The Karate Kid, Part II
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| The Karate Kid, Part II | |
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 The Karate Kid, Part II movie poster |
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| Directed by | John G. Avildsen |
| Produced by | Jerry Weintraub William J. Cassidy (associate producer) Susan Ekins (associate producer) Karen Trudy Rosenfelt (associate producer) |
| Written by | Robert Mark Kamen |
| Starring | Ralph Macchio Pat Morita Danny Kamekona Yuji Okumoto Tamlyn Tomita Nobu McCarthy |
| Music by | Bill Conti |
| Cinematography | James Crabe |
| Editing by | John G. Avildsen David Garfield Jane Kurson |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 19, 1986 |
| Running time | 113 min. |
| Country | United States Japan |
| Language | English |
| Gross revenue | $115,456,856 (U.S.A.) $245,364,231 (Worldwide) |
| Preceded by | The Karate Kid |
| Followed by | The Karate Kid, Part III |
The Karate Kid, Part II is a 1986 American adventure-drama film, and is a sequel to The Karate Kid. Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita (formerly of Happy Days fame) reprise their roles of Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi, respectively. The original music score was composed by Bill Conti. Like the original film, the sequel was also a success and earned even more at the box-office than its predecessor and considered by many fans to be the best in the series, but was not as well received from some critics.
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[edit] Plot
The Karate Kid, Part II picks up immediately following Daniel's victory at the tournament.
As Daniel and Miyagi are getting ready to leave, they witness an altercation between Kreese and Daniel's former rival, Johnny Lawrence. Infuriated about the loss, Kreese kicks Johnny off his sparring team and breaks his second-place trophy into pieces. When Johnny protests, Kreese puts him in a headlock, swatting away his fellow Cobra Kais who come to his rescue. Miyagi orders Kreese to leave Johnny alone, but Kreese retorts with a racial slur. Miyagi pulls a gasping Johnny away from Kreese's grip, prompting Kreese to take two shots at Miyagi. As Miyagi ducks away from Kreese's moves, Kreese punches his fists through two car windows. When it appears that Miyagi is about to deliver a fatal strike to Kreese, he stops short of his nose, honking it instead and then walking away. As they leave, Miyagi imparts a lesson on Daniel: "For person with no forgiveness in heart, living worse punishment than death."
The film picks up six months later shortly after Daniel's senior prom. Daniel receives several pieces of bad news, having been dumped by Ali and learned that his mother will move to Fresno for work. Miyagi takes Daniel to his backyard and restores the boy's focus by having him build a new wing for Miyagi's house. This architectural work has a hidden side: It is revealed that Daniel is building a guest room for himself, Miyagi having arranged for Daniel to live with him while his mother goes to Fresno.
Miyagi receives a letter telling him his father is dying. Miyagi intends to return to Okinawa alone, but Daniel uses part of his college savings to accompany him. Arriving in Okinawa, they are confronted by Miyagi's old friend, Sato (Danny Kamekona) and his favorite nephew, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto). They were once best friends who studied karate under Miyagi's father, but became rivals because they loved the same woman, Yukie (Nobu McCarthy). Miyagi fled Okinawa to avoid a fight to the death with Sato.
Miyagi and Daniel are welcomed to Tome village by Yukie and her niece Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita). They learn that Sato is now a rich industrialist, whose supertrawlers have destroyed the local fish population, impoverishing the other villagers, who have turned to small farming to survive. Further complicating the lives of the villagers is the fact that they rent their property from Sato, who has slowly acquired the entire village over the years.
On his deathbed, Miyagi's father begs for both his son and student to make peace with each other by drawing their hands together. Once he gasps his last breath, Sato pulls his hand away, telling Miyagi that out of respect for his sensei, he will give him the customary period to mourn, but will expect to face him in a final fight to the death.
During the course of their stay in Okinawa, Miyagi teaches Daniel that the secret to his family's karate lies in a handheld drum that beats itself when twisted back and forth. This "drum technique", as Miyagi calls it, represents the block-and-defense that Daniel attempts to practice during the course of the film. Miyagi warns him that the powerful technique should only be used as a last resort.
Meanwhile, Daniel has run afoul of Chozen and his gang (Taro and Toshio) by revealing that they were cheating the villagers. Blows are exchanged on several occasions. Additionally, during a visit to Naha City, Daniel is forced by Chozen to attempt to break a large quantity of ice. Miyagi, upon arriving, bets a large amount of money thet Daniel will succeed. Sato, also arriving, covers the bet. Daniel, using a breathing meditation technique taught to him earlier in the film, is able to break the ice. Chozen and the others continue to harass Daniel and Kumiko, an attractive young Okinawan who wishes to someday study dance and leave her country, and sparks a romantic interest in Daniel. One night Chozen and his thugs heavily damage the dojo which once belonged to Miyagi's father, and Chozen attempts to kill Daniel. Miyagi arrives and fights off the trio easily, then makes the decision to return to the U.S. the following morning.
Miyagi is greeted by Sato and a fleet of bulldozers and other earth-moving equipment the following morning. Sato threatens to destroy and redevelop the village if Miyagi persists in his refusal to fight him. Angered at being pushed into a corner in this manner, Miyagi finally agrees to fight his former friend, on the condition that no matter who wins, Sato must agree to relinquish the title to the villager's homes to them. Sato balks, stating that he asks for too much. Miyagi plays on his pride and replies that it's a small price to pay for his honor. Sato agrees to the terms.
