Jeff's Reviews

Thoughts on every movie I've ever seen.

The Karate Kid (1984)

Directed by John G. Avildsen

Starring Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove

Author

Like Rocky, Avildsen gives us another story about a lower class, inner-city Italian fighting his way to fame and glory. Good story, interesting characters. Lots of stereotypical Grease/West Side Story-ish characters and situations. Lots of 70’s camerawork and music, especially in the beginning. Corny at times, but the corny moments still help the dramatic build toward the climax. The film ends a bit abrubtly, though. Should have milked the moment a little more.

Macchia was really good. Very cool. It’s amazing what believable and well-delivered dialogue will do for a performance. It’s too bad Macchia was so good in his debut. He was instantly typecast and could never land another role. Morita was memorable. If only girls really had as much patience with guys as they do in this movie.

We saw him learn to defend himself and throw punches. But where did he learn to karate kick like that? In the training montage that we didn’t see?

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