The Karate Kid (2010 film)

The Karate Kid
File:Karate Kid 2010.jpg Teaser poster
Directed by	Harald Zwart
Written by	Screenplay: Christopher Murphey Story: Robert Mark Kamen
Produced by	Jerry Weintraub Will Smith Jada Pinkett Smith James Lassiter Ken Stovitz
Starring	Jackie Chan Jaden Smith Taraji P. Henson
Cinematography	Roger Pratt
Edited by	Kevin Stermer
Music by	James Horner
Production companies	Overbrook Entertainment JW Productions China Film Group
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	June 11, 2010 (2010-06-11)
Running time	140 minutes
Countries	United States China
Budget	$40 million
Box office	$55,665,805

The Karate Kid, known as The Kung Fu Kid in China and Best Kid in Japan and South Korea, is a 2010 martial arts remake of the 1984 film of the same name. Directed by Harald Zwart, produced by Will Smith, the remake stars Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. Principal photography for the film took place in Beijing, China; filming began around July 2009 and ended on October 16, 2009. The Karate Kid was released theatrically in the United States on June 11, 2010. The plot concerns a 12-year-old boy from Detroit who moves to China with his mother and incurs the wrath of the neighbourhood bully. He makes an unlikely ally in the form of his aging maintenance man, Mr. Han, a kung fu master who teaches him the secrets to self-defense.

Plot

Sherry Parker (Taraji P. Henson), a single mother from Detroit, Michigan, is a car manufacturer employee. Due to the rough economy, she accepts a transfer to Beijing to start a new life with her 12-year old son, Dre (Jaden Smith). Upon his first day in Beijing, he goes to play basketball with a new friend and neighbor, Harry (Luke Carberry), when he notices a beautiful girl, Mei Ying (Wen Wen Han). Dre goes to talk to Mei and tries to impress her with his dance moves, which annoys a bully named Cheng (Zhenwei Wang).

Cheng doesn't like how Dre is distracting Mei from her violin practice, so he storms over and slaps away her music sheets. When Dre tries to intervene, he and Cheng get in a fight. Dre is not only much smaller than Cheng, he knows virtually nothing about fighting, while Cheng immediately proves to be excellent at kung-fu. Consequently, Cheng beats Dre to the ground and gives him a black eye. Mei rushes between them, but Dre is so humiliated that he tells everybody to leave him alone. Later at home, he avoids his mother and even uses makeup the next day in an ill-fated attempt to hide it.

The following day at school - Dre's first day - he finds Mei at school. Mei apologizes for Cheng's actions (as his and her family are close, and Cheng must feel sort of responsible for her). Suddenly Cheng smashes into him, intentionally knocking down Dre's food tray, ruining his school uniform. After school, Dre starts trying to learn karate through instructional videos when Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), the janitor, arrives to repair the bathroom door knob. Han notices Dre's desire to learn martial arts, but also notices he has attitude issues with his mother about menial things such as hanging up his jacket properly.

Sometime later, while walking with his mother around the city, Dre discovers a martial arts academy and is thunderstruck by the sight of hundreds of disciples practicing kung fu. Dre gets extremely excited while watching them train until he realizes that one of the students is Cheng. Furious, he storms off the academy grounds; Sherry is clueless about his situation. Dre initially refuses to explain, but subsequently has an emotional outburst. He exclaims that his issue is suddenly being forced to move to China, and that he hates it.

After school the following day, Dre tails Cheng and his gang and in an act of hatred, hurls a bucket of dirty water at them. They get soaked, spot Dre running away, and immediately give chase. Initially evading the six martial artists successfully, they corner him near his apartment complex, in the dumpster area near the janitor's room, and hold him for Cheng to beat up.

Even after brutally kicking and punching Dre multiple times, Cheng is not yet satisfied, as part of his teacher's doctrine is "no mercy". Just as Cheng is about to land a finishing blow to the helpless Dre, the maintenance man Han makes a timely interception and repels his lunge. Han then tells Cheng and his cohorts to return home. Enraged of having been deprived of a satisfying gang beating, Cheng holds back until Han's back is turned, then attacks. All six of Cheng's gang were disciples at the nearby kung fu studio; however, Han's kung fu skills manifests, and defeats them with little effort despite his poor stamina, not throwing a single strike.

