The Karate Kid II (1986)

Literally picking up about five minutes after the conclusion of the 1984 The Karate Kid, this 1986 sequel, also directed by John G. Avildsen, sends Ralph Macchio's and Pat Morita's characters to the latter's home turf in Japan, where the older man is confronted by an old rival, and Macchio's newly confident fighter gets a tougher challenge than the punks back home. Sillier than its predecessor, this follow-up at least has some distracting soap opera elements in Morita's coming to terms with an old flame, while Macchio woos a lovely local girl. Ironically, it's the action that evokes laughter, particularly a climactic fight that gets over the top quickly. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

YOUR FEAR MAKE AIR STINK!

Following Daniel-San's (Macchio) triumphant, albeit incredibly improbable, victory at the All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament, there is little time to celebrate. Mr. Miyagi (Morita) gets a letter from Okinawa informing him that his father is dying. He knows this is a potentially deadly situation because of an old grudge with his former best friend Sato. Nonetheless, Miyagi let's the recently dumped Daniel-San (it was only a matter of time before Elisabeth Shue realized she was dating a sissy) come along for the trip.

Upon arriving in Okinawa, Miyagi soon realizes that he has very little time. Not only will his father die very soon, but his former best friend Sato - who incidentally has a watermelon for a head - wants to fight him to the death. It turns out that Miyagi left his homeland eons ago because both he and Sato liked the same girl, Yuki. Rather than fighting for her, Miyagi took the pacifist route and left the country. In Sato's eyes this was disgraceful, and an insult to his honor. Sato has held the grudge ever since, and has used that anger to fuel his drive - he owns everything from the construction company to the brothel. For some reason, however, he was never able to convince Yuki to be with him...or work at the brothel.

Meanwhile, Daniel-San is still a whiner who gets bullied by anyone with a pulse. In this case, he gets bullied by Chosun, Sato's best student. Chosun is a vicious, callous karate expert with a 18-inch waist, who manages to oversee illegal gambling schemes in his spare time. He's ten-times the goon that Johnny from KKI was. I am convinced the main reason Chosun despises Daniel-San is the fact that Daniel-San is nearly in the panties of Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita), a town cutie, before he's even been there a week..

All of this sets up the final battle scenes, where Miyagi faces Sato in a bizarre twist of fate, and Daniel-San must face Chosun. This is where I have a problem. While I especially appreciated how the preposterously telegraphed "Crane Technique" was so easily dispatched by Chosun - yet another lead villian who would murder Daniel-San in real life - I was quickly disappointed to see that the new finishing move was even more ridiculous, and Chosun loses his honor as he transforms from a guy who simultaneously beat up 5 soldiers into a complete moron who can't see, duck, dodge, or block any of the 47 consecutive punches Daniel-San applies to his face. This is incredibly difficult to digest, especially considering the ease with which Chosun pummelled Daniel-San in every previous encounter, making him look like a spineless toddler in many instances.

Nevertheless, this movie is a classic, and we get to cheer Daniel-San's scrawny carcass onto yet another victory. May 30, 2008

A Phenomenal Followup

I thought the 1st "Karate Kid" was excellent, and I actually think part II was a GREAT follow up. In Part 1, we learned about Daniel and his situation. II takes it to the next level. After meeting Daniel, we soon learn about Myagi. (To the next level!) Myagi learns that his father (still in Japan) is very ill. While this is hard enough of a trip to make, Myagi realizes that he has to also risk running into an old friend who has an unresolved dispute with him. (Great! An expansion of the wise teacher's character and past!) Daniel of course feels it is his duty to go with Myagi and be there for him as Myagi was there for him. (Great growth from Daniel!) Daniel and Myagi arrive in Japan. Without going on too long, the photography in Japan is beautiful. I may also add in Part 1, Daniel learned Karate, and now he is learning about the culture. (Better still!) Myagi runs into his enemy (once friend) Sato. Naturally the tensions arise. Sato wants to fight Myagi over a conflict that happened many years ago that put his honor into question. Myagi would of course rather let bygones be bygones. However, despite Sato's coldness and brutality, we never quite forget that he has some redeeming points. And we are probably hoping that these 2 friends will reconcile rather than fight to the death. Sato's number one student Chozen continues to persue Daniel in hopes of getting Myagi to fight Sato. While Daniel triumphed over the Cobra Kais in Part I, Chozen proves himself to be a a notably worse threat. The Cobra Kais were nasty people, but they weren't willing to kill Daniel. Chozen is. (Nice rise of tension! I may also add that Chozen would trash Johnny, Kreese, Mike Barnes, or Terry Silver.) If I say much more, I'll probably ruin the movie for those of you who haven't seen it. But I can say that the 'unseen hand' comes, and makes some reconciliation possible. Daniel also goes from fighting in a tournament, to fighting a battle where the stakes are life and death. I call this a phenomenal followup because not only does it avoid repeating part 1, it also takes things to the next level, and it provides interesting surprises we did not have in Part 1. May 16, 2008

KARATE KID PART 2 IN NOT DOO DOO!

This is a pretty good sequel! It doesn't quite have the magic of the first film, but it does have a beautiful new setting in Okinawa. Macchio and Morita are great again in this "Rocky" type underdog movie. Like "Rocky" the sequels are kind of formula, but very watchable 3 1/2 stars! August 2, 2007

rumble in Hokido

This was the second movie in the series to be released. It was made about two year after the first movie came out in the middle 1984. For those of you that did not see the first movie there is a briefy flash back lasting about 5 to ten minutes at the beginnig showing some of the footage from the first movie. Daniel travels to Onknowa were he gets involved in a brutal feud between mr Manyagie and his rivial who trained under his sick father. Shortly after the father dies of an illness the rivial and his sons due several nasty thins to presuade MR. Mayege to fight him. Finally after threaten to sell the land and destroy all the homes he excepts to fight him at midnight. Can Mr. Maygga make peace with his old nemisis and bring honor back to the Maygga family. There is also a special collector version of albums which contains the musice for all four films. However this cd limited edition set is super, super, super, rare only two copies are avilable on Amazon used and the selling price for these two copies is about 90 to 120 dollars with the shipping fee include. If you like this I recommend you buy the collection unless you want to by them seperately one at a time. I recommend you try not to get karate kids part III and part four one disk by themselve with out one and two becaue the cheaptest you can get the last two movies with out the first 2 movies is about $40. Will Daniel save the day again and resolve the feud find out in the thrilling conclusion. May 24, 2007

Best of the Karate Kid movies

This was the only movie in this series I wanted on DVD. This movie is very
romantic, and the exotic setting just makes it even more enjoyable. I
actually liked the movie because of the romantic part of the story rather than the fight scenes. Great DVD! May 13, 2007

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