Review: YouTube Red’s COBRA KAI ✭✭✭✩✩

1.1 & 1.2 — ‘Ace Degenerate’ & ‘Strike First’

34 years ago, John G. Avildsen directed The Karate Kid, which did for karate what Avildsen’s own Rocky (1976) did for boxing. It made a star of Ralph Macchio as wimpy Daniel LaRusso — a new kid in town, bullied by a gang led by Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka)— included an early acting role for Elisabeth Shue (as Daniel’s girlfriend Ali), and transformed Pat Morita into a cultural icon as eccentric sensei Mr. Miyagi.

There were three sequels (the latter one in 1994 with Hillary Swank replacing Macchio), an under-appreciated 2010 remake produced by Will Smith (starring his son Jaden and Jackie Chan), and now a web-series produced for streaming service YouTube Red: Cobra Kai. Also produced by Will Smith, interestingly. He must love Karate Kid.

What could have felt like a strange, nostalgia-fuelled oddity, aimed at grownup kids of the 1980s, is only half that. Few were crying out for a continuation of The Karate Kid story (as its own sequels were merely tolerated), let alone now the cast are deep into middle-age… but, somehow, here we are. The rise and dominance of Netflix means everyone wants a piece of the great streaming video-on-demand (SVOD) frontier.

The only problem is coming up with content people will pay to watch.

Amazon Prime splurge $1 billion on a Lord of the Rings television series. YouTube Red resurrect The Karate Kid.

Strangely, YouTube Red isn’t available everywhere (only the US, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, and South Korea at time of writing), although users in other countries can purchase episodes through YouTube or Google Play.

I therefore can’t get YouTube Red in the UK, nor would I right now. It costs $9.99 per month in the US, so presumably they’d be asking for around £6.99. That’s a lot of money to avoid YouTube adverts (which don’t annoy me enough) and watch Original Series like these you’ve never heard of.

Cobra Kai is the most high-profile thing YouTube Red has to offer, but I wouldn’t pay for these episodes. One presumes it’ll get a home video release at some point, but even then I’m not sure. Maybe once it’s on Netfl — oh, wait.

The first two instalments are free to watch right now, so you can make your own decision about that.

Like many people my age, I was a big fan of The Karate Kid as a boy. I must have been 8 or 9 when I first saw it, so young enough for the film to introduce me to a number of ideas and concepts I wasn’t very familiar with. There was the novelty of what martial arts were, of course, but also the worrying issue of bullying and having to learn to stick up for yourself. It was probably the first underdog story I saw, and one of the first films that opened my eyes to aspects of Japanese culture (chopsticks, bonsai trees, etc).

The Karate Kid was a pop culture phenomenon for my generation, and it’s a very good movie with positive messages. I watched it again not so long ago, and it held up very well.

There are some surprisingly heartfelt moments of drama, some of which I respond to more in adulthood — like the scene where a drunken Miyagi reminisces about the family he lost during WWII. And the climactic fight will always stir emotions deep within me (even if the quality of the karate’s very questionable), because the emotional weight about what it meant for Daniel to win, and for Miyagi to see his skinny student triumph, is quite potent.

Cobra Kai itself follows a basic formula and indulges plenty of cliches about young hearth-robs going to seed after 40, and popular teens discovering that life after school isn’t so easy. The show has been developed by writers who do seem to care for these characters, which also helps.

The surprise is how they’ve chosen to focus on “villain” Johnny, who’s now a guy in his early-fifties driving an old red Pontiac around Los Angeles, ignored by attractive women (the type who used to swoon over his matinee idol good looks back in ’84) , and doing menial jobs like cleaning gutters of dead rats.

On the opposite end of the spectrum (explored in more detail with “Strike First”), is the Karate Kid himself: Daniel LaRusso. The franchise “hero” now runs a popular car dealership (his face plastered on billboards around town, radio commercials on rotation), having maintained his local celebrity status for winning a karate tournament three decades ago. I don’t know if that’s plausible, but go with it.

Daniel’s “crane kick” to Johnny’s face saw their lives diverge: Daniel’s a wealthy and successful family man, but also a bit of a dick; while poor Johnny’s a lovable loser with a crappy job who doesn’t get along with his son.

But there’s also a new ‘Karate Kid’ in town, Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña), who’s introduced getting beaten up by bullies outside a convenience store. Maridueña even looks like a young Macchio. But instead of being taken under the wing of a kindly sensei like Mr. Miyagi, it’s Johnny who comes to Miguel’s aide and later feels compelled to revive the notorious Cobra Kai dojo — the place that that gave him a sense of power and purpose when he was younger.

Naturally, this doesn’t go down very well with Daniel once he realises his erstwhile nemesis is back in business, poised to teach a new generation the “no mercy” brand of karate that was so poisonous back in the day.

Cobra Kai may not have broad appeal, but if you ever attempted the crane kick in the school playground you’ll perhaps be drawn to it. Zabka and Macchio slip into their iconic roles very well, despite looking very different today (although whenever Johnny shouts he captures his younger attitude very well), and the basic idea has some merit… despite a slight feeling of this being an April Fool’s Day joke someone took seriously and greenlit.

It’s fun to catchup with Daniel and Johnny, even if the late Pat Morita’s absence is keenly felt as Mr. Miyagi (who was always my favourite character). However, there are some sweet callbacks to Daniel’s old sensei, plus a handful of amusing jokes about some of The Karate Kid’s most notable scenes and dialogue. I particularly liked a moment when Miguel is being tasked to clean Johnny’s new dojo…

MIGUEL: Hey, sensei, is there any particular way you want me to wash these windows?
JOHNNY: Nahhh, I don’t give a shit, whatever’s easiest.

You just know wise Mr. Miyagi would have ensured Miguel’s repetitive chores are ways to develop his student’s muscle memory.

Wax on, wax off…