The Karate Kid (2010)

Image Credit

Year Released: 2010

Directed By: Harald Zwart

Produced By: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith

Written By: Christopher Murphey (Screenplay); Robert Mark Kamen (Story)

Actors You Should Recognize: Jackie Chan [Rush Hour], Jaden Smith [Pursuit of Happyness], Taraji P. Henson [I Can Do Bad All By Myself]

The Rundown: Dre (Smith) and his mother (Henson) move to China with the movement of his mother's job. Enter teen angst, bullying, and forbidden love, and you have all the makings of The Karate Kid circa 1984. Of course, a Karate Kid film wouldn't be complete without a Mr. Miyagi, now Mr. Han (Chan), and plenty of martial arts fight sequences.

Why You'll Hate It:

Subpar acting by the majority of the secondary characters as well as a failure to develop certain secondary
characters. The one that really comes to mind here is his "friend" Harry.

The music doesn't always seem to fit the scene it is played in.

Intermittant use of subtitles when Chinese is being spoken. In other words, sometimes you'll know what's going on, and other times you'll have no idea.

It's not the original, but that might only matter if you grew up around the time the original was released.

Why You'll Love It:

Fight sequences are fantastic, and who can get tired of Jackie Chan kicking ass?

Jaden Smith isn't just riding the fame of his parents. This kid has real talent. 

Jackie Chan is finally in a serious role for the first time since I can even remember. He pulls it off well.

Much of the movie was filmed in China, providing a lot of incredible scenery for the film.

Quotes Worth Remembering:

Mr. Han: You think only with your eyes so you are easy to fool.

Dre: So what are we learning today?

Mr. Han: Internal energy; the essence of life. It moves inside of us. It flows through our bodies; gives us power from within.

Dre: I get it; like the Force in Star Wars. You're Yoda and I'm like... I'm like a Jedi.

Mr. Han: You have taught me very important lesson, Xiao Dre. Life will knock us down, but we can choose whether or not to stand back up.

Mr. Han: Being still and doing nothing are two very different things.