So what we think about The Karate Kid 2 these days

[BlackoutCreature]

I will say this, the second Karate Kid was the only one of the original trilogy I ever had any desire to seek out and watch after the 1980's ended. Granted this was still like 15 years ago.

Sept 2, 2018 10:57:19 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

It's a fine movie but I agree, the burial of Ali was awful, and that's something they need to put right in Cobra Kai.

They should say that Daniel cheated on Ali and crashed his own car. He then made up the story about Ali and the football player to cover for himself. He's already shown douchey traits in Cobra Kai so that would be consistent with his character now.

He admits the truth when Elisabeth Shue inevitably makes her guest appearance on the show,

After watching Cobra Kai, seeing Johnny's side of the story (and granted, he was a pretty unreliable narrator), and my own memories of the original movie being kinda shaky having not seen it in like 30 years, I've developed my own theory on Ali. Basically, she genuinely really loved Johnny and at the height of their relationship she thought they would spend their lives together. But as high school went on Johnny got more immature, she just got sick of his bullying ways and just didn't want to deal with it, although she still loved him. Then Daniel came along, and he was sweet and didn't act aggressively stupid and was just nice to her and wanted to spend time with her and, being emotionally vulnerable, she appreciated that and reciprocated. She also possibly subconsciously started playing the two against each other in hopes that it would get Johnny to cut out the crap.

Instead Johnny just walked away from her following the alpha male principle - he got his ass kicked by another guy thus he loses his girl to that other guy. Now she's stuck with a guy that she likes as a friend, but she doesn't love nor does she have any real romantic interest in. She tries to work it out, but being an immature high school student herself she really doesn't know how to handle it. In the end she just does something stupid hoping it would push everybody away from her and she could just start over from scratch.

[Duke Cameron]

Favorite of the series for me.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Meh, other than the final fight and the crowd cheering Daniel with those weird trinkets, I never really liked that movie. The scene when Daniel breaks the ice blocks is cool though.

[Goldenbane]

Sept 2, 2018 9:58:18 GMT -5 ERON said:

Part II is the reason Part III gets a bad rap. III wasn't bad, but it was a letdown after II. II took the series in a different direction, and III picked up where the first one left off as if II didn't happen. If II and III had been switched, III would have a better reputation today, I think.

Agreed 100%

[riseofsetian1981]

I thought II was great and is still one of my favorite films of all time. I agree with everyone where II should've been III and III should've been two as it would've made sense character wise. There's absolutely no way after fighting Chozen that Daniel should've been afraid of Kreese, Barnes, and Silver as he should've wiped the floor with them respectfully with relative ease.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Sept 2, 2018 23:18:53 GMT -5 riseofsetian1981 said:

I thought II was great and is still one of my favorite films of all time. I agree with everyone where II should've been III and III should've been two as it would've made sense character wise. There's absolutely no way after fighting Chozen that Daniel should've been afraid of Kreese, Barnes, and Silver as he should've wiped the floor with them respectfully with relative ease.

Yeah, the first time in 3 Barnes tried something against Daniel, Daniel should have just laughed in his face, and when Barnes throws a punch, Daniel should have mopped the floor with him. After everything with Chozen, Barnes should have posed no threat to Daniel. Instead we got Daniel at his most afraid, and the movie regressed his confidence to before even the first film.

[Chainsaw]

It's still one of my favorites, although I was bummed out that Daniel and Ali didn't work out in the movie. Still, it's a hell of a great story.

And yeah, Glory Of Love was my jam as a kid, not gonna lie.

[Goldenbane]

It sounds like I'm one of the few on here, but I thought Kumiko and Daniel had way more chemistry together and Daniel and Ali ever did.

[abjordans]

If it’s on I would never turn it off if I was flipping channels, no matter how far into the movie it is. That is really high praise. Some movies if I don’t see the opening credits- I ain’t watching that shit.

[The 1Watcher Experience]

I haven’t watched this movie in ages. I really enjoyed Cobra Kai so I ended up watching the first movie again. It’s still a classic and a fun watch. I’ll have to give the second movie another look again. I remember seeing them over and over and enjoying them when I was a kid and they were in heavy rotation on HBO. I guess I saw them so many times that I felt I’d seen them enough. Cobra Kai has definitely renewed my interest though.

[Kevin Hamilton]

Chozen has always been badass. Good movie, though by adding to Miyagi's backstory it does kinda take away from the tragedy of his backstory in the first

[Kevin Hamilton]

3 just made it a little ridiculous in that even though Macchio always looks youthful, he's clearly almost 35 there

[riseofsetian1981]

Sept 3, 2018 8:48:46 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

Chozen has always been badass. Good movie, though by adding to Miyagi's backstory it does kinda take away from the tragedy of his backstory in the first

Eh I don't know. If anything it adds to it as that's another aspect of his tragic life that the audience gets to feel in my opinion.

[No Longer a Produceman]

I loved this movie as a kid. Chozen was a prick you couldn’t wait to see get his ass kicked. But my favorite character was Sato. Just the right amount of 80s Bad Guy cheese and damn near everything he says is quotable. “Your fear make air stink!”

[Kevin Hamilton]

Sept 3, 2018 14:10:11 GMT -5 riseofsetian1981 said:

Sept 3, 2018 8:48:46 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

Chozen has always been badass. Good movie, though by adding to Miyagi's backstory it does kinda take away from the tragedy of his backstory in the first

Eh I don't know. If anything it adds to it as that's another aspect of his tragic life that the audience gets to feel in my opinion.

It's two different things though, in the first movie his wife is dead (kid too I believe) and he's still mourning them, then in 2 it's retconned that he left the other lady in Okinawa before reconnecting with her. Either one is fine, and doesn't ruin either story, its just the retro-fitting that's just kinda eh to me.

[agent817]

Sept 3, 2018 14:31:54 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

Sept 3, 2018 14:10:11 GMT -5 riseofsetian1981 said:

Eh I don't know. If anything it adds to it as that's another aspect of his tragic life that the audience gets to feel in my opinion.

It's two different things though, in the first movie his wife is dead (kid too I believe) and he's still mourning them, then in 2 it's retconned that he left the other lady in Okinawa before reconnecting with her. Either one is fine, and doesn't ruin either story, its just the retro-fitting that's just kinda eh to me.

Do you ever notice in movies and TV shows, while someone is either divorced or widowed, somehow there was another flame before the wife/husband whom one of the characters shared a great connection with, and they reunite and reconnect? It often seems like "the person who got away" was just as special, if more than the person who the character married.

[fw91]

Sept 3, 2018 8:50:56 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

3 just made it a little ridiculous in that even though Macchio always looks youthful, he's clearly almost 35 there

In real life, Macchio is older than Terry Silver

[OGBoardPoster2005]

Sept 3, 2018 8:50:56 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

3 just made it a little ridiculous in that even though Macchio always looks youthful, he's clearly almost 35 there

He was 27...but still a valid point

[Kevin Hamilton]

Haha yeah, I wasn't sure on his actual age; just knew that Daniel shouldn't even be thinking about the Hill Valley tourney anymore outside of nostalgia.

"You're too scared to fight me!"

"I have a mortgage."

[agent817]

Sept 3, 2018 8:50:56 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

3 just made it a little ridiculous in that even though Macchio always looks youthful, he's clearly almost 35 there

Let's not forget that there was yet another female character, who was more of a platonic friend this time around. The reason behind that, according to IMDB, was because Ralph Macchio didn't want his wife to see him kissing another woman on-screen.

From what I remember, III picked up directly after II, but then somehow they had to write out the girl from the second film.