Han treats injuries using a Chinese acupressure technique called fire cupping, then they go to Cheng's kung fu teacher, Master Li (Yu Rongguang). Han apologizes to Cheng for any injuries sustained, and asks to stop his students from harassing Dre. Han argues that six against one was anything but fair, so Li challenges Dre to a fight with Cheng. When Han declines, Li threatens him, saying that they will not be allowed to leave his school unless either Dre or Han himself fights. Han acquiesces, but insists the fight take place at an upcoming tournament and that Li's students leave Dre alone until the tournament begins; Li agrees.

Han begins training Dre, but Dre is frustrated that instead of teaching him insane techniques and flying kicks, Han has him spending hours in Han's special "training". This "training" happens to be standing in front of a peg, taking off his jacket, hanging it up, taking it down, throwing it to the floor, picking it up, putting it back on, in a monotonous cycle. After days of this, Dre's patience has reached his limit and he refuses to continue, failing to see the point of the "training". Han explains to him that the movements involved in swinging his jacket about his shoulders, taking the jacket off again, etc. are actually(without the jacket) blocking techniques, which Dre is now able to use against Han's mock attacks. As Han's lessons continue, he teaches Dre that the movements he is learning apply to life in general, that serenity and maturity, not punches and power, are the true keys to mastering the martial arts. In subsequent trainings, Han takes Dre on a journey to the Wudang Mountains in which martial experts practice Wudang chuan which includes: Tai chi chuan, Wudang Sword, and Wudang Staff martial arts. Dre also watches in awe as he sees a woman practicing martial arts at the edge of the cliff which at first he thought is mimicking a cobra snake in front of her. Han later explains that it is the snake that mimics the woman, like how water reflects people looking at them. Han lets Dre drink the Dragon Water, which purportedly was water that held the essence of kung fu.

Dre's friendship with Mei also continues. Mei agrees to attend Dre's tournament, while Dre promises to attend her upcoming violin recital. Later on, Dre persuades Mei to cut school for a day, but when she is nearly late for her violin recital, Mei tells Dre that her parents have deemed him a bad influence, and have forbidden her from spending any more time with him.

The next day, Dre finds a drunk and despondent Han smashing the car he has been repairing. Han confides that it's the anniversary of his wife and son's deaths, which occurred many years ago, when Han lost control of that very same car during an argument with his wife while driving up a steep hillside on a rainy night. Dre reminds Han that one of his lessons was in perseverance, and that he must get over the accident and move on in life.

At the long-awaited tournament, Dre is slow to achieve parity with his opponents due to his complete ignorance of the rules, as well as not being used to fighting an aggressive opponent, but soon begins to find his feet and effortlessly advances to the semifinals. Everyone in the stadium slowly notices that all of Li's students, especially Cheng, finish their opponents brutally and often must be pried off the ring. In the semifinals, Dre comes up against one of Li's students; Li has told the student in question that "he doesn't want him beaten, but broken" (injured). During the match, Li's student delivers a devastating kick to Dre's knee that sends him sprawling. Though Dre is already down, Li's student seizes Dre's leg and smashes the knee multiple times with his elbow, until he is seized by the referee. Li's student looking deeply regretful, is disqualified for his illegal strikes. Dre's left thigh was badly swollen. As Cheng has won his semifinal match, if Dre is declared as incapacitated, Cheng wins the tournament by default.

Despite Han's insistence that he has earned respect for his performance in the tournament, and that Dre needs to learn when to walk away from a fight, Dre pleads for Han to help him, insisting that he wants to see the tournament to the end; Han sighs consent. The last match begins, to the deafening cheers for Dre. Dre slowly starts to gain the edge. Cheng, during a time-out, is then instructed by Li to break Dre's leg. Cheng obeys, delivering a crushing kick to Dre's previously injured leg. Though clearly in pain, Dre struggles to his feet after a long pause and adopts a one leg stance, reminiscent of a martial artist he observed from the woman practicing with a cobra snake in the mountains, that also perplexes Han. As Cheng charges him, Dre executes a backflip kick to Cheng's head and is declared the winner of the tournament. As the announcer is about to give Dre the trophy, Cheng takes it and personally hands the trophy to him, as a sign of respect. Li's students then ditch their malevolent mentor and show their respect for Han, bowing to him, with Han returning the bow. The movie fades showing Han and Dre with his trophy.

