jayjaycee Review of The Karate Kid Part II

The Karate Kid Part II (1986)

Promising premise, terrible execution

[6/10 · 10 January 2021]

"The Karate Kid Part II" is a 1986 sport drama directed by John G. Avildsen starring Noriyuki "Pat" Morita and Ralph Macchio. ⚪ All in all, the sequel to John G. Avildsen's iconic karate story makes for a change and bethinks of the traditions of the sport, as it explores the culture's origin after relocating the scene to Okinawa, but even if the idea itself is quite interesting, the execution isn't exciting at all and suffers from severe narrative problems, as the flair of the original has made way for a more traditional yet superficial atmosphere and story, and strange character focus as well as an unexciting plot turn this continuation into a most of the time boring rather than engaging, and poorly conceived sequel with tonal and plot issues. ⚪ #TrainingForCobraKai continues with the first sequel of the hit film, and as you can tell, it is by far not as great as the original. Another weird trend of the eighties was to continue the most successful films, and even if there are some exceptions, it often ended terribly, and the created sequels are mostly just average to less than mediocre version of their predecessor. Yes, this one is another proof that this unwritten rule applies. Half a year after Daniel LaRusso won the tournament and finally stood up to his bullies (as seen in the flashback sequences in the beginning), he accompanies his mentor Mr. Miyagi to Okinawa, his sensei's place of origin, and learns about his past. Honestly, I absolutely love that they decided to do something completely different for the sequel. You got a new place, new characters and an in itself new conflict, but as promising as it sounds in the beginning, the execution is what leaves a lot to be desired, because in the end, they did so many things wrong and messed up their basic idea. As you can tell by how they are billed, Pat Morita's Mr. Miyagi is all suddenly the main character of the film, and Daniel only plays the role of the supporting character. Even if I inherently like the idea of exploring the sensei more, it is at the same time disenchanting, for it deprived the mystical mentor of every bit of magic he has had in the previous film. We learn that Miyagi is indeed a disgraced coward who left his country after breaking with the traditions of his culture. In other words, he wooed the fiancée of his best friend Sato and publicly declared his love for her. Albeit it was probably the right thing in the name of love, it was still strange to see that Miyagi, who was previously introduced as someone who strictly follows his country's traditions, did one of the worst things he could have done. As a result of the humiliation his former best friend Sato experienced, he was challenged to a life and death fight - which he declined. Instead, he fled to the states and remained there - until his dying father brought him back. You know what I mean? The fabulous teacher turns out to be a hypocrite, and that is one of the worst things they could have done. On the other hand, one might think that we learn something about the traditions and customs of Okinawa, but well ... even this was done poorly. I mean, the film runs for almost two hours and until the storm scene and the final fight sequence, there isn't really much exciting happening. It simply scratches on the surface, develops a certain emotional depth in only a handful of scenes and is just unexcitingly boring most of the time. The mentioned traditions and customs are thematized only half-heartedly, and overall, the film lacks the flair and heart of the original. It is plain and simple. Furthermore, on the surface it looks like it is completely innovative, but on closer inspection, the film only slightly altered and re-used plot elements of the original and suited them to the new scenery. Don't believe me? Let me prove it to you: the predictable love interest/romantic character arc? Check. The bully who teases Daniel all the time and is factually superior to him by all means, at least until the end? Check. The new special technique Daniel isn't able to perform until the climatic combat? Also there. Other than that, everything the film builds up doesn't even happen ultimately. Like, it shows Sato trying to convince his old friend to at last accept his fate and fight him. One storm later, everything is forgiven and forgotten. The fight of the mentors, sensei vs. sensei, is off the cards, and all the previous development was redundant in retrospective, well, the entire film was redundant. Instead, we get to see Sato's disgraced nephew Chozen fight Daniel in a mortal combat. However, despite being slightly better choreographed than before (while still not being masterful), it is the length of the scene that bothers me - because it is just too short. In the matter of seconds, and after a comparatively intense exchange of blows, it is already over and Daniel wins. In the end, I cannot really say that I like this sequel. Of course, it is pleasant to see the characters again, but the change of scenery, the undeniably more brutal characters as well as the premise were sadly wasted and terribly executed. What kept the original film from becoming dreadful was the enormous amount of heart and magic - two factors that are practically absent in this one. Borderline watchable, but a title I probably won't rewatch for a long time. However, I am even more unsettled about the third film...