KARATE KID: Legends

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

Okinawa, Japan, 1986 – A young Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is told by Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) about an ancestor of his who was taken in during a storm by the Han family, who taught kung fu. Mr. Miyagi describes the union of his family’s karate, and the Han family’s kung fu, as “two branches, one tree.”

Beijing, China, Present Day – Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) is the shifu of a school for kung fu. His niece Dr. Fong (Ming-Na Wen) arrives to inform Mr. Han that she is moving with her son Li (Ben Wang) to New York City for a new job. Despite Mr. Han’s protests, Dr. Fong wants Li to grow up away from fighting after losing his older brother Bo (Yankei Ge) the year before.

Upon arriving in New York, Li goes around his neighborhood to explore. He goes to the nearby pizzeria and makes the mistake of ordering stuffed crust (which gets him the nickname “Stuffed Crust”), getting him mocked by the shop’s owner, Victor Lipani (Joshua Jackson). His daughter Mia (Sadie Stanley) defends Li and gives him the pizza that they do have, and she directs him to the nearest bodega.

After school, Li finds Mia and helps her with supplies outside the shop. She guides him around the area so he can become more familiar, but Mia gets uncomfortable when they pass a dojo and she sees her ex, Conor Day (Aramis Knight). Conor’s sensei, O’Shea (Tim Rozon), reminds Mia that her dad owes him money. While the two hang out later on, Mia’s scooter breaks down, so she and Li have to take the subway. They are found by Conor and his goons on there, and he approaches Mia with intent to get her back. After Li comes to Mia’s defense, Conor gets him with a sucker punch to the eye. Mia apologizes for this and admits that she only ever dated Conor because she knew her dad didn’t want her to. Victor helps cover up the black eye, but Li’s mom quickly discovers it and reminds him not to fight.

Li later starts seeing a student tutor, Alan (Wyatt Olef), to improve his calculus skills. Later during the day, he is antagonized by Conor yet again. Li remembers some of his kung fu training under Bo and attempts to utilize it during a fight, but Conor anticipates his every move and is able to aggressively counter it, knocking Li down until teachers have to break it up. Conor challenges Li to enter the 5 Boroughs tournament that he always wins.

At night, Li goes to try and fix Mia’s scooter, but he sees three of O’Shea’s goons coming with baseball bats to collect their money from Victor. Li goes to his defense and uses his skills against the thugs. After a brief brawl, the goons are eventually left running scared. Victor brings Li into the pizzeria to thank him for helping him, but he admits that he could use some help. Victor used to be a boxer until Mia came along, and he asks Li for help in sharpening up his skills.

Li speaks to Mr. Han over training Victor, which he encourages. Mia catches Li and Victor training, which upsets her since the pizza shop is already struggling without the threat of O’Shea’s goons. After several rigorous training exercises, Li tells Victor why he stopped fighting. The year before, Bo had won a tournament, but his opponent took the loss personally and assaulted Bo along with his friends. One of them pulled a knife on him, and Li felt too helpless to do anything, so he blames himself for Bo’s death.

Li continues studying with Alan. They later go to the San Gennaro festival, where Li sees Mia hanging out with Conor and laughing. He assumes she is back with him and starts to get distant from Mia.

Li and Mia later join Victor at his boxing match against one of O’Shea’s goons. Mia confronts Li for his change in attitude, and he mentions seeing her and Conor together. Mia explains that Conor wanted to get back together, but she made it clear to him that they are done for good because she has started developing feelings for Li. Before they can kiss, Victor spoils the moment and has them go outside to watch the fight. During the match, Victor appears to display some skills he learned from Li and nearly wins, but O’Shea has his goon illegally use his elbow and then knock Victor out cold. He is taken to the hospital where Li’s mom works, but when Mia needs him to join her inside, Li is too frozen by memories of watching what happened with Li. Mia ends up angry with Li.

Mr. Han tries to reach out to Li, but he avoids his phone calls. Eventually, Mr. Han makes his way to New York and surprises Li by…breaking into his apartment and attacking him. Li and Dr. Fong see Mr. Han, and he later accompanies Li to visit Victor at the hospital. He says he is considering just moving the pizza shop elsewhere, not to give up, but to move on. Mr. Han then tells Li that he is going to compete in the 5 Boroughs tournament and that he will train Li for it.

