Written by Christian Garcia
Today I am looking at the follow-up to the classic, The Karate Kid with The Karate Kid Part II.
Part II is a direct follow-up to the original and continues right where the first one left off.
While it is not as fondly remembered as the first film, it is still admired for being a welcome entry in the franchise. Until I watched Cobra Kai, I didn’t know much about it. Most feedback I have heard regarding the series is that the first film is the best, the second is good but not as good and the third… well we’ll get to that later.
How does this sequel stand? Let’s take a look at The Karate Kid Part II.
The Hero's Journey
The core lesson of Part II is not letting the mistakes of the past consume you and what it really means to have honor. It takes the core foundation of Daniel and Miyagi’s relationship and expands upon it by giving them major obstacles to overcome. For Miyagi, he must confront his past and make peace with his past choices. For Daniel, he must learn restraint and despite the threat of Chozen.
Part II picks up right after the first film left off taking place immediately following the All-Valley Tournament. Kreese is incensed after Johnny Lawrence’s defeat. He chastises Johnny for his loss and puts him in a chokehold. Mr. Miyagi intervenes and threatens a killing blow before playfully tweaking his nose, humiliating him. Daniel asks him why he didn’t kill Kreese and Miyagi responds, “For person with no forgiveness in heart, living even worse punishment than death.”
The story jumps to six months later and shifts the focus to Miyagi confronting his past. He receives a letter telling him that his father is dying. He is prompted to go back to his village in Okinawa. He tells Daniel the story of how he fell in love with a woman named Yukie. She was arranged to be married to his best friend, Sato, who was son of the richest man in the village and a fellow karate student of his father. Miyagi declared his love for Yukie and Sato challenged him to a fight to the death. Miyagi chose not to fight and left Okinawa the next day.
Once Miyagi is back in Okinawa, Sato is constantly challenging Miyagi to fight him to the death to settle their feud. Miyagi refuses to fight him not wanting to let the vengeance get the better of him. Sato and Chozen keep harassing Miyagi and Daniel to goad them into fighting them. They challenge their honor calling them cowards. However, Miyagi and Daniel keep their honor by practicing restraint. Sato, although wanting vengeance on Miyagi, maintains his honor when he gives Miyagi three days to mourn upon the death of his father out of respect. However, he threatens to destroy the village unless Miyagi fights him, and Miyagi agrees. He describes it as “a small price to pay for honor.”
The day of the fight however, a typhoon hits the village. The destruction of the typhoon causes Sato’s dojo to collapse on him. Miyagi and Daniel rescue him. This act of mercy moves him, and he chooses to forgive Miyagi. He redeems himself by going to save Daniel himself when Daniel goes to save the little girl. Sato and Miyagi finally make peace and they both get closure while maintaining their honor.
When Miyagi shows Daniel the rules of Miyagi-Do karate, the most important rule he stresses is “karate is for defense only.” Despite Chozen constantly attacking and harassing him, Daniel never strikes first. He only uses karate to defend himself and Kumiko. When Chozen attacks Kumiko and threatens her life unless Daniel fights him. Daniel agrees to fight him but in the final moments rather than kill Chozen he does what Miyagi did to Kreese in the beginning of the film. He threatens a killing blow but instead playfully tweaks his nose. It’s a funny and goofy way to end the fight but also shows that Daniel headed Miyagi’s words in the opening, “For person with no forgiveness in heart, living even worse punishment than death.” He chooses to let Chozen live with his shame rather than kill him. It put Daniel’s karate skills to a bigger test as it was a matter of life and death instead of winning a tournament. It showed how the lessons of karate can be applied outside of tournaments and the valuable lessons that can be applied to everyday life.
Miyagi and Daniel end the film both having learned and grown from their experience and taking away important lessons that will carry with them the rest of their lives. The lessons Daniel learned from this film carry over into Cobra Kai and play a role in his growth as a student and as a teacher.
The Villain
Chozen is the nephew and student of Sato. Sato is Miyagi’s former best friend, now turned rival.
Like Johnny Lawrence, Chozen constantly bullies and attacks Daniel. His disdain for Daniel is drawn from him being a foreigner and a student of Miyagi. He insults Miyagi and calls him a coward for refusing to fight his sensei.
