| 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) | United States/Canada June 20, 1986 Australia July 31, 1986 Japan October 25, 1986 |
| Running time | 113 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $115,103,979 (USA) |
The Karate Kid, Part II is a 1986 American martial arts film and is a sequel to 1984's The Karate Kid. Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita reprise their roles as 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, although it received mixed reviews from critics.[1][2]
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The film picks up almost directly after the end of The Karate Kid; John Kreese (Martin Kove), furious over his star pupil Johnny Lawrence's (William Zabka) second place finish in the All Valley Karate Tournament, viciously berates and humiliates Johnny in the parking lot. Miyagi, who is leaving the venue with Daniel, rescues Johnny, passively immobilizes Kreese, then comically tweaks Kreese's nose instead of dealing him a fatal blow. As Johnny and his friends quit the Cobra Kai dojo en masse, Miyagi explains his actions to Daniel: "For person with no forgiveness in heart, living even worse punishment than death."
Six months afterwards in 1985, it is revealed that Ali has dumped Daniel for a football player from UCLA. Daniel now lives in a guest room at Miyagi's house, his mother having gone to Fresno. Miyagi receives a letter telling him his father is dying. He intends to return to Okinawa alone, but Daniel decides to accompany him. When Daniel asks Miyagi why he left Okinawa in the first place, Miyagi answers that he loved a woman named Yukie, who was arranged to be married to Sato, son of the richest man in town, and Miyagi's best friend. Sato and Miyagi studied karate together under Miyagi's father, in defiance of tradition. One day, Miyagi announced before the whole town that he wanted to marry Yukie. Sato was insulted and challenged Miyagi to a fight to the death. Rather than fight his best friend, Miyagi fled Okinawa.
When they arrive in Okinawa, Miyagi and Daniel are greeted by a young man, Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto), who is Sato's (Danny Kamekona) nephew. Sato has neither forgiven nor forgotten his feud with Miyagi and once again demands to fight Miyagi. Miyagi refuses, so Sato calls him a coward.
Miyagi and Daniel are welcomed to Tome village by Yukie (Nobu McCarthy) and her niece Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita), to whom Daniel is immediately attracted. 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. Worse yet, the villagers all rent their property from Sato, who now actually owns the entire village. Yukie also reveals that because she truly loved Miyagi and carried a torch for him, she never married Sato.
Despite Miyagi's father's dying wish for his son and student to make peace with each other, Sato still insists on fighting Miyagi, though after his sensei's passing, he gives Miyagi 3 days to mourn. Soon, Daniel comforts Miyagi stating that when his father died, Daniel thought he wasn't a very good son, but then one day, he realized he did the greatest thing before his father died, he was there with him, held his hand, and said goodbye. 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 begins to practice diligently. Miyagi warns him that the powerful technique should only be used as a last resort. Later, Yukie and Miyagi perform the tea ceremony together, which, Kumiko explains to Daniel, is a sign that they are renewing their love.
Daniel angers Chozen and his cronies, Taro and Toshio, by inadvertently revealing that their grocery business has been defrauding the villagers. Because of this, Chozen and his gang begin to harass Daniel and Kumiko almost constantly, with Chozen accusing Daniel of being a coward like his sensei. Meanwhile, Daniel and Kumiko begin to fall in love.
When Sato threatens to destroy and redevelop the village if Miyagi continues to refuse to fight, Miyagi reluctantly gives in, but only on the condition that no matter who wins, Sato must relinquish the titles to the villagers' homes to them. On the day the fight is to take place, Daniel and Kumiko, like Yukie and Miyagi, perform the ancient tea ceremony together, also sharing a kiss, soon, the village is hit by a typhoon. When Sato's dojo is destroyed by the storm with Sato trapped inside, Miyagi and Daniel rush to free him from the wreckage and bring him to safety at the local storm shelter. In a critical moment, Sato believes that Miyagi is going to strike with a killing blow, but he instead only breaks a large piece of wooden rubble that had been pinning Sato in place.
After the three return to safety, Daniel goes out to rescue a child trapped in the bell tower, and Sato orders Chozen to help him. Chozen refuses, unwilling to assist his enemy in even performing a good deed. Sato then goes to assist Daniel himself. Afterward he tells Chozen that he is dead to him, and the boy runs off into the storm.
The next morning, Sato and his workers sets about rebuilding the village. Not only does Sato hand over the titles to the villagers' homes, he also humbly asks Miyagi for forgiveness. Though Miyagi insists that there is nothing to forgive, he accepts his old friend's apology. Daniel decides to ask Sato if the village may hold their upcoming O-bon festival on the castle grounds. Sato agrees, asking Daniel to join him and the other villagers in the celebration.
At the O-bon festival, Kumiko is on stage performing a traditional dance when a now-deranged and vengeful Chozen interrupts, taking her hostage at knifepoint. Sato tells Chozen that he was wrong to hate Miyagi and implores Chozen to similarly let go of his hatred for Daniel. Chozen refuses, threatening to kill Kumiko if Daniel does not step up to fight him. Daniel agrees, in spite of Miyagi's warning that now this is no tournament--this time, the fight is very much real, and possibly to the death.
Chozen proves to be a much more formidable opponent than any other that Daniel has faced before (even the "crane kick" used at the end of the first movie is unsuccessful here), and the tide of the battle begins to turn in Chozen's favor. Miyagi then brings out his hand drum and beats it. The other villagers follow suit, which allows Daniel to realize how he can win. As Chozen closes in for the kill, Daniel successfully utilizes the drum technique to deflect Chozen's attacks and land his own devastating counter-attacks. Daniel, realizing for the first time in his life that his karate skills are sufficient to kill another person, grabs the vanquished Chozen by his hair and cocks his hand back for the fatal blow, asking Chozen if he wishes to live or die. When Chozen responds with "die," Daniel responds the same way Miyagi did against Kreese; he fakes out Chozen before tweaking his nose and dropping him to the ground. Daniel embraces Kumiko, while Miyagi looks on proudly.
Other notable cast appearances include Clarence Gilyard appears as an American serviceman in the ice-breaking scene, and B. D. Wong shortly before, as an Okinawan boy who invites Daniel and Kumiko (credited as "Bradd Wong") to a dance club.
Filming locations were shot on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, USA. The Hawaii location was chosen due to the similar climate and the island's large Okinawan population as well as the convenience of shooting in the U.S.
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 the first film, the parking lot confrontation scene was shot during the Part II schedule.[3]
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.
The soundtrack is also noted as being the final release on United Artists Records.
The character Ellie Bartowski on the television 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. Every time 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, as in The Karate Kid, Part II, even the crane kick did not work.
Also in the "Clum Babies" episode of the animated series Drawn Together, when Ling-Ling and Ni-Pul battle, "Glory of Love" plays in the background.
Movie-gazette.com writer, Scott Tanski, gave the film a positive review, stating the film to be a 'Worthy follow-up to the first 'Karate Kid’ film, with added interest provided by its exotic locations and characters.'[4] The film has a 41% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[5] The movie got one moderate review from the Los Angeles Times [6], and another from motion picture historian Leonard Maltin; the latter called it "Purposeless...Corny in the extreme — all that's missing from the climax is hounds and ice floes — but made palatable by winning performances. Best for kids."
The movie made $115,103,979 in its North American release.[7]
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".
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