The Karate Kid - Review

The Karate Kid The Karate kid is a remake of the 1978 film of the same name. Now if you've seen the original, which was good enough to produce 2 sequels, you're going to get disappointed with this particular remake.

Dre Parker(Jaden Smith) is a 12 year old boy who lives with her mother in Detroit. But when his mother's job has been transferred to China, his life, it seems, has come to an abrupt halt. On reaching China he almost immediately falls in love with the cute Meiying(Wenwen Han). But with that comes trouble as Cheng(Zhenwei Wang) is Meiying's family friend and probably likes her as well, so he starts bullying little Dre and shows his Kung Fu skills in the process. This leads to a lot of trouble and then enters Mr. Han(Jackie Chan), the maintenance man of the apartment where Dre resides with his mother Sherry Parker(Taraji P. Henson). Dre finds out that Mr. Han is a Kung Fu master and convinces him to teach him some of his moves so that he can kick some ass too. So begins the story of our little Dre who goes on to learn Kung Fu from old Mr. Han, and take part in a grand tournament where he has to face his fear as well as his nemesis. Its completely like the original version but what it lacks is the innocence and the small-time charm of the original.

This film is about Kung Fu, its about fights, its about bullying, its about blood, its about survival. Now considering all that, casting a 12 year old boy to deal with all of that is probably the biggest drawback of the film. You don't really expect a kid so young to get into fights where he could really hurt himself serious. So this takes away the authenticity of the injuries and the intensity of the fights. Although the moves shown are pretty awesome but they too are not clear and that should be blamed to the modern cinematography these days which have special effects and quick cuts. Old school style of showing fight scenes is probably still the best, as they look more believable and the moves are readable to the viewer. Jaden Smith starts off pretty dull, he even looks stoned in some scenes in the beginning, he's that slow and expressionless. But as the film progresses so does his acting. You can clearly see glimpses of Will Smith in him, but feel that he's trying a little too hard. He should create his own style rather than copy his dad's which doesn't suit his age. Comparing him to other young actors of today, he is lagging behind a little. Although he did a decent job in The Pursuit of Happiness, his performance in this movie is just about average. He still has a long way to go. But credit has to be given to the fact that he has prepared well for this movie but at times it looks like he has been overworked. I mean a 12 year old boy with a six pack? This is the age when he should be enjoying life, playing games, studying, rather than spending time in the gym.

Jackie Chan plays an old, defeated man in the movie who gets a new motive when he meets Dre. He has played his part in the movie. There is nothing too great or too good about it. He has simply done his job. Although Miyagi in the original version was much better than Han in this one. Taraji P. Henson as Sherry Parker is totally ignorable. The humour of the film is below standard and hardly makes you laugh except for an odd fluke here and there. The shooting locations used by the director are pretty nice at times like when he shows Dre and Han practising on The Great Wall of China. The music is alright in bits, nothing to talk about really.

A very average film at best. You won;t miss too much if you miss this one!

5/10

Sir Rachit Varma

Raajneeti - Review

Raajneeti

Welcome back to the world of Hindi cinema, where movies have a huge star cast, are 3 hour longs and actually have a good story line. Raajneeti is a good mix of modern-day Mahabharata and The Godfather, which turns out to be a pretty deadly combination. Its about a political family which has just lost its leader in the midst of the upcoming election. This in turn sets his family at war as the leader chooses his brother and his son Prithviraj Pratap(Arjun Rampal) as his heirs, rather than his own son Veerendra Pratap(Manoj Bajpai). This angers Veerendra Pratap and he decides to take matter into his own hand. To help him out in this scenario is the Dalit leader form the village Sooraj Kumar(Ajay Devgn). So begins the saga of murder, vengeance and the want to gain political power by any means. In this process gets stuck Samar Pratap(Ranbir Kapoor) who had just come for a leaisurely visit to India from New York to attend his uncles birthday. Turning down a teaching job in New York he instead stays back in India to help out is family. In him we see shades of Michael Corleone as a young leader who at first was hesitant to join the dirty family business but reluctantly has become a major part of it, and has started taking all the major decisions. There's also the lovely and innocent India Pratap(Katrina Kaif), his childhood friend who gradually begins to see what kind of a person Samar has become. And to help Samar there's Brij Gopal(Nana Patekar), his mother's brother. He is the all wise, all knowing Mama who can be sweet and mean all at the same time.

This film in the beginning can get a little confusing to its viewers as there are way too many characters who are introduced, and who actually play an important part throughout the film. But as the movie progress the confusion diminishes and you start seeing the clear picture and you probably start taking sides. There is no pure good or evil here, everything's in a shade of grey, like they all believe that the means justify the end. You take Ajay Devgn who is a local village fellow, a Dalit leader, in the beginning he seems all nice and right, but politics as we know it is not a nice guys game, at least in India. Ranbir turns from the innocent American student to a smart schemer who'll do anything to protect his brother. He even fakes it with his American girlfriend Sara(Sarah Jean Collins) when she decides to give him a surprise visit to India. Be it true or not but this movie shows you a pretty interesting insight of politics in India. Its a brother kill brother world out there.

Acting wise everyone has done a good job I must say but special credit goes to Ranbir Kapoor who has shown that he can actually act in films other than romantic comedies in which he plays a chocolate boy lover trying to woo a girl standing in the balcony. Nana Patekar is not his usual self hurling abuses and shouting dialogues at the top of his voice, he is a smiling, silent planner who is very subtle throughout the film and acts only when necessary. Ajay Devgn is also in the background throughout the film, which is very unlike Prakash Jha as we have seen in his previous films like Apharan and Gangajal. But it is nicely done on his part. Katrina Kaif has probably taken acting lessons and is very sober in this film, and looks amazing as always. Arjun Rampal in my opinion has 'acted' for the very first time and by the end of the movie you feel satisfied that he didn't ruin it by his dead, expressionless face. Manoj Bajpai has a typical role, so no surprises there.

Go watch this movie if you want to see a wholesome Hindi film with substance. Its got your abuses, gruesome action scenes, a couple of lovemaking scenes put in here and there, a few songs in the background, nasty cops, hot Indian summer, everything that you need to enjoy your 3 hours in an air conditioned theatre!

7/10

Sir Rachit Varma