Name: The Karate Kid
Cast: Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Zhenwei Wang
Director: Harald Zwart
Music: Atli Orvarsson
The karate kid is a movie about knowing the abilities and conquering fear which keeps on bogging one down. This movie is a story of a twelve year old kid, Dre Parker (Jaden Smith, Will Smith’s son), who has just moved in to China with his mom. His first day builds the story and his character as he is beaten up by a local guy, Cheng (Zhenwei Wang) as he was trying to impress on his girl. He lets it go but the guy keeps on treating him badly in the school as well. He confronts them once, is followed, kicked and saved by Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). Later on as the story progresses Han teaches him Kung-Fu and he beats his enemy, the guy who keeps tormenting him, in the finals of an open Kung-Fu tournament with a broken leg!
First half of the movie seems a bit dragged as the director overstretches it. It takes a lot of time for the director to establish the story and make the characters confront each other for their eventual encounters.
Camera is shaky and gives a blurry view at times when it should just be still. Though, it has also captured some beautiful landscapes and frames which are refreshing to watch. The great wall of China, the newly built Bird’s Nest stadium, hills etc. were some good frames to watch. The chase sequence where Dre is chased by six-seven guys has come good as well.
Music is mostly something which one wouldn’t notice. It is nicely embedded into the movie and one would have to be conscious to listen to it. As the story is smooth and there are some scenes which have some musical renderings, the movie doesn’t seem lacking here.
Jaden Smith has mannerisms of his father and has acted very nicely as an actor as well as an actor of his age. He has shown some good emotions on his face and never looks nervous on screen. He has a good screen presence and shows lot of potential. Jackie Chan has acted nicely though there are not so much of his trade mark fun-kicks in the movie. The film focuses on his ability as an actor rather a stunt or action hero. Ms. Parker, Dre’s mother. Has been overacting at certain places and not to forget the little girl Meiying (Wenwen Han) who has acted great as well.
Overall the movie is a good watch for all the age groups. It celebrates a victory of one conscience over the other; it shows how in worst circumstances the real winners get up and give a single-legged kick and win it in a moment! It tells you why should we never give up and just keep kicking as world moves on and you have to get up and go to keep pace with it.
