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A decent remake, but unlike the 1984, it's not inspiring at all. It's more of a journey of a kid that's all. Also, the 1984 was a little dark whereas this one is not and since there were so many changes done, didn't feel like a remake at all. Despite the fact that many characters are introduced very early in the movie, they become secondary extras as the movie progresses, with some of them not returning at all. Take Harry for instance. Introduced as a potential supporting character but disappears suddenly. The main antagonist Chen starts off great, stands on his own feet, but suffers through bad script-writing. Same goes for Meiying, although I liked her screen-time and presence.
Sorry to say this but Harald Zwart couldn't handle several characters at once and as the film progressed, the sole spotlight was on Dre Parker only, which wasn't satisfactory enough. The cinematography, especially during the fights, weren't that good and were keen on showing the expressions more and the actual fight less. So basically it's a decent movie, nothing special in my eyes and it just didn't have the charm and magic of the original 1984.
Anyway, I would like to use this film as a good example of screen chemistry. And I'm talking about Taraji B. Henson and Jaden Smith. Impeccable chemistry, if you ask me. I would love to see them do another film together, playing the same mother-son roles. Then we have Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. Who better actor to play a mentor? Their chemistry was also great and should they too do another film together, I'm there. From the supporting I liked Wenwen Han as Meiying. Sweet performance and very easy to the eye but I agree, Meiying and Dre are still too young to fall in love. I mean, they haven't even reached puberty yet and it was quite disturbing to see that. All the others were quite OK!
Performance-wise, the film is very good but story-wise, it's quite-disappointing.
