The Karate Kid Part III

Now we have come to “The Karate Kid, Part III,” released in 1989. The movie starts with John Kreese completely shattered after losing all of his students and his dojo running out of business. Seeking help, he goes to his old army friend and affluent businessman, Terry Silver, played by Thomas Ian Griffith, who tells John that he should go on vacation while Terry hashes out a plan to get revenge on Mr. Miyagi and Daniel.

Speaking of Mr. Miyagi and Daniel, they return home from Okinawa, only to find that the apartment complex has been sold and will be demolished so that the new owner can build a spa. Mr. Miyagi is out of a job and Daniel and his mother are now homeless, but Mr. Miyagi lets Daniel stay with him. Daniel’s mother calls him and says that she will be staying with his Uncle Louie, played by Joseph V. Perry, since he has emphysema. Daniel tells his mom that Kumiko was offered a good job at a Tokyo dance company and didn’t come with them back home. She is thrilled since Daniel is starting college, but Daniel instead uses the money set aside for his college registration to pay a lease for Mr. Miyagi to open a bonsai store. Daniel insists to Mr. Miyagi that he needs a break from school since he was going nonstop and with the money that both of them will make from the bonsai store, he will go to college once he feels he is ready. That sounds understandable, since there are high school students who don’t go to college right away. Although most of them do, there are some that either go into work or the army before going back to college.

Terry finds in the magazine a number to call “karate bad boy” Mike Barnes, played by Sean Kanan. While Terry is taking a bath, he gives Mike instructions on what he needs to do in order to make Daniel enroll in the Karate Tournament. Even though Daniel and Mr. Miyagi talked about the tournament, Daniel telling Mr. Miyagi that he only needs to fight in the championship round, Miyagi saying that his Karate will be meaningless if he is just defending a trophy, and Daniel says he won’t compete, Mike and his two cohorts, Snake (Jonathan Avildsen) and Dennis (William Christopher Ford) go to such extreme ends to finally make Daniel enroll. Now, Mr. Miyagi says that he won’t train Daniel, so Terry stages different ways to make Daniel trust Terry and have him be Daniel’s new trainer. Mr. Miyagi did teach Daniel the kata technique, which according to Terry, "It's great for working off the sweat."

I do feel sorry for Daniel when he meets a pottery girl named Jessica Andrews, played by Robyn Lively, who he does get a crush on, until she says that she has a boyfriend back home in Columbus, Ohio and will be returning home after sometime. What is it with Daniel and his bad luck with girls?

I do admit that it is sad to see Daniel and Mr. Miyagi having some differences, since we love seeing both of them together. This is all part of Terry’s plan to break Daniel down and have him feel fear. All of it is coming together, which is actually something that you feel scared for Daniel. However, Mr. Miyagi takes on John, Terry and Mike at the Cobra Kai Dojo single-handedly, which is the best part of the movie.

You probably wouldn’t be surprised if I told you that the last fight at the Karate Tournament against Mike and Daniel is just a rehash of the first movie. In fact, many people complained that this movie was a repeat of the first movie, which I can see why they say that. It wasn’t the next story. Instead, it repeats the same formula that the first movie did so well. James Rolfe and Nostalgia Critic said the only difference between the first one and this was that there were two villains instead of one, since they both said Terry Silver was the only reason to watch it.

My personal opinion is that I don’t think this is a good movie, but I find it ok. I do agree that John Kreese and Terry Silver are just a joy to watch, especially when they are both together just to see the two of them make a plan and enjoy when it’s all coming together. When you see Terry Silver bluffing to Daniel, you can easily see the two faces at work. One is really nice and is willing to help, but the other is laughing since he got Daniel right where he wants him. You could probably see that he is trying to not crack his smile, but it’s really hard for him to do that.

I won’t highly recommend this movie, but watch it if you like. To me, I wasn't as disappointed as everyone else was, but the perfect adjective is underwhelming. Overall, I thought it was an alright, fine flick. If you think that you won’t like this movie, especially since nothing new is developed in here, then I completely understand. However, I found that this movie was average, and I think it would not hurt to watch it, but the choice is yours.

Anyway, you would think that this movie would be the last one, especially since I don’t think anyone liked it, but they didn’t stop there. Wait until next week to find out how poorly they did the next movie in “The Karate Kid Month.”