Karate Do

Someone gave it 6 stars really? You must be into low budget films.

This is described as a movie. I watched this streaming, and it was broken up into about 5 episodes. The story isn't novel, which is fine. A troubled 20 something girl is being kicked out by her mother and sent to live with her father who she also is on bad terms with.

She learns that her father is a Karate master, and he reluctantly teaches her. She has her own motivations for it though... The story is decent and the inner monologues of the father explaining the history and techniques of a few Martial Arts is nice. Beyond this it falls hard.

The acting is so janky it's mind-numbing. It really looks like most of it was shot in one take. Few, if any of the characters are convincing. The camera angles are not good, it's shot like a soap opera, with a dramatic look. Really that's what this is. A drama. Beyond montages of practice, there really is 1 or 2 brief, and I mean brief, scenes of "action/fighting". There is nothing else. No laughter, no suspense, nothing exciting.

I wouldn't recommend this. Even if you like the cheesiest B Martial Arts content.

I always like a good story when it comes to karate or about learning the martial arts. The art/style of it. Though kung fu flicks are fun, they are ridiculously unrealistic. I liked the story line, though Shotokan is not my idea of 'true' karate. (I am biased towards Okinawan karate, not what was watered down and transformed when it went to Japan) but I digress. Gabrielle Niebauer was hands down the best actor (actress) in this movie. If she was bad at acting as the rest of the cast I never would have finished watching it. But she did a fantastic job and was believable. Most of the cast was stiff and the dialog contrived without having a natural flow. Like they just learned their lines and did not rehearse and make the dialog more natural sounding. Whatever. If you are martial artist or just like the martial arts, I would recommend the movie. It is worth seeing.

The story could have been great if it wasn't for the acting, the direction, the production...