Karate Kid: Legends (2025)

Really? We're at a stage now in the Karate Kid universe where Ralph Macchio is able to show a thing or two to Jackie Chan? If you can accept that then you might be able to have some fun with Karate Kid: Legends. I'll admit that the whole thing was a struggle for me.

Ben Wang plays Li Fong, a young man who movies to New York with his mother (Dr. Fong, played by Ming-Na Wen). Li has made a promise to his mother that means he cannot fight, but the rest of New York isn't aware of that. Things start to look up when Li meets Mia (Sadie Stanley) and her father, Victor (Joshua Jackson). He even starts training Victor for an upcoming boxing match, but gets on the wrong side of Mia's ex-boyfriend, Conor (Aramis Knight). Things soon go from bad to worse. If only there was some upcoming fighting competition that could let Li prove his skills, especially after some time spent being trained by Mr. Han (Chan) and Daniel LaRusso (Macchio).

What you have here is a mixtape with some visual accompanying the music. I really don't mean that as a compliment. Writer Rob Lieber doesn't have too many features under his belt, while director Jonathan Entwistle is making his cinematic directorial debut here, and it's clear that they have been asked to put together something absolutely formulaic that can be overstuffed with annoyingly uncatchy soundtrack choices. Seriously, this soundtrack, and how songs are used, is one of the worst I have experienced in some time. Not necessarily because of the song choices, but because of the inability to let most scenes play out in a less obnoxious manner.

I have seen people praise young Ben Wang for his performance in the lead role. Sorry, I disagree with the majority on this one. Wang has the physical prowess, and he's certainly not awful, but he didn't ever fully win me over. Jackson and Stanley are much better, with the latter a particularly good choice for a main supporting/co-lead role. Knight is a decent baddie, and Tim Rozon does well as the determined adult helping youngsters to make bad choices in service of a "strong" reputation, and both Chan and Macchio bring some fun by bringing along their legacies (all legacies being equal, but some legacies being more equal than others). Wen is wasted, sadly, but does what is asked of her.

There's nothing inherently wrong with films that work with a proven formula, and Karate Kid: Legends has some good moments. It just doesn't get the mix quite right. Having Li train Victor is a fun twist on things, compared to previous entries in the series, but the third act montage moments serve as a reminder of just what viewers tune in for. It feels like the kind of entertaining stretching of body and spirit that feels essential to the "root for the underdog" martial arts movie designed to be satisfying family entertainment. 

I would still recommend this to those after something light and easygoing, but it's not a patch on the originals. It's a bit more brash, a bit louder, and makes use of some videogame aesthetics in the final fight. None of those things actually make it a better film. They just make it feel as if it is constantly straining to connect with kids who can still find joy in the simple pleasures of a film that made everyone smile with the words "wax on, wax off". 

6/10

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Lake Placid: Legacy (2018)

Here we are, at last. This is the final (to date) film in the killer croc movie series, and I have to say that my expectations were very low as I went into it. Anyone else would feel the same after slogging through the previous instalments, which crashed so low after the fun of the first film. And yet, despite the odds, I also held on to a small bit of hope. 

Directed by Darrell Roodt, who has a few movies in his filmography that make it worthy of exploration, this presents a script from Jonathan Walker that puts a bunch of urban explorers in peril. It may not be the most complex premise, but it still feels as if more effort has been made here than was made in so many of the other sequels (that really all just had numerous people accidentally wandering into a lake full of happy snappers). 

Am I going to dive further into the plot? No. Despite making an effort to make use of a different location, the rest of the movie plays out in predictably familiar fashion. People don’t realise they are being stalked by a huge crocodile, some of them die, people then realise they are being stalked by a huge crocodile, they strive to survive in territory that is more suited to the predator hunting them, they wrack their brains trying to figure out how to kill it.

