Rewatching after 15 years - One complaint

Yes

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But he has no hunger, no focus or grit. Right up until the tournament he was saying how scared he was and preparing to get his ass kicked. By contrast, Rocky, although his opponents were always more physically intimidiating than him, had the Eye of the Tiger. After he gets through his daily struggles with life at home, Adrian and all that and trains with Mickey, he's focused and determined to win.

Yeah because a teenager who lives with his mum and goes to school is going to be as tough as a professional boxer who works as a loan shark who grew up on the streets and has already had years of training and fight experience by th first movie whereas Daniel had done a couple months of karate.

You could say rocky turns into a wimp in rocky 2 and 3 as well because in the second movie he barely trains and doesn't want it for most of the movie until the last bit and in rocky 3 he gets knocked out in 2 rounds then can't be bothered to train and tells Adrian how scared he is

My one complaint is with the overall plot...NO WAY would an Italian kid from Newark, NJ be pushed around by a bunch of rich kids from the Hills !!! Total *beep* otherwise great movie !!!

I have to disagree. The continuity of this movie was within 1 year. Part 2 picked up right wear Part 1 left off. Maturity and experience takes time; years actually, so I guess that is why Daniel acted that way he did because he is just learning and the discipline of being a Karate Master takes years and years of physical and mental experience.

Daniel LaPusso is the main character but the story revolves around Mr. Miyagi. His story is that with good teaching, even the whiniest, cynical, wimp can benefit greatly from following his methods.

You're missing the point, especially by comparing to a completely different movie and character, not to mention story and message.

Rocky is a 'tough guy' with 'tough guy personality'. Rocky is also an adult. Rocky's motivation is completely different, he has sparred and fought a lot before the Apollo stuff even begins. Not so with Daniel, who only tries to survive.

This movie is not about whether someone is 'whiny' or 'tough'. It's about inner strength, that anyone can gain under proper teacher.

Daniel clearly thinks about the lessons he learns, and gains a lot of insight and inner strength throughout the movie. He is of course still afraid - after all, he has no choice but to go through it, and there's always the possiblity of being hurt, injured or dead.

But we have to remember, 'courageous is not he who isn't afraid, but he who is afraid, but still dares'. Daniel dared, so Daniel is actually brave and courageous.

It's a different story, different character, it's not about beating up the other guy, it's about survival so Daniel can live his life without being constantly bullied and beaten up every day. Completely different motivations and situations. These are a big group of bullies with bad Karate teacher that are threatening Daniel vs. a professional boxer throwing typical boxing insults to an adult boxer that's heard it all before and takes it as normal. Apollo is not threatening to bully Rocky and kill him outside the ring if he loses or whatnot. Rocky has nothing to fear outside the ring, Daniel does.

Rocky only has one opponent, Daniel has to prove himself in front of the whole group of bullies, any of which could easily kill him, and all of which hate him.

Rocky would suffer no consequences if he didn't go through with it, Daniel would be killed by a big gang of trained bullies. Rocky has it easy!