A curious plan. Because Cobra Kai was such a positive experience for him? 
The link didn’t work for me, so I couldn’t tell if it was the shorter teaser trailer or the more recent longer trailer.
In the longer trailer, Johnny rescues a teenager by karate kicking the crap out of some punks (ostensibly because they threw the kid into his car). Later, after opening the dojo, he is teaching a bunch of unpopular kids karate so they won’t be"wangless dorks".
So they seem to be playing Johnny as a bit more complex than “elitist bully”. Like he’s still a jerk, but there is a noble purpose to his jerkiness.
Meanwhile, Daniel is show to be a somewhat smug and insufferable owner of a car dealership (in and of itself, typically associated with “douche”). Which actually isn’t out of character of the original film.
Elisabeth Shue is actually 2 years younger than Ralph Macchio.
Well, compared to what?
Back when he was in Cobra Kai, he was apparently a popular jock who could land the occasional pretty girl — and when he was one point away from the championship, he got second place in a tournament upon getting kicked. And, near as I can tell, he’s maybe been a loser ever since, and maybe hasn’t done any karate ever since.
How long does it take before he thinks, wait, maybe the answer wasn’t to stop doing karate; maybe the answer is, just get a little better when it comes to kicks? Like, if you’ve already injured a limping guy’s leg, maybe don’t walk up to him while he’s precariously balanced on one leg; maybe just stand back and wait until he gets tired? Maybe get into the same stance, and wait for him to obligingly walk to you? Maybe I should’ve learned one lesson, but otherwise stuck with what works?
I’m glad I started this thread, after seeing some of the reviews and watching the trailer again I feel like I might actually like it. The fact that I originally thought it was a straight-up sequel instead of tongue in cheek makes a big difference, they seem to be having fun with the idea of two adults getting really angry about a high school rivalry 30 years later instead of trying to make some deep point. Also treating Johnny as not a bad guy isn’t as different from the original as I remember, while the ‘Daniel is the real villain’ thing is overblown, Johnny wasn’t really a bad guy, it was the leader of the Cobra Kai school that was the psycho.
True - there were times that Johnny looked like he wanted to defuse the situation, but Kreese wouldn’t let him. And he did hand Daniel the trophy and congratulate him after he won the match.
And getting choked by his sensei for losing the match, then watching him cower in fear before Mr. Miyagi probably made him realize Kreese was just a violent cowardly asshole.
“No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher. Teacher say, student do.”
I was sure the two of them worked together on Psych also, but apparently I was mistaken. It seemed to me like Macchio was on quite frequently, but he was only in two episodes according to IMDB. Neither was the episode in which Zabka appeared.
I think this new treatment of Daniel and Johnny is genius, and I very much admire serious professionals who don’t take themselves too seriously to make fun of their own personas for the masses. Ralph Macchio did some comedy spoof years ago (playing himself) in which he was trying to prove he was a grown-up. In every case he is laughed out of the scene. The only one I completely recall was him trying to pick up a hooker; she was very dismissive and told him she didn’t do anyone under fourteen years old—come back in a couple of years. “I am 38 years old!! I am older than you……!” Zabka in particular was often cast in virtually identical roles during the 80’s; either Patton Oswald or Jim Norton does a comedy routine where his fictional life story is told in relationship to him trying to please his demanding father only to be bested three times by a diminutive dark haired, dark eyed ‘guy’ (in one case played by a woman) from the movies Back to School, Just One of the Guys, and of course Karate Kid. Each time he encounters one of the olive skinned devils he is forced to change his name and move to a seedier part of the San Fernando Valley.
While it is billed as the continuation of the story from 1984, our hero’s do not get top billing. I will have to find a way to see this series; it looks very well done to me. But like so many of you, I am not signing up for any streaming service either. Perhaps I will have to wait for the “first ten season collectors BluRay” discs to see it.
Yeah… William Zabka owes a case or two of something good to the writers of HIMYM. They brought his career back.