: 8/10

This is simply a great film, throughout i remember how i used to feel when watching kids films when i was younger and this film emulated those feelings perfectly. The acting is fabulous Jackie Chan was sublime and it's great to see him doing some deep emotional acting alongside one or two cheeky kung fu hi-jinks. Big things are coming for Jayden Smith no doubt and with his family heritage it's guaranteed he'll have a good, vast and interesting career ahead of him.

As far as reimaginings of 80s films go, this is on top of the pile it's so good you'd actually rather the original hadn't happened. This is miles ahead of the last stint of remakes you'll have seen including the pretty poor PREDATORS and Average A-Team films we've seen over the last month. The action throughout is enjoyable and exciting the bully of the piece and his mentor are most sinister, the bully even has a vicious persona that almost emanates from him and his performance. This little actor no doubt has a potential future as a Hollywood action movie kung fu villain.

The story follows very much that of the original with a few key changes, more depth and personality has been plowed into the characters and Jackie Chan's Mr Han is far more serious and sad compared to the somewhat kooky mr miyagi of the 80's movies. This really adds to a much deeper story and makes so much more out of the potential relationship of the characters that was never explored in the original it almost turns the film into both the story of a young man conquering his fears and an old man's redemption from his.

My only issue with the film is one of the reasons i liked it so much, it felt so much like these films did when i was younger. However one thing i always remember from being younger is that these films always seemed to take a lifetime to start and the same can be said for this! The first 20 minutes feels like it drags on, mind i say that but as soon as jackie chan joins jayden the film explodes and turns from dull to phenonemal. Granted it's 2.20 long so compared to most films that's very little lost time. I don't think i can recommend this enough, don't assume you'll be dissapointed i did and i absolutely loved it!

Something Good:

Fantastic action, exciting story and really warm characters who you get attached to allowing them to take you on an emotional ride through the movie.

Something Bad:

The slow start, bare with it though!

Worse than:

Toy Story 3

Better Than:

The rest of the karate kids and all the rubbish 80s remakes.

Overall: Watch it it's ace, it's a guaranteed fun for everyone movie. You'll love it!

STEEL