The Karate Kid Part II

The Karate Kid Part II is a 1986 American martial arts drama film written by Robert Mark Kamen and directed by John G. Avildsen. It is the second installment in the Karate Kid franchise, and is a sequel to The Karate Kid in 1984. It stars Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita. The Karate Kid Part II follows Daniel LaRusso (Macchio), who accompanies his karate teacher Mr. Miyagi (Morita) to Okinawa in aid of his dying father, only to encounter a group of bullies with long-harbored grudges against Miyagi.

The Karate Kid Part II
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn G. Avildsen
Produced byJerry Weintraub
Written byRobert Mark Kamen
Based onCharacters created
by Robert Mark Kamen
Starring
Music byBill Conti
CinematographyJames Crabe
Edited by
  • John G. Avildsen
  • David Garfield
  • Jane Kurson
Production
company
Delphi V Productions
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • June 20, 1986 (1986-06-20)
Running time
113 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$13 million
Box office$130 million[2]

Preparations for the film began immediately after the success of the first installment, and after completing the final edit of the script, casting took place between May and July 1985 after the re-signing of Macchio and Morita. Principal photography began in September 1985 in Los Angeles, and filming was complete by December 1985, which included locations such as Oahu, to replicate Okinawa.

The Karate Kid Part II was theatrically released in the United States on June 20, 1986. The film received mixed reviews, with praise for the new location and characters, and Morita's performance, although some criticized elements of the storyline, the villains, and some action scenes. The film was also a commercial success, grossing $130 million worldwide,[2] making it among the highest grossing films of 1986, and the highest grossing in the franchise up until the 2010 reboot.[3][4]

Plot

Shortly after the All-Valley Karate Tournament, Sensei John Kreese becomes furious with Johnny Lawrence for his defeat and attacks him in the parking lot. Miyagi confronts Kreese and passively immobilizes him. Miyagi threatens to strike a deadly blow but instead, he honks Kreese's nose and walks away. Johnny and his friends abandon Cobra Kai after seeing Kreese's true colors.

Six months later, Daniel LaRusso visits Mr. Miyagi's house after recently attending a senior prom. He angrily explains that his girlfriend Ali has dumped him for a football player from UCLA, while his mother has received a business opportunity in Fresno, where he will be forced to spend his entire summer with her. Miyagi tells Daniel that he spoke to his mother and she has agreed to let Daniel stay with him. Miyagi receives a letter notifying him that his father is sick. He plans to return to his home village of Tomi on Okinawa Island and brings Daniel with him after he begs to come along.

Miyagi explains that he fell in love with a woman named Yukie, who was arranged to marry his best friend Sato, son of the richest man in the village and fellow karate student of his father. Upon announcing his intentions to marry Yukie, Sato challenged him to a fight to the death to save his honor. Rather than fight, however, Miyagi left the country. Miyagi explains to Daniel that Sato is still holding a grudge against Miyagi because there is no time limit for a man's honor.

In Okinawa, Miyagi and Daniel are greeted by Chozen Toguchi, who takes them to meet Sato and reveals that he is Sato's nephew. Sato demands to fight Miyagi, who adamantly refuses. Arriving at Tomi Village, Miyagi and Daniel are welcomed by Yukie and her niece Kumiko. They discover that Sato has become a rich industrialist whose supertrawlers have destroyed the local fish population, impoverishing the villagers. They are forced to rent property as sharecroppers from Sato, who owns the village's land title. Yukie reveals that she never married Sato because of her love for Miyagi. After Miyagi's father dies, Sato gives him three days to mourn out of respect before their fight. Miyagi shows Daniel the secret to his family's karate — a handheld drum that illustrates the "drum technique", a block-and-defense karate move that Daniel begins to practice. Miyagi grieves for his father with Daniel consoling him and telling him about his own father's death.

