Lame Version of "The Karate Kid"

Rating: 3/10 (27 July 2008)

This movie is almost exactly like the "Karate Kid", but in a lame, rip-off sort of way. It just wasn't good, and for many reasons. It was like a terrible cover of a good song from the '80s, if "Karate Kid" was the good, original song, and "Never Back Down" was the tasteless cover. The new kid in town gets beat up by the leader of some fight-club wannabee bullies, who has a girlfriend, who happens to falls for the new kid. And after his beating, the new kid trains and trains with a non-American fighting master and goes back to the leader of the fight club wannabees and guess what he does. Hmmm, sound familiar?
It's clear that this film targets the teenager looking for the practical slow-motion fighting scenes and a bad attempt at drama. If you're a teenager who is into non-stop cellphone use, over use of slow-motion, and the dated high-school house parties then this movie is for you, Teenager. But it just seems as if the writer watched "Karate Kid" and simply upgraded the story with new millennium cliché's involving cellphones, Youtube, and over-played hard rock songs.
The drama isn't dramatic, the comic relief isn't funny, the fight scenes aren't that entertaining, and the storyline isn't original. The only thing that looked in any way genuine were the training sequences. I like to say give every movie a chance, but with this one, don't expect to walk away happy and wanting more.