Opening this Week: ‘The Karate Kid’ and ‘The A-Team’
Posted on June 9, 2010 at 8:00 am
It’s “I Love the 80’s Week” as the summer kicks off into high gear. I call these “Lunchbox Movies” because I believe the only reason remakes like this get made is that the now-grown-up studio executives were such fans as kids that they carried the lunchboxes. That’s why we have “The Karate Kid,” more a re-imagining than a remake of the 1984 original, with Jaden Smith (son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith) as an American kid in China who learns Kung Fu (so maybe it should be called “The Kung Fu Kid,” but oh, well). Instead of Japanese Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) in the original, this one has martial arts superstar Jackie Chan as the handyman who happens to be a kung fu master.
And then there’s “The A-Team,” based on the 1983-87 television series starring George Peppard, Mr. T, Dirk Benedict, and Dwight Schultz as members of a ragtag team of former military operatives, wrongfully accused and dishonorably discharged, who go around righting wrongs and kicking butts — and blowing things up, big time. The movie version stars Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, District 9‘s Sharlto Copley, and Ultimate Fighting Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Reviews coming soon — stay tuned!
I can see the producers wanting to update the original, but I think that was a doomed concept from the beginning. The original blended humor and karate training and made fun of some aspects of martial arts training…that well…needs to be made fun of.