thePopcornExplorer

It's always tough reviewing old movies, you always need to go in with your mind opened to the fact that you have to place the film in the time it was made and not through the lens of the year you are watching it.

In the past I wasn't too familiar with Bruce Lee's work, I always assumed he was nothing more than a martial artist actor, but upon reading his book I slowly come to appreciate the man and more than his display of physical prowess, the philosophies and lessons he taught.

They deeply resonated with me and I learned a big deal from them. With that being said I was missing a crucial part of this, I had never watched a movie he starred in, ever, so I had to do it.

Considering it was made almost 50 years ago there are many positives, the filming locations, the camera work, the slightly engaging plot, but the most important aspect of this movie to me comes down to two things:

• The revolution of martial art movies worldwide including realistic choreography.

• Asian representation in a world that even 50 years later continues to struggle with this topic.

This was an amazing achievement if you consider this, while the acting is not the best and there are many silly and unrealistic scenes, again, through the lens of the 70s this was nothing short of an amazing feet to accomplish.

A proof of that is, Bruce Lee still stands today as an iconic figure globally, there's not too many people that can own that legacy without having tarnished it with some controversies.

A movie that despite its flaws stood the test of time.

This is one of those rare situations for me where I first read the manga (or in this case manwa since the story is Korean) and saw the anime after, so I did love the series but I was already aware of the events so I wasn't expecting to not be this excited.

Even with all the hype I found Solo Leveling narrative fairly basic in a way, it's not really a deep character exploration filled with twists and thought out plots, it's a very straight forward story so yet another reason for me to not get much expectations of the anime.

However it succeeds pretty much in a all other fronts!

In movie or a TV show, a great thought provoking story is usually what attracts me the most, but once in a while you get something like Solo Leveling with outstanding animation, great soundtrack, perfect pacing of the story, it never drags at all and almost all individual episodes are really engaging, you get that cool classic anime protagonist vibe - all of this made for a great show!

I would be the first to criticize the fact the main character is over powered and at some point it's always him being cool destroying his enemies, this would be something boring for me in any other show but they managed to make those moments so cool I felt like I was a teenager watching Naruto all over again.

The whole dynamic of the guilds and the secondary characters while not explored that much still get some screen time which is good, I don't know, I really loved the show vibe and the way it was made.

I am really eager to see how the story ends, I still didn't finish the manwa as well so it will be a treat I am sure!

For some context, I wasn't a huge fan of the Karate Kid saga, but upon rewatching I can understand and value the impact of the first movie. While the following sequels were average (to say the least), the Cobra Kai series is to me what made this whole franchise raise to something great.

I have a full review on that show so I won't discuss it in detail but I just want to say that they found the perfect balance between realism and silliness, comedy and drama, life lessons and feel good moments on that series.

With that being said I had somewhat high expectations for this film, I didn't think it would be a masterpiece or anything like that but it's just a really simplistic, goofy, predictable and an uninteresting flick.

There are so many ridiculous plot points it's hard to take any of the story serious, the almost non-existing parenting, the idea of a high school kid training a grown man to pay off debts he has with loan sharks (how messed up is that? That's not material for a light movie, that's some pretty dark stuff!) The fact you randomly need someone all the way across the country to teach your student because it's normal and not at all an excuse to bring an old character to participate in the movie... I mean these are just a few.

The story is copy / paste, you get the big bad bully all over again, the damsel caught in the middle, the Karate tournament that solves everything... I mean we just had 6 seasons of Cobra Kai, that could've been the end of it, they did the most difficult job, they did a revival that actually worked, this movie shows the studios or whoever owns the franchise just got greedy as always.

I don't rate it lower simply because it's a good trend setter to finally have an Asian actor being in the center of a martial art story, cut that's about the only positive, they even brought Jacki Chan and Ralph Machio for what seems to have been only marketing purposes because they are away for most of the movie!!

Even if you are a hardcore fan I would give this one a pass.