The Karate Kid, part III
PLOT:
The story picks up almost a year after the events ending the original film and opening the sequel. After it is established that Sensei John Kreese’s (Martin Kove) Cobra Kai dojo has lost all its business, Kreese visits his Vietnam War comrade Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), who is also a karate expert, fellow Cobra Kai (later indicated as the real owner of Cobra Kai dojo). Silver and Kreese scheme to take revenge on Daniel and on his teacher, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), and make Cobra Kai successful once again.
Daniel leases a shop, and he and Miyagi prepare to open their own bonsai tree store. Visiting a pottery store across the street, Daniel meets Jessica Andrews (Robyn Lively), and they instantly become friends.
Silver recruits “Karate’s Bad Boy” Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan), promising him 25% of potential Cobra Kai profits if he succeeds in claiming Daniel’s title at the upcoming All-Valley Karate Tournament, but Barnes demands 50% and Silver gives it to him. After breaking into Miyagi’s home, Silver overhears Daniel tell Miyagi that he will not be participating in the tournament, as Miyagi felt that defense of the title would merely be fighting for personal reward.
That evening at the bonsai store, Daniel and Jessica are confronted by Mike and Snake (Jonathan Avildsen), one of Silver’s goons. They threaten to harm Daniel if he does not join the tournament. Daniel declines, and Mike, while promising to return, departs in a heated rage. At the bonsai store, Daniel and Jessica are again confronted by Mike and Snake, who are now joined by Mike’s personal trainer Dennis (Christopher Paul Ford). Daniel once again refuses to enter the tournament. The three goons respond by destroying the shop. Miyagi shows up and fends off the three men. Miyagi and Daniel arrive home to find their stock of bonsai has been stolen, with a tournament application hanging in their place.
Having received no assistance from the local police, Daniel and Jessica decide to dig up a bonsai tree which Miyagi had planted halfway down the cliffs surrounding the Devil’s Cauldron. Daniel thinks they can use the tree, which is the one true bonsai Miyagi brought from Okinawa, as a new source of capital, although Jessica doubts Miyagi will condone this sale of a valuable family heirloom. When Daniel and Jessica become trapped at the bottom of the cauldron, Silver’s three goons pull up their ropes and force Daniel to finally sign up for the tournament before lowering the ropes again. Barnes then purposely breaks the valuable tree. Daniel returns to the shop with Miyagi’s damaged bonsai, which Miyagi immediately mends and restores. Miyagi, who has sold his truck in order to buy a new stock of trees, refuses to train Daniel for the tournament.
Silver, who has befriended Daniel numerous times under the fraudulent guise of a humble friend of Kreese sent to apologize on behalf of their Korean master for Kreese’s previous actions, offers to “train” Daniel at the Cobra Kai dojo. Daniel accepts, and during the training sessions, Silver schools Daniel in many cheap and corrupt ways of fighting, consistently discouraging Daniel from using his kata. Silver repeatedly invites Daniel to attack a wooden dummy, injuring Daniel in the process and instilling fear in him, all according to plan. Miyagi tends to Daniel’s wounds via a special balm, and when he asks Daniel why he is doing this to himself, Daniel reproaches Miyagi angrily, saying he is having major trouble and to back off if Miyagi can’t help him solve it.
After several sessions, Daniel eventually destroys the entire dummy, at which point Silver proclaims that he is now ready to win the tournament. That night, Silver bribes a man into tempting Daniel into assaulting him while at a club with Jessica. Daniel, displeased by his own aggressive behavior, apologizes for his recent actions to Miyagi and Jessica (who reveals plans to return to Columbus, Ohio).
Daniel visits Silver at the dojo to inform him that he no longer wishes to train with him, and that he also no longer intends to compete in the tournament. Silver reveals his real agenda to Daniel, and both Mike and Kreese enter the room. After Mike proceeds to chase Daniel, Miyagi arrives and quickly fends off all three opponents. Afterwards, Miyagi finally decides to train Daniel for the upcoming tournament. They train by Devil’s Cauldron, where they replant the now-healed bonsai.
At the tournament, Mike makes his way up to the final round to face Daniel. Silver orders Mike to alternately score points and then intentionally lose them by incurring penalties with illegal moves designed to hurt Daniel and break his spirit. Mike is to continue this for the duration of the three-minute regulation period, and then score a quick point in sudden death. Mike does exactly as instructed, and a fearful Daniel begs Miyagi to let him forfeit the match. Miyagi refuses, telling Daniel “It’s okay to lose to opponent – must not lose to fear!”. Miyagi reminds Daniel that he still has his best moves left. In the sudden death period, Daniel finds one last bit of resolve and begins the kata (Seiunchin) that Miyagi taught him. A hesitant and confused Mike finally comes in to attack, and Daniel quickly counters by throwing him to the ground and scoring a point with a punch to Mike’s ribs. A disgusted Silver and Kreese walk away as the crowd throws back the Cobra Kai shirts that were given to them. An excited Daniel decides to forego the tradition bow, and instead hugs Mr. Miyagi.
REVIEW:
The final film in The Karate Kid trilogy has often been called the weakest entry. You’ll get no argument from me on that point.
The Karate Kid, part III has a decent story, but it lack the one thing the previous two films had…heart. This film seems like it was rushed into production and many of the actors were just cashing a paycheck, especially Ralph Macchio.
I like that it picks up right where the last one left off and that we get a slight cameo from Daniel’s mother (all 10 seconds of her), because it seems like the world has more or less revolved around him and Miyagi.
The new villains seem to be in the same mold as those from the previous two films, hyped up karate jocks. Although, Silver is one of the bright spots of the film, what with his conniving ways. He almost had me convinced that he wasn’t the total slime ball he really is.
Another bright spot was Robyn Lively. Arguably the prettiest of Daniel’s girlfriends, she actually seem to be more than a pretty face, or maybe she just has more acting talent than her predecessors.
Macchio and Pat Morita are their usual characters. They don’t seem to have changed their approach one bit. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing ,but I would have liked to have seen something different from them, instead of the same ol’ same ol’. They have become a bit stale at this point.
Now, with karate in the title, one would expect more than a few scenes of martial arts, right? Well, if that’s what you’re looking for when viewing this film, you’ll be sadly mistaken. There are a few scenes, culminating in the tournament at the film’s end, but it seems like with each of the pictures, the karate has taken a backseat to some unnecessary drama. I guess you must have some of that to have a plot, but there could be more action here, in my opinion.
So, this wasn’t the best of the franchise, but I can all but guarantee it’ll be head and shoulders above the craptastic remake that is coming out in the next week or two. Having said that, though, if you must see one of these films, I would go with the first one if you want good old karate and the second if you want the best overall film. I can’t recommend this one for anything more than just to finish up the trilogy. It just isn’t worth it, unless you’re a glutton for punishment.
2 1/2 out of 5 stars