Cast

• Jackie Chan as Mr. Han
• Jaden Smith as Dre Parker
• Taraji P. Henson as Sherry Parker
• Yu Rongguang as Master Li
• Ming Xu as Bao
• Ji Wang as Mrs. Po
• Yi Zhao as Zhuang
• Tess Liu as History Teacher
• Harry Van Gorkum as Music Instructor
• Wen Wen Han as Mei Ying
• Zhenwei Wang as Cheng
• Luke Carberry as Harry

Development

On November 10, 2008, Variety reported that work on a Karate Kid remake had begun. Variety stated that the new film, to be produced by Will Smith, "has been refashioned as a star vehicle for Jaden Smith" and that it would "borrow elements from the original plot, wherein a bullied youth learns to stand up for himself with the help of an eccentric mentor." On June 22, 2009, Jackie Chan told a Los Angeles Chinatown concert crowd that he was leaving for Beijing to film the remake as Jaden Smith's teacher.

The film contains homages to the original film, including a variation on the famous fly catching scene in which Chan's character ends up swatting it instead of using chopsticks; the theatrical trailer shows this scene with the original film's theme "You're the Best" playing.

Martial arts

Unlike its 1984 counterpart of the same name, the 2010 remake, despite its title, does not feature karate, which is from Okinawa, but focuses on the main character learning kung fu in China. Allegations of cultural ignorance and potential racism have resulted from the film's title as the lack of distinction between Japanese and Chinese culture demonstrates deindividuation. Chan has told interviewers that film cast members have been referring to the film as the Kung Fu Kid, and he believes the film will only be called The Karate Kid in America, and The Kung Fu Kid in Asia. Despite this, the film will be released under the original title in Asian countries, except People's Republic of China, Japan and South Korea.

Theme song

The official theme song is "Never Say Never", a song written by Adam Messinger, Nasri Atweh, Justin Bieber, Thaddis Harrell, Jaden Smith, and Omarr Rambert, and produced by The Messengers. It is performed by Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith. The music video was released on May 31, 2010.

Remember the Name by Fort Minor was used in the trailer to promote the movie.

The song "Hip Song" by Rain is used for promotion in the Asian countries and it appeared in the trailer. The music video was released on May 22, 2010.

Release and reception

Critical reception

The Karate Kid has received generally favorable reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 70% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 128 reviews, with an average score of 6.3/10. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times rated the film three out of four. She noted that Jaden Smith "proves that he's no mere beneficiary of dynastic largesse. Somber, self-contained and somehow believable as a kid for whom things don't come easily, he never conveys the sense that he's desperate to be liked. 'The Karate Kid' winds up being so likable itself". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it a positive review, rating the film three and a half out of four stars and calling it “a lovely and well-made film that stands on its own feet.” Claudia Puig of USA Today and Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly each rated the film a 'B', stating ”the chemistry between Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan grounds the movie, imbuing it with sincerity and poignance” and that the film is "fun and believable," respectively.

Some critics took notice that the film's characters are much younger than in the original film; they also took notice of the filmmakers' sometimes unrealistic and inappropriate characterizations. Simon Abrams of Slant Magazine noted "The characters just aren't old enough to be convincing in their hormone-driven need to prove themselves" and "This age gap is also a huge problem when it comes to the range that these kids bring to the project" and noted the portrayal of the child antagonist Cheng includes an "overblown and overused grimace, which looks like it might have originally belonged to Dolph Lundgren, looks especially silly on a kid that hasn't learned how to shave yet." Finally, Abrams noted "What's most upsetting is Dre's budding romance with Meiying. These kids have yet to hit puberty and already they're swooning for each other".

Box office

The film was released on June 11, 2010 by Columbia Pictures to 3,663 theaters across the United States. The Karate Kid topped the box office on its opening day, grossing $18.8 million, and in its opening weekend, grossing $56 million in North America, beating The A-Team, which grossed an estimated $9.6 million on the same opening day, and $26 million in its opening weekend.

Parodies

Ralph Macchio, who starred in the original 1984 film, appears in Funny or Die's online short, Wax on, F*ck off, in which his loved ones stage an intervention in order to turn the former teen idol from a well-adjusted family man into an addict besieged with tabloid scandal in order to help his career. During the video, Macchio reacts to seeing a poster for the 2010 Karate Kid remake.

See also

• 2010 in film
• Jackie Chan filmography

External links

• Official website
• The Karate Kid at IMDb
• The Karate Kid at Box Office Mojo
• The Karate Kid at Rotten Tomatoes