The Karate Kid, Part II

Infobox_Film
name = The Karate Kid, Part II


caption = "The Karate Kid, Part II" movie poster
amg_id = 1:26949
imdb_id = 0091326
writer = Robert Mark Kamen
starring = Ralph Macchio
Pat Morita
Danny Kamekona
Yuji Okumoto
Tamlyn Tomita
Nobu McCarthy
director = John G. Avildsen
producer = Jerry Weintraub
William J. Cassidy (associate producer)
Susan Ekins (associate producer)
Karen Trudy Rosenfelt (associate producer)
cinematography = James Crabe
editing = John G. Avildsen
David Garfield
Jane Kurson
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = June 19, 1986
runtime = 113 min.
music = Bill Conti
awards =
country = USA
language = English
budget =
gross = $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 well received by critics and it was even more successful at the box office than its predecessor.

Plot summary

"Part II" begins where the first movie left off. First the movie shows flashbacks of the first film and ending with the All-Valley Karate Tournament. After the tournament, Daniel and Mr. Miyagi are heading toward Miyagi's truck, when they notice John Kreese (Martin Kove) berating his best student (Daniel's former rival) Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) for finishing second in the tournament by kicking him off the team.

Kreese shatters Johnny's runner-up trophy and begins strangling the youth by putting him in a choke hold. Fellow Cobra Kai students Bobby and Tommy rush to Johnny's defense, but Kreese swats them away so as to continue choking. Miyagi intervenes, demanding that Kreese let Johnny go. Kreese refuses, threatening both Miyagi and Daniel, and the two sensei have a short brawl, in which Kreese, attempting to punch Miyagi, shatters two car windows, bloodying his knuckles in the process. Miyagi finally humiliates him by tweaking his nose instead of delivering a final, deadly blow. Miyagi explains to Daniel that "for those with no forgiveness in their hearts, living is an even worse punishment than death," meaning that the offender would live the rest of his life in regret.

Six months later, Miyagi (having finally caught a fly with a pair of chopsticks, as he has long attempted to do) is interrupted by Daniel, who is fuming about his damaged car, his mom's transfer to Fresno, and the collapse of his relationship with schoolmate Ali, who dumped him at their senior prom for a football player at UCLA, leaving Daniel without a romantic partner. After easily fixing the car's engine, Miyagi takes Daniel to the 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.

Unfortunately, Miyagi receives a letter from Okinawa, telling him his father is very ill. 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 enemy, Sato (Danny Kamekona). They were once best friends, having both studied karate under Miyagi's father, but they became rivals in a love triangle involving a woman named Yukie (Nobu McCarthy). Miyagi fled Okinawa to avoid a fight to death with Sato.

Miyagi and Daniel are welcomed to Tome village (which is now adjacent to Kadena Air Base) by Yukie and her niece Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita). There they learn that Sato is now a rich industrialist, whose supertrawlers have decimated the local fish population. The village's economy now depends on farming. The denizens lease their farmland from Sato's corporation, which owns the entire property. Sato's nephew Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) is even worse, regularly cheating the farmers with hollow weights, while measuring and buying their crops for market. Chozen is in fact paying these farmers less than the market rate for the products of their labor; as the only outlet for that labor, this presents a highly unstable situation.

On the street, Sato confronts Miyagi and is about to attack him when Yukie runs to them, crying that Miyagi's father is dying and wants to see both his students. Just before passing away, Miyagi's father brings both his students' hands together in an effort to put aside their feud and make peace. Miyagi is willing to do this, but Sato is belligerent. Out of respect for their mutual "sensei", Sato gives Miyagi three days to mourn before confronting him again.

Miyagi and Yukie rekindle their old bond, since Yukie chose to remain single instead of marrying Sato to show her disapproval of his treatment of Miyagi. Daniel flirts with Kumiko and has her teach him about Japanese culture. Daniel also learns a new karate technique, one even more difficult than the "Crane Technique" of the first film: the "Drum Technique." In this way, Daniel and Kumiko develop an ever-growing bond and liking for each other; its foundation is both respect, a shared task, and karate.

Daniel is repeatedly hounded by Chozen and his two equally nasty friends. They beat Daniel up in front of Kumiko after he tries to stop Chozen from cheating the villagers. (Daniel has learned of the hollow weights, and the attendant devaluation of the farmers' labor.) The next day, in a bar, Chozen's gang forces Daniel to break multiple slabs of ice for a bet. Although no one has ever broken six slabs with a single strike, Miyagi bets a large sum of money that Daniel can perform the feat. Thanks to Miyagi's breathe-and-focus exercises, Daniel succeeds, regaining his college-tuition money. That evening, Chozen tries to steal Daniel's wallet, but Daniel thwarts him. He thus retains the wallet. Later that night, a spear-wielding Chozen and his cronies gang up on Daniel. Miyagi comes to the rescue, but not before the thugs ransack the Miyagi family dojo.