Some time later, Daniel accidentally exposes corruption in Chozen's sharecropping collection. Chozen accuses Daniel of insulting his honor and begins to harass him. After several encounters, their feud comes to a head when Chozen and his cronies attack Daniel and vandalize Miyagi's family property. The group is quickly defeated and runs off after Miyagi arrives. Miyagi and Daniel plan to return to Los Angeles before the situation gets worse. However, Sato shows up with bulldozers and threatens to destroy the village if Miyagi refuses to fight. Forced to comply, Miyagi gives in on the condition that Sato signs the village's land title permanently over to the villagers regardless of the fight's outcome. Sato begrudgingly agrees after Miyagi describes the condition as a "small price" to pay for his honor.

On the day of the fight, a typhoon arrives. Villagers take cover at a nearby shelter, but Sato is trapped when his family's dojo is leveled by the storm. Miyagi and Daniel rush to rescue him. After carrying Sato to safety, Daniel successfully rescues a little girl called Yuna who had been stranded on top of a bell tower. Sato orders Chozen to help, but when he refuses, Sato rushes to assist Daniel himself. He then disowns his nephew for refusing to assist, and an enraged Chozen runs off into the storm in disgrace. The next morning, as the villagers are rebuilding, Sato returns with his bulldozers — only this time to help rebuild the village. Sato hands over the land title to the village and asks for Miyagi's forgiveness, which he accepts. Daniel and Kumiko approach Sato about hosting the upcoming O-bon festival in a ceremonial castle, to which he agrees and invites Daniel to join in the celebration.

While Kumiko is performing a dance at the festival, a vengeful Chozen ziplines into the presentation, takes Kumiko hostage, and demands to fight Daniel to the death. After an intense fight, Daniel is eventually overwhelmed by Chozen. Miyagi, Sato and the crowd respond by using handheld drums they brought to the celebration, inspiring Daniel. Seemingly confused, Chozen closes in for the kill, but Daniel is able to deflect Chozen's attacks and land counter-attacks using the drum technique. Daniel grabs the vanquished Chozen and threatens to end his life by saying, "Live or die, man?!" Chozen chooses death, but, remembering the way Miyagi handled Kreese earlier, Daniel honks Chozen's nose and drops him to the ground. Daniel embraces Kumiko while the villagers cheer him on and Miyagi looks on proudly.

Cast
Main article: List of The Karate Kid characters
Opening sequence

Other notable cast appearances include BD Wong (credited as "Bradd Wong") as an Okinawan boy who invites Daniel and Kumiko to a dance club and Clarence Gilyard as one of the participants in the ice-breaking scene.

Production

The opening scene takes place immediately following the finale of the first film to seamlessly tie the two together. It was originally planned as the ending for the first film, although it was not shot until after the second film's production began.[5]

Filming

Principal photography took place in Oahu, Hawaii, in the northeastern area of the island known as the "windward side". The local countryside in modern-day Okinawa had been drastically changed due to the presence of military bases, so other locations in both Japan and Hawaii were scouted as alternative filming locations. Filmmakers selected a property in Oahu that was privately owned by a retired local physician who agreed to allow a portion of the land to be used in the film. To form the Okinawan village portrayed in the film, seven authentic replicas of Okinawan houses were constructed along with more than three acres of planted crops. Fifty Okinawa-born Hawaii residents were also recruited as film extras. Filming began on September 23, 1985, and ended on December 20, 1985.[6][7]

Music

The musical score for The Karate Kid Part II was composed by Bill Conti, who wrote the score for the previous installment, and features the pan flute of Gheorghe Zamfir. The film's signature tune was Peter Cetera's song "Glory of Love", which was a No. 1 hit in the United States and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. When Daniel and Miyagi are being driven by Chozen and his crony Toshio 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 film. The soundtrack is notable as being the final album released by United Artists Records.

  1. "Glory of Love" (Peter Cetera)
  2. "Rock 'n' Roll Over You" (The Moody Blues)
  3. "Fish for Life" (Mancrab)
  4. "Rock Around the Clock" (Paul Rodgers)
  5. "Let Me at 'Em" (Southside Johnny)
  6. "This Is the Time" (Dennis DeYoung)
  7. "Earth Angel" (New Edition)
  8. "Love Theme from The Karate Kid Part II" (Bill Conti)
  9. "Two Looking at One" (Carly Simon)
  10. "The Storm" (Bill Conti)