The night of the fight, the village is hit by a typhoon. The villagers gather at the local shelter, including Miyagi and Daniel. Miyagi watches Chozen enter and asks him of his uncle. Chozen replies that Sato is dead. Both Daniel and Miyagi go to Sato's destroyed dojo and find Sato pinned under a beam. Miyagi splits the beam in half with his bare hands and frees his former friend, taking him to safety.
Daniel then ventures to the bell tower, where the girl who rang the warning bell is frozen in fear. Sato sees him struggling and orders Chozen to go and help him. Chozen refuses, because he feels that Daniel has dishonored him. Ashamed of his nephew's total lack of compassion, Sato goes after Daniel right as Miyagi prepares to leave, asking to go in his stead. Sato helps Daniel free the girl and they return to the shelter, where Sato renounces his nephew. A devastated Chozen flees.
Sato and his earth-movers return the following morning. Sato greets Miyagi with a bow, telling him that he is there to help rebuild the village, handing him the deed, and begs forgiveness, which Miyagi happily waives off, saying there is nothing to forgive. Daniel takes advantage of the opportunity to ask Sato to hold the upcoming O-bon festival in the village's former castle. Sato agrees if Daniel will join him and the other villagers in the celebration.
As Kumiko is preparing her dance at O-bon, the festivities are interrupted by Chozen, who crashes onto the stage and holds a knife to the frightened girl's throat. Sato implores his nephew to overlook the matter between him and Daniel, stating that he was wrong to hate Miyagi and that hate is wrong. Chozen is unfazed by his uncle's words, and tells them he will kill Kumiko if Daniel does not step upon the stage and throw the bridge to it in the moat separating it from the spectators. Daniel agrees, and does so.
Chozen discards the knife and attacks Daniel, who defends himself. Both of them are well-matched, and each delivers some damaging blows to the other. However, Chozen slowly gains the upper hand. When Miyagi and the other villagers take out their hand drums and beat them in unison, Daniel understands what he must do. As Chozen attacks him one final time, Daniel successfully blocks each of his blows, while delivering a devastating counter-blow each time, defeating Chozen. Daniel grabs Chozen by his hair and cocks his hand back, giving him the choice to live or die. Chozen says he wishes to die. But Daniel, remembering Miyagi's lesson in his fight with Kreese, stops short of a fatal blow and simply honks his nose and drops him to the ground. He then embraces Kumiko while Miyagi eyes him with great pride.
[edit] Cast
- Daniel LaRusso—Ralph Macchio
- Mr. Kesuke Miyagi—Pat Morita
- John Kreese—Martin Kove
- Yukie—Nobu McCarthy
- Kumiko—Tamlyn Tomita
- Chozen—Yuji Okumoto
- Toshio- Joey Miyashima
- Taro—Marc Hayashi
- Sato—Danny Kamekona
Clarence Gilyard appears in the famous ice-breaking scene, and B. D. Wong has a cameo shortly before, as an Okinawan kid who runs up to Daniel and Kumiko.
[edit] Production
Filming locations were shot on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, USA.
The opening scenes for this movie take place immediately after the finale of the first movie and appear to seamlessly tie the two together. Although the opening scene of Part II was the originally planned ending of first film, the parking lot confrontation scene was shot during the Part II schedule.[1]
[edit] Soundtrack
The film's signature tune was Peter Cetera's song "Glory of Love", which was a #1 hit in the U.S. and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song.
When Daniel and Miyagi are being driven by Chozen and his friend after they arrive in Okinawa, Chozen tunes in the radio of the car until he reaches a station playing "Fascination", the same song to which Ali and Johnny were slow dancing at the high-end country club in the original movie.
- 1. Glory Of Love (Peter Cetera) 4:18
- 2. Rock N Roll Over You (The Moody Blues) 4:45
- 3. Fish For Life (Mancrab) 3:58
- 4. Rock Around The Clock (Paul Rodgers) 2:18
- 5. Let Me At Em (Southside Johnny) 3:54
- 6. This Is The Time ( Dennis DeYoung) 3:54
- 7. Earth Angel (New Edition) 4:03
- 8. Love Theme from Karate Kid II (Bill Conti) 2:56
- 9. Two Looking At One (Carly Simon) 3:38
- 10. The Storm (Bill Conti) 3:26
[edit] In popular culture
The character Ellie Bartowski on the TV series Chuck claims that a love-struck recital of "Glory of Love" for her by Morgan Grimes ruined The Karate Kid, Part II for her. In an episode of Yes, Dear Greg Warner remembers getting into a fight with Kim's Ex boyfriend and losing. Everytime he keeps trying to fight him, he hears the song Glory of Love to give himself confidence. Pat Morita guest starred near the end of the episode to teach Greg karate for a rematch; however like in Karate Kid 2 even the crane kick did not work.
[edit] Reception
[edit] Awards and nominations
At the 1987 ASCAP Awards, Bill Conti won Top Box Office Films for the original music, which was released on United Artists Records. It also received a different Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Glory of Love", while the first received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor to Pat Morita instead.
[edit] Internationally
Conforming to the title change of the first Karate Kid film for its release in Japan, Part II was renamed Best Kid 2 (Besuto kiddo 2).
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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