Written by Christian Garcia
We begin our look at the Miyagi-Verse with the film that started it all: The Karate Kid.
The Karate Kid is a beloved 80s classic film, helped revitalize the career of actor Pat Morita and is credited with popularizing karate in the U.S.
After watching Cobra Kai, I was excited to go back and see where the franchise got its start. I have always been aware of the film and am familiar with the story, but this was both my and my girlfriend’s first time giving the film a watch through.
38 years later, does this film still hold up? Let’s take a closer look.
The Hero
Daniel LaRusso is a 17-year-old teenager who has recently moved from Newark, New Jersey to Reseda, Los Angeles, California with his mother for a new job. His father died when he was 8 years old and since then it’s just been him and his mother.
His first night in town he catches the attention of future rival Johnny Lawrence and is constantly being bullied. After meeting Mr. Miyagi, he chooses to learn karate to be able to defend himself. At first, he expects to learn some cool fighting moves, but as he trains with Mr. Miyagi, he learns more important lessons about karate and about life that change him forever.
The Hero's Journey
His first night in town, Daniel meets Ali Mills at a beach party but crosses paths with her ex-boyfriend, Johnny Lawrence, top student at the local karate dojo, Cobra Kai.
They get into a fight and afterwards Johnny and his Cobra Kai gang continue to bully Daniel. It comes to a head at the Halloween dance after Daniel sprays Johnny with water, he gets brutally beaten by Johnny and his gang. He is saved from them by his apartment’s repair person, Mr. Miyagi.
Daniel asks Miyagi to teach him karate. Miyagi refuses at first but does agree to take him to Cobra Kai to resolve the issue. There they meet Johnny’s sensei, John Kreese. Kreese rejects their peace offering and then Miyagi suggests that they settle it in the All-Valley Tournament while the bullying will cease until the tournament. Daniel is ready to learn and get the revenge he so desperately wants. However, Miyagi has other plans in mind.
At first, Daniel is very impatient and stubborn. He is more concerned with learning cool offensive moves rather than the technique of karate. He initially does not understand Miyagi’s “unusual” teaching methods like painting the fence and waxing the car and sees them as slave work rather than training. However, Miyagi shows him that by doing those chores, he was building muscle memory for karate defense techniques. After this, Daniel and Miyagi start to grow closer.
Daniel’s relationship with Ali begins to progress as they go out on a date in a cute and memorable scene. However, their relationship has the dark cloud of her ex, Johnny hanging over them. An incident at a country club event leads to a misunderstanding that puts their budding romance in jeopardy. Thankfully, Miyagi and his teachings come in handy once again and help in a big way.
The biggest lesson that Miyagi teaches Daniel is about balance. The lesson of balance is not only key to karate but also a key life lesson. Miyagi tells him “Whole life have a balance. Everything be better.” It is an important lesson to teach viewers and it holds true especially now. In a world where people are going nonstop, we find ourselves falling out of balance from time to time. It is a normal human flaw, but it is one that we need to always be mindful of. Miyagi wanted to Daniel to always keep balance even in the hardest of moments. Miyagi encourages Daniel to find balance in his life. With newfound confidence in himself, Daniel chooses to make amends with Ali and purse their relationship.
When the All-Valley finally arrives, Daniel is no longer the revenge seeking kid he once was. He has learned important lessons that have molded him into a better fighter and a better person. He does well in the tournament, to his surprise, and makes it to the semi-finals where his balance is put to the ultimate test. During his fight with Bobby Brown, from Cobra Kai, Brown takes a cheap shot and injures Daniel’s leg. Miyagi, Ali, and his mother tell Daniel that he has nothing left to prove. However, Daniel argues back to Miyagi that he will never be able to achieve balance if he knows that he let his enemies get the best of him. Miyagi uses his acupressure technique to partially heal Daniel’s leg.
In the tournament final, Daniel finally comes face to face with Johnny Lawrence. After several tense rounds, they end up tied. During the last moments, after instruction from Kreese, Johnny goes for Daniel’s injured leg. However, Daniel is undeterred and continues. He uses the Crane technique and defeats Johnny to win the tournament. Johnny hands him the trophy and congratulates him. The film ends with Daniel as a better rounded fighter, a more balanced and disciplined young man and he finally bested his enemies and earned their respect.
The Villain(s)
Johnny Lawrence is the top student of the Cobra Kai dojo led by his sensei, John Kreese.
Lawrence is a two-time All-Valley champion and the defending champion. Lawrence’s issue with LaRusso stems over their pawning for the affection of Ali Mills. Before the events of the film, Mills and Lawrence had dated and broken up. Lawrence’s beef with LaRusso is born out of ego and jealousy, seeing a new kid hitting on his girl. He follows the typical bully and jerk ex-boyfriend trope. He is a hot-headed jerk who tries to use force to get his way. He and his Cobra Kai gang constantly bully and beat Daniel in and out of school.
Kreese is a more aggressive sensei compared to Miyagi. He lives by the motto, “No Mercy.” He is all about teaching his students to strike first and be on the offense. When Miyagi and Daniel arrive at Cobra Kai to make peace between Daniel and his students, Kreese is dismissive of them until Miyagi brings up the All-Valley Tournament. This plays to Kreese’s ego and gives him a chance to show off why his students are the best. Usually, we expect adults to act more serious than the kids, but in the case of Kreese he acts like more of a bully than Johnny. It fits in this film as we see why Johnny is so aggressive based on his sensei. When Johnny and his gang beat up Daniel on Halloween, he shows the influence of Kreese by continuing to beat on Daniel, despite his friend telling him he’s had enough. We see the intimidation that Kreese instills in his students and we at times feel sorry for Johnny.