The cast are decent enough, and I was happy to see Joe Pantoliano as the one established actor given a supporting role this time (and giving a performance a lot more restrained than anything we saw from Yancy Butler or Robert Englund in previous movies). Katherine Barrell, Tim Rozon, Sai Bennett, Luke Newton, Craig Stein, and others who will be devastated that I haven’t namechecked them here, all at least try to act well enough to overcome their lack of character development. As a group of relative unknowns (relatively unknown to me anyway), there is some extra fun to be had from knowing that anyone could be chomped at any moment. Well . . . until it starts to become obvious who has been given the lead/survivor role.

Although clearly not a movie with a huge budget, the FX work here is something else that feels like a step up from most of the preceding films. Those involved either had some more money to play with or decent CGI has become easier and cheaper to get right, and it’s a relief to see a killer crocodile that doesn’t look as if it crawled out of an early Resident Evil game. It’s not a perfect creation, but it’s good enough.

The main setting is used well, dressed and lit in a cost-effective way, and the pacing just manages to keep boredom at bay. I could recommend you at least 20 crocodile/alligator movies better than this one, and most of those could be off the top of my head right now, but I could also name a fair few films that were a lot worse than this (although most of them, sadly, have Lake Placid in the title).

Not one to mark as a high priority, but those working through the series will be relieved to find that it ends on a relative high note. Until they decide to remake/reboot/make another unnecessary sequel.

5/10

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End Of The Line (2007)

Written and directed by Maurice Devereaux, this impressive Canadian horror takes a lot of unoriginal ideas and makes them into something pretty interesting and highly entertaining. I'm not going to say that it feels completely fresh and new because it doesn't, but I will say that it avoids feeling so familiar as to breed any contempt.

Ilona Elkin plays a nurse named Karen who ends a hellish shift with no small amount of relief and sets off on her journey home. While waiting in the subway she is pestered by one major creep (Patrick Wilcock) before being saved by a young man named Mike (Nicolas Wright), who pretends that they're friends and keeps her company for a while. When the train arrives, Karen gets on and thinks that she is now about to get home soon. Wrong. The train stops after a very short while, leaving the passengers stuck there, in a tunnel. Things seem bad, but they get a hell of a lot worse when a group of religious zealots all get a message from their leader that orders them to start killing people as the apocalypse begins. Karen, Mike and other passengers on the train have to get to safety while figuring out just what is going on with the world outwith the subway. IS it the apocalypse or have they just been very unlucky?

The dangers of a subway system at night and the horror that can come from cult members happy to blindly follow orders as they believe themselves to be in the right, these are the two main elements that weave together quite nicely to make up End Of The Line. There are some other ingredients, and some perfectly executed jump scares in the first few scenes, but the main body of the film is taken up with subterranean terror caused by those intent on delivering souls to god as they prepare for an apocalypse.

The writing and direction from Devereaux are fine. This is his fourth movie and, from a brief scan through his resume, he appears to have improved slightly with each outing. There are many moments in which the low budget is pretty obvious, but there are just as many moments that do much better than expected with the limited money and resources available.

Where things fall down slightly is the acting department. Ilona Elkin and Nicolas Wright are likable enough in the main roles, but they're not the most naturalistic performers. Neither are Emily Shelton, Neil Napier, Tim Rozon or Nina Fillis. Patrick Wilcock isn't much better, but he gets a role that allows for a more over the top style and his character at least looks as if he's relishing every opportunity that the horrible situation affords him.

To sum it up then, there's an interesting and fun central premise, a decent amount of blood splattered across the screen and some moments that really manage to get the cloying and dark atmosphere right. Which certainly means that this is worth seeing if you're a horror movie fan.

End Of The Line is showing at The Filmhouse today as part of the run up to the 20th Dead By Dawn so get your tickets here - http://www.filmhousecinema.com/showing/end-of-the-line/ - and enjoy it on the big screen.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/End-Line-Ilona-Elkin/dp/B001T46TAQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1359152638&sr=1-3&keywords=end+of+the+line