His hatred for Daniel grows when Daniel exposes his dishonorable actions like when Daniel reveals that Chozen had been using rigged weighs to cheat suppliers. Later in the film, he makes a bet with Daniel and after Daniel wins tries to refuse payment until he is reprimanded by his uncle Sato who threatens to disown him if he continues to bring dishonor on the family. His path to dishonor culminates when he lets his hatred of Daniel consume him and refuses to help in the middle of a typhoon. His dishonorable act is so severe that Sato disowns him, and he runs out into the storm.
He returns in the film’s climax and takes Kumiko hostage and challenges Daniel to fight him to the death. He and Daniel fight and it ends like Miyagi’s confrontation with Kreese. He teases a killing blow but instead bops his nose, humiliating him but winning the day.
Chozen’s hatred for Daniel and Miyagi stemmed from his belief that they had no honor. Ironically in trying to condemn those without honor, he lost his honor in the end.
The Film's Pros
Daniel and Mr. Miyagi's Friendship
Like the first film, Daniel and Miyagi’s relationship is the core of the film’s quality. It has the same spirit of the original but also adds more layers to it. Daniel’s choice to join Miyagi in Okinawa shows the level of love that he has for him. He chose to take money out of his college fund so he could be there for his friend in his time of need.
After Miyagi’s father passes away, we get the most beautiful and emotional moment of the film where Daniel comforts Miyagi as they look at a beautiful sunrise. Daniel tells Miyagi about how when his father died, he felt like he had not been a very good son and wished he could have done more but eventually realized that being by his father’s side was the best thing he could have ever done for him. It is a moment that makes their connection grow even more and it is touching to see a moment of the student being there for the mentor. It is a reminder that even the ones who guide us need guidance of their own.
The sequel adds more conflict and life lessons that tests both Daniel and Miyagi. In their most trying of moments, they have each other for support. Daniel helps Miyagi confront his past while Miyagi teaches Daniel more lessons that help him evolve his karate and learn about honor. The first film established their relationship, while the sequel gave them both individual obstacles for the other to help them through and as a result their relationship grows and strengthens.
Miyagi and Daniel’s friendship is the biggest strength of the entire Karate Kid franchise, and the sequel helps it grow to be the strong foundation that Cobra Kai would build on.
The Film's Cons
Not as much Karate as the first film
For a film called The Karate Kid, I personally felt that there was less focus on karate and more on the dilemmas of Daniel and Miyagi. For character building purposes, this is not a bad thing. But for a film where we expect karate, we don’t see as much as the first film. We also don’t even see that many new techniques being taught. The first film had memorable lessons like wax on wax off, sanding the floor, and paining the fence. Here we get a few lessons with the drum and the nail in the fence but they’re not as memorable. The core principles are still there but we don’t see as much use of karate until the final fight between Daniel and Chozen.
They built up Sato vs. Miyagi, but they never come to battle. Of course, Miyagi wanted to avoid the fight so it makes sense, but it would have been fun to see a short instance to give us an idea what kind of karate Chozen was learning from Sato and would have made Sato feel like more of a threat.
Not to say that this film is completely lacking in karate, there are lessons that Daniel is taught but it would have been nice to see them expanded on. We would get that years later in Cobra Kai, but for a follow up to a film that showcased the overlap of life lessons with the art of karate, this film chose to focus more on the life lessons and less on the karate and as a result, this film doesn’t stand out as much as the original.
Final Thoughts
The Karate Kid Part II is a good continuation of the story and feels very much like a second part of a bigger story. The choice to focus on Daniel and Miyagi’s dilemmas are great for character development and furthering them along on their journey. It makes them more well-rounded characters that you enjoy watching.
However, while it is a great piece for character building and growth, it does lack some elements that made the first film a memorable classic. The first film felt like Rocky for teenagers with a young underdog taking on the teachings of a master and building up towards a big fight. Part II doesn’t focus on building to a big fight, and lacks that big fight feel. While Daniel and Miyagi’s dilemmas are interesting, they lack real stakes which may not hold viewers attentions as well as the first film did. Part II also lacks the memorable moments that made the first film a timeless classic and because of that it is often forgotten when discussing the Karate Kid franchise.
Despite not being as memorable as the first film, Part II does what a good sequel does and that is expand on what the first film did and do something different. It could have easily been a rehash of the first film with a new rival for Daniel to face in the next All-Valley. But instead, they chose to change up the location to a beautiful new setting and put the heroes in a different scenario that helps them change and grow. While it may not be as iconic as the first film, it still has the wholesome and positive spirit of the first film and is a welcome chapter in the Karate Kid story that is worth seeing.
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