The Karate Kid, Part III Review

The Karate Kid, Part III takes the formula of the first two movies and rehashes the same ideas. What we have here is a movie far less creative and enjoyable than the original.

This time, John Kreese is out to get revenge on Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. With the help of his rich friend, Terry Silver, Kreese sets a plan in motion. Mike Barnes, the "bad boy of karate", is hired by Silver to challenge Daniel for his title. Meanwhile, Daniel, having returned from Okinawa, informs his mother that his girlfriend went to dancing school in Tokyo, thus conveniently writing her out of the plot. Hmm... where have we seen this before? Daniel decides to help Mr. Miyagi's dream of opening a bonsai shop come true, thus spending his savings on a shop.

At first, Silver appears before Daniel and apologizes for Kreese's actions, adding that Kreese is no longer with them. In the mean time, Mike Barnes harasses Daniel, to try to get him to sign up for the tournament. At first Daniel resists, but finds himself in a slippery situation and has to consent to the fight. Subsequently, Silver helps Daniel to train, but this derails Daniel's relationship with Mr. Miyagi. Silver's methods are violent in comparison to Miyagi's, and while Daniel feels that he is finally learning something useful, he soon discovers that it was not a path worth taking.

Daniel once again focuses on his karate training with Mr. Miyagi, and finds himself. Daniel goes to speak with Silver at the dojo, where he encounters a ghost from the past: John Kreese! It is revealed that Silver had been pulling the strings with Barnes and Kreese all along. Daniel is unable to battle all 3 of them, but Mr. Miyagi enters the picture and gives them all a beating. This isn't at all, familiar, is it?

You can probably predict the rest: Daniel enters the tournament, battles Barnes, and comes out on top.

Ralph Macchio (Daniel LaRusso) was quite good in the other two movies, but in this karate kid he is quite obnoxious. I'm not sure if it was in the script or not, but in practically every scene he rambles uncontrollably. It seems as though he was talking the entire time he was on screen. Bad.

Additionally, Terry Silver's (played by Thomas Ian Griffith) motives aren't entirely fleshed out. I understand that he is trying to help his friend John Kreese, and while he is sufficiently devious, he still comes across a little too nice to be evil. Lines like "revenge is my business" only make him more of a caricature than a believable villain. He's just not evil enough.

All in all, the movie isn't as bad as I remember it to be. Regardless, there's no way it could live up to the original. Fortunately, the music is really good and this is true of the whole series.