Review by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita, Danny Kamekona,
Tamlyn Tomita, Nobu McCarthy, Charlie Tanimoto | Written by Robert Mark Kamen
UK certification PG | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 113 minutes | Directed by John Avildsen
Very occasionally, you get a sequel that's almost as good as the film which spawned if. Karate Kid II is one such film.
Some month after the fateful karate tournament that Daniel (Macchio) won, Miyagi (Morita) gets a message from Okinawa that his father is dying and wants to see him one last time. Daneil joins him, but when they arrive Miyagi is confronted by an old friend, Sato (Kamekona), with whom he had a falling out many years before. Miyagi fell in love with Yukie (McCartyhy), who had been promised in marriage to Sato, and so both families were shamed. Rather than fight Sato to the death, Miyagi fled to the United States. Now, Sato is seeking revenge.
Once again, this is Morita's film all the way. His Miyagi continues to exude an innner calm and strength, despite his age and his small stature. Constantly belittled and threatened by Sato and his goons, he refuses to fight, believing that violence solves nothing. A belief that he keeps trying to impress on Daniel-san, who is still as keen on the biffo as he was in the first film. Throw in some romance – Miyagi with his old flame, and Daniel with the lovely Kumiko (Tomita) – and some decent fighting action, and you've got yourself a sequel that's actually worth a look.
EXTRAS ★ A rather lame collection of bonus features, to be honest – just a feature called Blu-Pop, in which trivia and other stuff pops up while you watch the movie; a six-minute featurette called The Sequel; and a trailer for a film called Ice Castles.