In the film’s climax, Kreese is desperate for Johnny to win that he resorts to having his students use dirty tactics. He instructs Bobby Brown, one of his more compassionate students, to injure Daniel’s leg and then instructs Johnny to sweep the leg in the final fight. Johnny is hesitant at first but then Kreese instills his intimidation tactics on him and tells him the iconic motto, “No Mercy.” Johnny shows that he can be redeemed by not wanting to cheat to win and seeing that his sensei may have gone too far. After being defeated, he redeems himself by handing the trophy over to Daniel and showing him respect.
Of course, these two would go on to become more developed characters in the series Cobra Kai, but going back to the first film, they are still memorable villains. They may not have as many layers to them and fit the typical archetypal bullies that most 80s films were known for, but they are still memorable enough to have stuck with audiences all these years later. Kreese will always be remembered for his intimidating stature and for the motto, “No Mercy” while Johnny will always be a memorable jerk that we would grow to love years later.
The Film's Pros
Daniel and Mr. Miyagi's Relationship
The friendship between Daniel and Mr. Miyagi is easily the biggest strength of the film. Daniel struggles to fit in when he first moves to Reseda and the fact that he also lost his father when he was young create a big void that Mr. Miyagi fills. The aloof Miyagi also has a void in his life with the loss of his wife and son. Daniel and Miyagi both give each other the sense of family that they had both been longing for.
Miyagi shows small fatherly gestures at first like fixing Daniel’s bike and showing him how to prune bonsai trees. As Daniel’s training progresses, the aloof Miyagi opens more to Daniel and even tells him about the loss of his wife and son. There is a touching moment in the film where Daniel finds a drunk and sad Miyagi who shows him a picture of his late wife. After he passes out, Daniel tucks him in and then sees the article documenting the death of Miyagi’s wife and son and sees his Medal of Honor. As he goes to leave, Daniel bows to Miyagi, having found more respect for him.
Another touching moment is when Miyagi gives Daniel one of his cars as a birthday present and then encourages him to “find balance” which means to pursue his relationship with Ali. Daniel calls Miyagi the “best friend he ever had.” As Daniel drives away, Miyagi yells bonsai and Daniel yells it back. It’s a classic moment that really shows the love and friendship that these two have had beyond karate.
Miyagi and Daniel have more than a sensei-student relationship. For Daniel, he finally found the friend and father figure he had been looking for and for Miyagi, he found a family. The fact that Miyagi’s presence is still felt through Daniel in Cobra Kai today shows just how strong their bond was. Their friendship is the emotional core of the film and if it were not as strong and genuine as it was, this film would not be the timeless classic that it is.
Iconic Climax
The final fight between Daniel and Johnny is one of the most memorable climaxes in film. The musical score before Daniel comes out gives that big fight feel. The announcer’s introductions and the roar of the crowd adds to epic ambiance. It is the classic final fight seen in many films where the hero and villain finally come face to face. It starts off with Daniel surprising Johnny by landing two points but then Johnny turns up the intensity, adding more suspense. When Johnny injures Danny’s leg, it makes the decisive moments more suspenseful as the hero is working with a handicap. You wonder how Daniel is going to win the fight and get more invested. The final moment where Daniel uses the Crane Kick on Johnny is a great payoff to a move that had been hyped up throughout the film. It makes for a feel-good happy ending that brings the film to a satisfying conclusion. Johnny’s final act of handing the trophy to Daniel shows the villain being redeemed and the hero triumphing and earning the respect that he had wanted.
The Film's Cons
Not Enough Johnny Lawrence
This is more of a personal nit pick that could have made the film even better rather than a flaw that hurts the film. This most likely stems from my recent viewing of Cobra Kai, but I would have loved to have seen more of Johnny Lawrence.
Specifically, it would have been nice to see Johnny training for the All-Valley with Kreese. It would help build to the final fight even more by showing what type of techniques he is using and build a sense of fear wondering if Daniel would be able to counter act it. We do see Cobra Kai’s techniques in the All-Valley, but I think seeing Johnny’s training regime and thought process going into the fight would have added to the stakes. We could have seen Kreese put more pressure on him to win and we could have seen how that pressure affects him which have made for higher stakes in the final fight. It also would have given us more time to see Kreese's obsession with winning build and see how it affected his teaching methods and impacted his students.
After hearing the joke on How I Met Your Mother, where Barney describes the story of Karate Kid as the story of Johnny Lawrence, I was expecting to see a lot more of him in the film. But I also had to remind myself that the story is about Daniel and Miyagi and that is where the focus should be on. The fact that Johnny Lawrence made enough of an impact with the time he was given, shows that there being less than does not hurt the film nor does it hinder one’s enjoyment of the film. For those who want more Johnny Lawrence, you will get your fix with Cobra Kai.
Final Thoughts
The Karate Kid holds up as an all-time classic. The relationship between the hero and mentor carries the film with their great chemistry, Miyagi’s unique teaching skills and Daniel’s growth as both a karate student and as a young man. It teaches great lessons in karate and in finding balance in life and serves as a feel-good telling of the classic tale of the hero overcoming the bully. It encourages and empowers anyone who is bullied to stand up for themselves while carefully encouraging self-defense over senseless violence. It gave the world one of the best mentor archetypes in Mr. Miyagi and created memorable sayings such as “No Mercy” and “Wax on, wax off,” and moments that are still remembered almost 40 years later.
As someone who loves Cobra Kai, it was fun to go back and see where the show got its roots. Rewatching the original film also serves as a reminder for how faithful Cobra Kai has been in capturing the spirit and feel of the original film. It’s a feel-good movie with valuable life lessons and some cool karate action to top it off.
If you are a fan of Cobra Kai and want to see where the franchise began, then I highly recommend giving The Karate Kid a watch. As the song in the film says, it is “the best around.”
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