Charts
Chart (1986) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[8] 96

Reception

Box office

The Karate Kid Part II opened in 1,323 theaters across North America on June 20, 1986. In its opening weekend, the film ranked first in its domestic box office grossing $12,652,336 with an average of $9,563 per theater. The film earned $20,014,510 in its opening week and ended its run earning a total of $115,103,979 domestically.[9] The film grossed a total of $130 million worldwide, matching the box office total of the original film.[2]

Critical response

Alex Stewart reviewed The Karate Kid Part II for White Dwarf #81, and stated that "The Karate Kid Part II is highly enjoyable. Positive and upbeat, without descending to mawkishness, this too is one to catch."[10]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 45% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 5.02/10. The site's critics consensus states: "Like countless sequels, The Karate Kid Part II tries upping the stakes without straying too far from formula -- and suffers diminishing returns as a result."[11] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on nine critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[12] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average score of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.[13]

Movie-gazette.com gave the film a positive review, stating the film was a "worthy follow-up to the first Karate Kid film, with added interest provided by its exotic locations and characters."[14] The Los Angeles Times also gave the film a positive review, particularly praising Pat Morita's performance as Miyagi and calling the actor "the heart of the movie".[15] Film historian Leonard Maltin agreed with the strength of the performances, but called the film "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."[16] At the Movies gave the film a mixed review, with both critics praising the character Miyagi but criticizing the villains and action scenes. Roger Ebert recommended the movie overall but Gene Siskel did not.[17][18]

Accolades

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".

Video games

A video game adaptation titled The Karate Kid Part II: The Computer Game was released in 1987 by publisher Microdeal on Atari ST and Amiga. It is a fighting game in which the user plays the role of Daniel in fights based on movie scenes. There are also two bonus levels with digitized images from the movie: Miyagi catching flies with chopsticks and Daniel breaking an ice block.[19][20]

The 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System video game The Karate Kid includes several elements based on The Karate Kid Part II. Stages 2–4 of the game are based on The Karate Kid Part II, as are two bonus games in which the player must break up to six ice blocks. The drum technique exercise shown in the movie is also featured as a challenge in which the gamer must dodge the swinging ax as many times as possible.

References
  1. "THE KARATE KID PART II (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. May 23, 1986. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  2. Hurlburt, Roger (July 3, 1989). "Martial Arts Flick Loses Kick Third Time Around". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved January 27, 2021. The Karate Kid (1984) and the sequel, The Karate Kid Part II, went on to gain critical acclaim and $130 million each at the box office
  3. Canby, Vincent (June 20, 1986). "Screen: 'Karate Kid Part II". The New York Times. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  4. "The Karate Kid Part II". Variety. January 1, 1986. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  5. Berry, Robert. ""Sweep the Leg!" The Billy Zabka Interview". retrocrush.com. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  6. Thomas, Bob (November 14, 1985). "'Karate Kid II' Under Way in Hawaii". The Palm Beach Post. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  7. "'The Karate Kid Part II' Production Notes". Sony Movie Channel. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  8. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 284. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  9. "The Karate Kid Part II". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  10. Stewart, Alex (September 1986). "2020 Vision". White Dwarf. Games Workshop (Issue 81): 18.
  11. "The Karate Kid Part II (1986)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  12. "The Karate Kid Part II". Metacritic. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  13. "Cinemascore :: Movie Title Search". December 20, 2018. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  14. "The Karate Kid Part II (1986)". movie-gazette.com. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  15. Wilmington, Michael (June 20, 1986). "Movie Review : Let's Hear It For A Winning 'Karate Ii'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  16. Maltin, Leonard (2008). Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide. New York: Plume/Penguin. ISBN 978-0-452-28978-9. OCLC 183268110.
  17. "The Karate Kid Part II / Running Scared / Legal Eagles / American Anthem (1986)". siskelandebert.org. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  18. "IN `THE KARATE KID PART II,` DANIEL AND MIYAGI ARE IN THE WRONG". chicagotribune.com.
  19. "Karate Kid II (Amiga)". Computer and Video Games. United Kingdom. October 1987. p. 91.
  20. Kunkel, Bill (May 1988). "The Karate Kid Part II". ST-Log. United States. p. 77.
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