THE NEW MUTANTS AND COBRA KAI

The New Mutants  was made back in 2017, at 20th Century Fox. Since then Disney purchased  20th Century Fox and its back catalogue, so this film was done and dusted - but has been sitting on a shelf for three years. The story starts with Native American teenager Danielle Moonstar (played by Blu Hunt) escaping in the middle of the night as an unseen entity is obliterating the township on the reservation where she lives.  She is knocked unconscious during the huge explosions and wakes up in a secure hospital – which is old and creepy - run by Dr. Reyes (Alice Braga) - she runs the institution  - which is for young mutants who are still coming to grips with their powers. Dani is introduced to a small group of other teens - who are also being kept there under similar circumstances: there’s a jock type named Roberto (played by Henry Zaga) who turns white hot when his libido kicks in,  Rain Sinclair (played by Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones) who can transform into a werewolf at will. Sam Guthrie ( who’s played by Charlie Heaton, who plays the older brother in Stranger Things) who has the ability to fly at supersonic speeds. And Illyana Rasputin (played by Anya Taylor-Joy, who starred recently in Emma) and she’s an antagonist to Dani – she’s a pretty awful person actually and she’s able to teleport, use her eyes and arms as weapons - y’know, the usual. They basically all have to come to terms with traumatic events in their lives caused by their powers as well as navigating the strange situation they all find themselves in. It’s essentially ‘Breakfast Club meets X Men’ with more of a dark, Stephen King vibe.

Cobra Kai was made by Youtube, starting back in 2018 – it has a following already but it’s landed on Netflix, this past week so there’ll be a lot of fresh eyeballs on it. There’s two seasons that are available to binge and Season Three is on it’s way (delayed thanks to COVID).

The setup is the iconic 80’s classic The Karate Kid – which ended with Johnny Lawrence (played by William Zapka) the cocky and aggressive antagonist, getting crane-kicked in the face by Ralph Macchio’s limping and seemingly beaten Danny Larusso. This show then hits the fast forward button  and re-imagines those characters thirty-four years later. Johnny (played once more by William Zapka) is now in his 50s, lives alone in a rundown apartment and is generally at rock bottom.

After losing his construction job, he’s down-and-out and on the skids – and one night he intervenes in a street fight, defending his teenage neighbour from a gang of bullies using karate. The young kid he saves asks Johnny to teach him karate. Initially he’s reluctant, then Johnny agrees and decides to reopen the Cobra Kai karate dojo from the original film, as a chance to recapture his past and give himself purpose and motivation again - but this act of reopening the infamous dojo, rekindles his rivalry and hatred of Daniel LaRusso – who has landed on his feet in life and is happily married with a couple of kids and owns a successful car dealership. The pair square off once more and we’re treated to a bath in 80’s corn, with a distinctly knowing and tongue-in-cheek edge.