open/close all folders
Casey Davies
Played by: Jesse Eisenberg
A 35-year-old nobody who is mugged by a gang of bikers and seeks karate to help him protect himself and become what he fears.
- Accidental Murder: Casey very intentionally beats up an undercover cop after he shoots Anna. Upon learning the officer died, however, he's mortified.
- Color Motif: Yellow!
- Cop Killer: Casey brutally beats an undercover cop after said cop shoots Anna in self-defense. He smashes the man’s head against a fire hydrant and we later hear over Sensei’s police scanner that the officer died. Casey is understandably upset.
- Establishing Character Moment: The first we see of Casey, it's revealed he's sat at a coffee shop listening to a French couple insult him and said nothing about it. The following few scenes cement his non-confrontational personality.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Casey's dachshund is really his only friend at the start of the movie.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Casey seeks to feel more masculine, but in following Sensei's advice, he Takes a Level in Jerkass that doesn't really go away until he witnesses the dojo's toxic stranglehold on its students.
- Karma Houdini: Though he didn't mean for it to go that far, Casey does end up killing a cop and faces no repercussions for it.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The feminine boy to Anna's masculine girl.
- Sympathetic Murderer: Accidentally murders a police officer on his only motorcycle outing.
- Took a Level in Badass: It's nothing exemplary, but Casey can certainly hold his own in karate by the movie's end.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Done briefly in the middle of the movie. Casey starts listening to heavy metal, swears off coddling his dog, punches his Benevolent Boss in the throat, and infiltrates his coworkers' social circle through pure intimidation.
- White Collar Worker: Casey initially has a desk job as an accountant.
Sensei
Played by: Alessandro Nivola
The master of the dojo with a firm definition of what it takes to be a man.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After Casey reveals to him that he's discovered his criminal activities and his real name, Sensei tries to bribe him from spreading the truth by making him a black belt.
- Asshole Victim: After spending the film antagonizing Casey, his student puts a bullet in his brain.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Sensei's sense of right and wrong is highly skewed. In his own mind, his definition of masculine leadership essentially excuses him to prey on the weak via motorcycle muggings and order Casey's dog to be murdered to make room for a "more masculine" breed. Despite this, he's still shown to genuinely believe that these things will help Casey achieve what he wants.
- Boom, Headshot!: After agreeing to take Casey one-on-one in unarmed combat to the death, Casey pulls a gun on him as he bows to start the fight.
- The Comically Serious: The way Sensei takes his karate so seriously results in some of the film's funniest moments, including his introductory scene.
- Dark Is Evil: Sensei wears a black gi and belt. He also blackmails former students into paying membership fees long after they leave, leads a biker gang that terrorizes the city at night, and doesn't bat an eye at the thought of killing innocent people.
- Doesn't Like Guns: After Grandmaster was killed in a hunting accident by a gun, Sensei added an eleventh rule to the dojo: "Guns are for the weak."
- Embarrassing First Name: His first name is the feminine-sounding "Leslie."
- Establishing Character Moment: He's first seen instructing his students about using their karate to form words in the same way people use their vocal cords to talk. It's a ridiculous lesson, but he delivers it with an intensely serious expression from start to finish.
- Faux Affably Evil: Sensei maintains an attitude that seems like he genuinely wants to help Casey throughout the movie, even when his actions become increasingly antagonistic.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Oh boy, does he fit this trope.
- Hypocritical Humor: He tells Casey that his name sounds effeminate, even though his real name is Leslie.
- Perma-Stubble: Always has some shadow!
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He is brutally misogynistic, bringing up Anna's gender repeatedly as a negative quality.
- Testosterone Poisoning: A darkly comedic take on this trope. He is completely obsessed with the concept of manliness and repeatedly insults Casey's hobbies and lifestyle for not fitting his criteria. True to the "poisoning" aspect of this trope, this mindset is incredibly toxic and turns his students into glorified thugs.
Anna
Played by: Imogen Poots
The instructor of the dojo's children class and the most skilled fighter.
- Action Girl: She is by far the most skilled student at the dojo, dishing out a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Thomas after he's awarded his black belt before her.
- Groin Attack: Anna kicks Thomas twice in the groin during a sparring session.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The masculine girl to Casey's feminine boy.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Anna spars with Thomas and then kicks him twice in the groin and puts him in a headlock. While unconscious, she proceeds to smash his face in with her fists as retribution for him getting a black belt before her.
- Rape as Backstory: Well, attempted rape as backstory anyway. We are told that a previous black belt jumped her in the locker room, trying to take her from behind. She got the upper hand and strangled him to death with his own belt. She claims Sensei blames her for the event, claiming that she “tempted” the other student.
- Redeeming Replacement: She becomes the new sensei at the end of the film and immediately changes its philosophy to welcome compassion.
- The Smurfette Principle: She's the dojo's only female student.
- Sympathetic Murderer: She earned her red stripe defending herself from a student who attacked her off-guard in the changing room.
- Women Are Wiser: The film ends with her assuming charge of the dojo and informing its students that compassion will no longer be viewed as weakness.
