The Karate Kid

So this week's film was The Karate Kid, the original film in all it's glory. It had been a long time since I had seen this master piece and since I will probably take my nephew to see the remake I wanted to re familiarize myself with the classic.  I must say while I didn't remember all the aspects of the film the first time through, I will admit this movie is awesome.

I liked this image capture way better than the original movie poster, let's face it the original poster looks like an old Japanese guy is about to make out with Ralph Maccio. Plus , let's admit it every single one of us has done "Crane Technique" unsuccessfully in our lives.  Not to mention this is probably the best scene in the movie for a multitude of reasons.

While most of us are pretty familiar with the plot of The Karate Kid, I'll give a brief recap. Daniel Larusso is a whiny southern California transplant by way of New Jersey.  Here he immediately stars to hit on Elizabeth Shue. Turns out she's the ex girlfriend of the school's biggest bad ass, Johnny, and Daniel is in over his head. He spends the next twenty minutes or so of the movie getting his ass kicked by this guy and his friends while occasionally getting small amounts of revenge. Daniel vows he will learn "karate" so he can fight back against this bully. He meets this crazy old maintenance guy named Mr. Miyagi. He and Miyagi become friends shortly and he tries to help Daniel with advice. Daniel checks out the local Karate school and it turns out Johnny is the head student and the sensei is a complete merciless dick.

He convinces Daniel to go to the schools Halloween dance, where Daniel tries to get back at Johnny at the dance.  The chase Daniel home and proceed to beat him up until they get whopped by Mr. Miyagi. It's after this that Miyagi and Daniel figure out that the only way they can stop this bullying is by confronting the sensei and his students. They agree to enter Daniel in a tournament and Miyagi takes him on as his student. The rest of the film he trains Daniel all about karate in most unconventional means.  He gets him to slave labor around his house which Daniel thinks is a waste of time. Little did he know he was falling for the oldest trick in the Karate handbook, the old "bullshit that doesn't seem like training but actually is training" routine. From here Miyagi teaches him about balance, in all things. He also teaches him the importance of focus and breathing.

What I got out of it:

I was actually inspired by parts of this film. I really liked Mr. Miyagi ( Pat Morita) and can see why he was nominated for an Oscar.  This film taught me about balance between my training and my personal life.  I think I have been over thinking / focusing too much on my training and diet that I'm freaking myself out. I haven't been as confident lately and making the gains I need to in order to be successful.

"Man who catch fly with chopsticks accomplish anything" - Mr. Miyagi

Next weeks film is: Karate Kid 3 ( I watched two this weekend as well but I don't feel like posting it).