The Karate Kid

PLOT:

High school senior Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) moves with his mother (Randee Heller) from Newark, New Jersey to Reseda, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Their apartment’s handyman is an eccentric but kindly and humble Okinawan immigrant named Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita).

Daniel meets a girl, Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue), a high school cheerleader; but earns the enmity of her ex-boyfriend, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), a karate student. Johnny is the best student at the Cobra Kai dojo, where he is taught an unethical, vicious form of martial arts. Daniel knows some karate from books and the YMCA, but is the victim of repeated beatings from Johnny and his friends.

When Miyagi witnesses one of the beatings, he intervenes and defeats all five [Cobra Kai] with ease. Awed, Daniel asks Miyagi to be his teacher. Miyagi refuses, but agrees to go with Daniel to the Cobra Kai dojo in order to resolve the conflict. They confront the sensei, John Kreese (Martin Kove) an ex-Special Forces Vietnam Veteran who sneers at the concepts of mercy and restraint. Kreese and Miyagi agree to a match between Johnny and Daniel in two months’ time at the “All Valley Karate Tournament”, where Cobra Kai students can fight Daniel on equal terms. Miyagi also requests that the bullying stop while Daniel trains. Kreese orders his students to leave Daniel alone, but threatens that if Daniel does not show up for the tournament, the harassment will resume and Miyagi will also become a target.

Miyagi becomes Daniel’s teacher and, slowly, a surrogate father figure. He begins Daniel’s training by having him perform laborious chores such as waxing cars, sanding a wooden floor, and refinishing Miyagi’s house. Each chore is accompanied with a specific movement, such as clockwise/counter-clockwise hand motions. Daniel eventually feels frustrated, believing he has learned nothing of karate. When he expresses his frustration, Miyagi reveals that Daniel has been learning defensive blocks through muscle memory learned by performing the chores.

As Daniel’s training continues “in the open” his bond with Miyagi becomes closer. He learns that Miyagi lost his wife and son in childbirth at Manzanar internment camp while he was serving overseas with the United States Army during World War II. The loss of his family and Daniel’s loss of his father further strengthens the father-son surrogacy. Daniel also discovers that the outwardly peaceful and serene Miyagi was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for heroism against German forces in Europe.

Through the teaching, Daniel learns not only karate, but also important life lessons, such as the importance of balance, reflected by the belief that martial arts training is as much about training the spirit as the body. Daniel applies the life lessons that Miyagi has taught him to strengthen his relationship with Ali.

At the tournament, Daniel surprises everyone by reaching the semi-finals. Johnny advances to the finals, scoring three unanswered points against a highly skilled opponent. Kreese instructs Bobby Brown, one of his more compassionate students and the least vicious of Daniel’s tormentors, to disable Daniel with an illegal attack to the knee. Bobby reluctantly does so, injuring Daniel, but getting disqualified in the process. With Daniel unable to continue, Miyagi assures him he has already proven himself. Despondent, Daniel believes that if he does not continue his tormentors will have gotten the best of him. He persuades Miyagi to use a pain suppression technique to allow him to finish the tournament. As Johnny is about to be declared the winner by default, Daniel hobbles into the ring.

Kreese directs Johnny to repeat unethical moves to achieve victory. Despite the moves, and how many times Daniel is knocked down, he gets up again each time. Ultimately Daniel and Johnny are tied, both one point away from victory. Daniel, barely able to stand, assumes the “Crane Kick” stance, and delivers a blow to Johnny’s chin, winning the tournament. Johnny, having gained newfound respect for his adversary, takes Daniel’s trophy from the Master of Ceremonies and presents it to Daniel himself. Miyagi looks on proudly as Daniel celebrates his victory.

REVIEW:

Let me preface this by saying this review is about the REAL movie The Karate Kid, not the unnecessary remake with theat no-talent hack using his parents’ name to make a “career”, Jayden Smith.

*AHEM*

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, this is one of the best films of the 80s, in my opinion, but I have to feel sorry for boys named Daniel. From the moment Mr. Miyagi first uttered the term Daniel-san, there hasn’t been a Daniel safe from being called that at some point in time, especially on elementary school playgrounds.

Feel good movies fall in one of two categories. Those that try too hard to make a point, and those that get everything right. The Karate Kid seemed like it was going to be more of the former, but ends up the latter.

The story of the underdog kid who moves from New Jersey to L.A. and because he falls for the ex-girlfriend of the leader of a pack of karate jocks, is, for lack of a better term, tortured, until the fateful moment where he gets to the gate of his apartment complex and is nearly beat to death, but Mr. Miyagi saves him.

The relationship between Daniel and Miyagi is quite the interesting one, as they go from strangers, to teacher and student, to surrogate father and son. It was quite interesting and one of the real treats of the flick, to see their relationship grow.

With every film about teenagers, you must have some sort of love interest. In this case, we have Elisabeth Shue. She isn’t half bad. Of course, this was at the time when she was every red-blooded male’s wet dream, so who else were they going to get?

The karate is, of course, center stage here, but at the same time it isn’t the focal point of the picture. There is a plot here that is the most important thing, while the karate is just icing on the cake.

There are plenty of iconic scenes to go around here, such as Daniel waxing the cars and Miyagi telling him to “wax on, wax off”, or the various times he does the crane pose. The most notable of those is on the posts down by the beach, or of course the time it counts in the tournament.

Speaking of the tournament, it seems as if the karate jocks aren’t as bloodthirsty as their sensei. I say this because, he told one of them to sweep the leg (after its already been broken), and this guy was nearly in tears apologizing to Daniel after doing so. Then there was the climactic fight with Johnny, who seemed a bit conflicted about what he was told to do, whereas the sensei seemed like he was ready to get out there and go all Mortal Kombat on Daniel if given the chance.

I was intrigued to find out that the music for this fine film was done by Bill Conti, who is best known for his work on the Rocky franchise. I guess he just has a knack or scoring and composing for these underdog type of films.

The Karate Kid has been one of those flicks that has been able to stand the test of time (which is why I really am protesting the forthcoming remake). The lessons learned from this film were as true in 1984 as they are in 2010. I’m sure when they were making this picture, they had no idea it was going to become the cultural phenomenon that it became, including 3 subsequent sequels, a comic book, and a cartoon series.

I have fond memories of this flick from my childhood, including more than a few attempts to do the crane kick, as well as signing up for karate after seeing the sequel (I was too young when this one was released). You’d be hard pressed to find a better film than this one. While it does have some issues, they are so minor and forgettable, coupled with just being an overall entertaining flick, that you don’t even realize them unless you’re one of those that likes to nitpick. If you have yet to see this, check it out, especially if you haven’t seen it and are planning on seeing the bastardized remake which is going to piss all over this one. There is only one Karate Kid (well two, if you count the superhero in the comics, who they had to get permission from to use the name, even though they have nothing to do with each other).

5 out of 5 stars

Advertisement