Mr. Han then goes to California to find Daniel (Ralph Macchio)in his home. He tells Daniel that he personally knew Mr. Miyagi and stayed with him for a while, hearing stories about his time with Daniel. Mr. Han requests Daniel’s help in training Li by utilizing Mr. Miyagi’s method of karate. Daniel is reluctant, but Mr. Han knows he will see Daniel in New York.

Alan lends Li his rooftop garden that he can train on. Mr. Han joins Li there to work on his kung fu skills. Daniel eventually shows up and starts to show Li how to incorporate karate into his training. They also try to find a way for Li to trick Conor, since he will be expecting some of his same moves, but Daniel encourages Li to “set a trap” by using his earlier dragon kick that got him knocked down, except he will dodge Conor’s attack and find an opening to sweep the leg from the ground. In between the training, Li is still getting ignored by Mia until Alan helps him out. He gets Mia to go to the rooftop where Li has set up a nice evening for them, and she comes to forgive him.

The day of the 5 Boroughs arrives. Li and Conor take out each of their opponents until they get closer to the finals. O’Shea’s goons attempt to take Li out of the tournament by ganging up on him, but Mr. Han and Daniel come to his defense. Mr. Han also tries to encourage Li’s mom to show up and support her son, despite her fears over him competing.

A week later, the final match between Li and Conor arrives, with them facing off on a rooftop. Dr. Fong shows up and joins Victor, Mia, and Alan to support Li. Conor takes the lead at first until Li overcomes his fears and begins to use both his senseis training to start getting some points in. Li takes the lead at seven points, but Conor eventually catches up and comes close to knocking Li out, but he gets back on his feet in time. With one point left to determine the winner, Li goes for the dragon kick and uses Daniel and Mr. Han’s advice to dodge Conor’s counterattack, and he successfully takes Conor down, making Li the new champion. Conor takes it like a sore loser and tries to attack Li with his back turned, but Li pins him to the floor and lands his fist next to Conor’s head instead of striking him. Conor relents and bows to his opponent, and everyone cheers for Li. He and Mia also kiss before he is lifted into the air like a champion.

Before the credits roll, we see that Li’s victory in the 5 Boroughs has allowed Victor to not only pay off O’Shea, but also to open a second pizzeria location. Li sends Daniel a pie all the way back to California, along with a thank you note. Daniel shares the pie with his former rival-turned-best friend Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Johnny thinks it’s weird to send a pizza from Brooklyn to California, but then he starts to try to convince Daniel to open up their own pizza place called “Miyagi-Dough”, which Daniel is not a fan of.

Teenager Li Fong and his mother move from Beijing to New York after she gets a new job there. Although Li was studying kung fu under his great uncle, Mr. Han, his mother wants him to stop fighting since they lost his older brother Bo the year before after a tournament. In New York, Li befriends a girl named Mia, whose father Victor owns a pizzeria and is being antagonized by the psychotic sensei of a New York dojo, O'Shea. After Li helps defend Victor from O'Shea's goons, he agrees to help Victor sharpen his fighting skills ahead of a comeback boxing match.

Li also earns the animosity of Mia's ex-boyfriend Conor, a student of O'Shea's who uses his skills for violence. After Victor is knocked out with an illegal hit by one of O'Shea's goons, Mr. Han arrives in New York to help train Li for the 5 Boroughs tournament that Conor always competes in and wins. Mr. Han also enlists the aid of Daniel LaRusso, since Mr. Han was once close with Daniel's former sensei, Mr. Miyagi. They use Mr. Han's kung fu and Daniel's karate to help Li train.

Li and Conor take out all of their opponents in the tournament until the two of them go to the finals. Although Conor takes the lead at first, Li quickly catches up and eventually uses a move that Mr. Han and Daniel showed him so that he can defeat Conor. Conor attempts a sneak attack, but Li takes him down again, forcing Conor to accept Li as the new champion.

Li and Mia get together, and Victor is able to open a second pizzeria thanks to Li's victory. Daniel returns to California and joins Johnny Lawrence as they share a pizza that Li sent them.