The next day, Miyagi decides that now is time for him and Daniel to go back home. Yukie wants to go with him. Meanwhile, Daniel tries to encourage Kumiko to come to the United States. They are all interrupted by a group of bulldozers sent by Sato, who threatens to destroy the village if Miyagi refuses to fight him to the death. (This destruction will dramatically lessen the value of the farmers' crops and landholdings.) Miyagi agrees to fight on one condition: that the deed to the entire property will no longer be leased, but donated, to the farmers. Sato initially blanches at the request, but Miyagi calls it a small price to pay for his honor, which Sato values greatly. Sato agrees to Miyagi's terms.

Daniel pleads with Miyagi to forget about the "honor garbage," but Miyagi says it is about the survival of the village, and that even if he dies, he will win because the village will be safe forever. That evening, a typhoon springs up. As Daniel, Miyagi, Kumiko, and Yukie help villagers get into a shelter, they see Sato's dojo collapse. Chozen escapes and leaves his uncle for dead, but Daniel and Miyagi find Sato trapped underneath a large support beam from the dojo. Miyagi rescues him by breaking it in two with a shuto (sword hand) strike (effectively answering Daniel's question from the airport concerning a picture of Sato breaking a large wood log and whether or not Mr. Miyagi could "break a log like that." Subsequently, Mr. Miyagi answers, "Don't know. Never been attack by tree"). Sato is taken to safety while Daniel attempts to rescue a little girl who's trapped in the bell tower. During Daniel's return to the storm shelter, he falters with the young girl on his back. Sato tells Chozen to help Daniel, but Chozen is unable to look past his rivalry with Daniel (and he also could be interpreted as afraid, which is ironic considering how he referred to Mr. Myagi as a coward) and refuses. Sato, though injured, rushes into the storm to help Daniel and the little girl, whom he takes into his arms and into the storm shelter. Ashamed at his nephew's selfish behavior, Sato denounces Chozen, prompting Chozen to flee into the storm in disgrace.

The next day, Sato arrives unannounced to rebuild the village, along with the deed to the village, admitting that his years of hate have been wrong and asking for forgiveness. Miyagi, accepts the deed and establishes peace with Sato. Taking this opportunity, Daniel requests that the traditional o-Bon dance be held in the traditional place of the castle of King Shohashi. Sato agrees, stating that the dance will be held there "now and forever," if Daniel agrees to take part in it. At the dance, Chozen, now a man with nothing to lose, suddenly appears, takes Kumiko hostage with a balisong, and challenges Daniel to a fight to the death, instead of letting Daniel atone peacefully for what he did to Chozen. Before Daniel approaches Chozen, Miyagi reminds him that "This not tournament, this for real." They fight on a platform surrounded by water and Chozen has Daniel drop the bridge, so that no one would break up the fight. At first, Chozen holds the upper hand, almost winning the fight early in a moment where Daniel is only saved by Kumiko, who Chozen knocks unconscious. He even blocks Daniel's Crane Kick, as Daniel comes back into the fight. (Daniel lands a follow-up hit, but nothing is determined by the kick this time, as the tide of the battle continues to shift back and forth.) Both combatants wallop each other almost to a pulp, and everybody can see Daniel beginning to fold up first. Accordingly, Miyagi reveals a small, man-shaped pellet drum (called "den-den daiko" in Japanese), which is decorated with two weighted strings resembling arms and fists. As Miyagi twists this drum, Sato and Yukie follow suit, as do many other villagers. Daniel gets the message, using the Drum Technique to defeat Chozen. When Daniel offers him a choice - "Live or die, man?" - Chozen asks for a death blow from Daniel. Instead, Daniel answers, "Wrong," and tweaks his nose just as Miyagi did with Kreese in California. Daniel and Kumiko embrace triumphantly, while Miyagi, Sato, Yukie, and the rest of the villagers applaud them from the castle walls.

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
*Johnny Lawrence
William Zabka

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.

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. [ [http://www.retrocrush.com/archive2007/zabka/index.html (source) retrocrush.com] ]

Music

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 from a film.

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 a song that just happens to be the very song ("Fascination") to which Ali and Johnny were slow dancing in the original movie.

Track listing for 2007 Varèse Sarabande score

# "Main Title" (5:32)
# "No Mercy" (1:17)
# "Six Months Later (1:10)
# "Breathing / Daniel Nails It" (1:27)
# "Okinawa" (:49)
# "Honor Very Serious" (2:02)
# "Time Flies" (1:50)
# "Enter Sato" (1:46)
# "Miyagi’s Home" (4:11)
# "No Choice" (1:14)
# "The Funeral" (5:14)
# "Their Song" (1:45)
# "Rekindled Love" (1:35)
# "Miyagi" (2:02)
# "Miyagi’s Attack" (1:00)
# "Daniel And Kumiko" (3:15)
# "Daniel Leaves" (4:45)
# "Old Friends" (4:47)
# "Moon Spots" (1:07)
# "Daniel's Triumph" (1:41)

Reception

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.

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").

References

External links

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Box Office Leaders USA
before = Back to School
date = June 22
date2 = July 20
year = 1986
after = Aliens