Why this movie let me down...


Daniel beating Chozen. No way in hell! Saw this at the theater in summer '86 & found it boring but said hey if Chozen can beat down Danny later on might wound up forgiving this thing. NOPE! Danny ends up winning against the more skilled Chozen! I didn't buy it then still don't.

reply

You don't buy it?
He beat the more skilled Johnny in the first movie.
He beat the more skilled Mike Barnes in part 3.

In fact it was the basic formula for all the movies so not sure why just this one let you down in that respect.

reply

First off Johnny & Daniel were close in skill in my opinion so Danny winning it wasn't a really big deal okay. Barnes from Part 3 was sort of cheated because Danny only hit him once to win that stupid fight. It was rigged against the challenger & u know it so come on okay. The win over Chozen was all fantasy & wasn't at all believable. Danny was freaking scared of him & that alone should've cost him the fight but whatever.

reply

First off Johnny & Daniel were close in skill in my opinion so Danny winning it wasn't a really big deal okay.

Except they weren't. Johnny had trained since being a young kid and had won the All Valley twice and was defending champion. Daniel had never entered a competition in his life and had only trained for 3 months.

Barnes from Part 3 was sort of cheated because Danny only hit him once to win that stupid fight. It was rigged against the challenger & u know it so come on okay.

He lost according to the rules so he was hardly cheated. He entered the competition knowing exactly what had to happen for him to meet LaRusso in the final match. He was then lucky actually to not get disqualified according to the rules. As for Daniel only having to score one point, that is sort of the point of sudden death, no?

The win over Chozen was all fantasy & wasn't at all believable. Danny was freaking scared of him & that alone should've cost him the fight but whatever.

Well tbf, the whole thing is fantasy that Daniel could learn Karate to an equal skill level to Johnny from waxing cars etc... for 3 months, yet somehow you feel let down by him beating Chozen by copying a doll being twisted in the hands of the onlookers. Surely when watching this movie you didn't expect Daniel to lose?
That's what lets me down. People watching Karate Kid movies and expecting him to lose. Now if you said you didn't like the character and hoped he would lose I'd understand, but still would wonder why you would expect it to happen.

reply

Ok u make good points & I understand Danny had to win all the fights but the one with Chozen feels wrong. That guy was tough as shit, nicely built & a real thug. Danny was softer in Part 2 than he was in the original & even softer in Part 3 boy he was a chump then. The sudden death thing I get but it felt like a cheap shot to escape a real defeat & a really piss poor way to close the series out u know.

reply

I can only see one reason for Chozen losing.
His whole life he was brought up to hate Miyagi by his Uncle Sato. He was a well respected man in the village and even had a romantic tryst with Kumiko at some point.
All of a sudden there is a storm and everything gets flipped. Suddenly Uncle Sato changes his mind and tells Chozen he is wrong and that Chozen is now dead to him. Psychologically that must have ripped him apart. He decides to regain honour at the Oban dance and he is giving Daniel a good beating when he is distracted by the drums. He looks up to see the whole village including his Uncle basically against him. He's confused and in a blind rage whereas Daniel is now calm and focussed. Chozen lunges and instead of hitting him he gets hit himself and doesn't understand how. More confusion. He tries again but gets hit again. And again and again! Blind panic now. Before you know it he is on his knees.
Chozens state of mind is what beat him more than anything. That's the only way I can see it working.

As for KK3, you have to look behind the scenes. Robert Mark Kamen wanted to do a story that opens with Miyagi and Daniel fishing then Miyagi relates a story about his ancestors. The movie would have only included them at the beginning and the end and would be something akin to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (years before that even came out). The studio didn't want that and preferred to return to the All Valley. So Kamen (who did Karate as a kid and knew how competitions actually work) wrote the piece of shit we got, crappy rule of last years winner being advanced straight to the final included. There are so many things wrong with KK3 that you have to think Kamen wrote it badly because he was pissed off at the studio for not going with his idea. Personally after part 2 I always felt that Daniel and Miyagis stories were done and part 3 should have been about Johnny. I'm glad that Cobra Kai (first season at least) followed this route.

reply

Really appreciate your analysis of what happened in Part 2. Chozen should've won that fight & after I watched it again last night on the DVD it makes sense why he lost. It was still an upset to me & yea but I get it. Part 3 was awful & I really hated the new rules & all & it made things way too easy path for Danny to win.

reply

No worries
Part 3 was poorly executed and a bad story. Been there done that if you like. I suppose they couldn't have had Daniel advance through the competition as he would have gained confidence along the way and that wasn't what they wanted. But the new rules would never have worked in real life.
1) Why enter a competition where you have to fight numerous fights only to have a final fight against someone who is there simply because they won last year?
2) What if last years winner is now over 18 and cannot enter? What then?
It's no wonder they dumped the rule for the Cobra Kai show.

reply