The Karate Kid Part III (1989)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I honestly don't get why this movie is so hated. Well, I kind of get it - at its core, it's a B movie with lots of implausibilities, but so was Part II and (to a lesser extent) the original. I think this one is perfectly on par with the first sequel, and it even has a more satisfying arc.There are lots of things to be enjoyed here, like for instance the bad guys - main villain Terry Silver is a fresh departure from the previous baddies, even if too archetypical (he's an evil businessman who dumps toxic wastes in places like Borneo, no less). His plan kind of makes sense and is fun to watch, though at the end it gets too silly and obvious. Kreese, on the other hand, is not so great - he turns too cartoony-evil and his hair is terrible, but he's a welcome return anyway. Mike Barnes, for his part, is the most vicious villain in the whole series - while Johnny, Sato and Chozen kinda had their motivations, Mike is all hate and greed - a good if cheesy antagonist, all in all.Points up also for Jessica, played by Robin Lively, who is way cuter than Elizabeth Shue. Her early departure from the movie leaves a feel of uncompleteness, though. It was also really nice to see Randee Heller back a Mrs. Larusso, even if it was for a single scene - It gives a nice sense of cohesion to the trilogy, and she looks better than in the first film five years back.The greatest thing about the movie is the evolution of Daniel and Miyagi's relationship. There's a really well stablished bond among them now, and we get to see them living together, as well as Miyagi doing some actual parenting, an aspect of the movie which seems to be totally overlooked. Daniel giving up college to fulfill his friend's dream is a nice touch, too (although it's a pity we never get to see the bonsai store completed). Macchio has complained that Daniel unlearns some of the lessons he learned on the previous movies, but adolescence is precisely about that. And besides, he's REALLY pushed into the fight (although he could easily have skipped the tournament, even after signing).Once again, Bill Conti's music really shines - even though by this point all is basically a rehash from the first two remarkable soundtracks, we get a really nice, classical-sounding theme for Terry Silver, and some of the rehashes are are really good, too.The weakest point of the movie is the large number of implausibilities - as in Part II, there is no police in sight, and the baddies can break, enter, break again and steal with no fear for the consequences, even with lots of witnesses and traces that unmistakably lead to them (leaving the tournament form in the scene of the robbery? Really?). Daniel is right in that Miyagi is way too passive about all of this, and it's really no such wonder that he looks for another instructor. Pity he didn't look for a diestist, too - Macchio is chubby in this one, and the movie really suffers from it. If he was a not-so-believable romantic lead in the first two movies, he definitely doesn't look the part in this one.The karate scenes are kinda poor, too - specially Miyagi's - If you're gonna pit him single-handedly against three mean, bigger and younger karate experts, at least use a stuntman, as in the first movie. His fights are poorly shot, trying to fool the viewer with abundant cuts, and not convincing at all. I liked the tournament, though - It has a positively nightmarish quality, with no girlfriend and no mom - only Miyagi and Daniel getting the sh*** beaten out of him. Unfortunately, the climax is simply laughable - after the great crane kick and the lame drum technique, writer Robert Kamen clearly couldn't come up with another gimmick, and gave us a contrived ending - a seasoned fighter like Barnes would never have been scared of something as routine and harmless as kata; he'd rather have laughed it off hysterically and gotten the victory point with a vicious blow. Nevertheless, it's good to see Daniel Beat evil, and the final hug, dissing the formal martial arts salute, is a nice touch, too.So yeah, all in all a nice, watchable conclussion to the series. Even if the people involved in the movie seem not to have it in high regards, I'm positive they'd been damn sorry not to have made it. I'm also sure that with a better-looking Macchio and a better-resolved final fight, this would be just as loved as Part II. I'd rather watch this one any day.

Yes, yes, yes, I agree, the story is weak and Larusso is even weaker in this third installment of the Karate Kid where, after winning in a UFC-style match in Karate Kid 2, he somehow becomes afraid like a little kid in the finals against Mike Barnes. As a friend noted, it's like as if Larusso didn't learn anything from Mr Miyagi. However, what I loved about Karate Kid 3 is the Terry Silver character who, despite being twisted and devious, nevertheless shows that karate training could help a person succeed financially in life. In contrast, note how Mr Miyagi, John Kreese and Johnny Lawrence, in the new Youtube series Cobra Kai, were all struggling financially. What good is martial arts if the self-discipline and self-mastery learned do not transfer to real life??? Since Silver was the teacher of Mike Barnes and we know that Barnes is set to return in Season 2 of Cobra Kai, it will be interesting to see if Barnes has indeed become successful in life.

The Karate Kid, Part III、as the title suggests, is the third film in the Karate Kid film series, released in 1989, directed by John Avlidsen, and starring Ralph Macchio as Daniel and Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi. The Karate Kid film series is a rather typical example of other 1980s film series (such as Robocop) which just run out of steam as time goes on to the extent that they began with a bang and ended with a whimper. Despite its flaws however, The Karate Kid, Part III isn't nearly as bad as some people make it out to be and is certainly no Robocop 3. This review will discuss the problems with the movie as well as what it gets right, with an overall assessment of the Karate Kid original film series as a whole.One of the biggest problems with this movie is the lack of continuity with the Karate Kid Part II, which for all its flaws did genuinely advance the story and develop Daniel and Miyagi's character. The film is fairly graceless in its dumping of Daniel's love interest Kumiko; it's explained that she just got a job in Japan that she couldn't turn down. This just didn't strike me as believable, perhaps because they had done it before in Part II. Daniel's relationships always happen to end between films? It's frankly insulting when sequels hit the reset button like this.But the real continuity problem is one that is never addressed at all, and that is the relationship between Yuki and Miyagi. This is not presented as a mere superficial teenage romance, but instead as true love. Miyagi even says that he would stay in Okinawa, if not for the people trying to kill him. So why doesn't Miyagi stay in Okinawa after the conclusion of Part II, or take Yuki to America? It's never explained. This film takes a dump on Miyagi and Daniel's development; the second film may as well have never happened.Moreover, all the balance and self-control that Daniel developed in the first two films is gone, indeed Daniel if anything seems even more neurotic and unbalanced than he was at the beginning of the original film. Daniel is whiny and angsty, going into long diatribes about his own inadequacy. This would be less irksome if it were a response to something far more drastic; but in Part II the villains were trying to kill him and his master; in Part III they are just trying to take away his title as champion by defeating him in a local karate tournament. So, Daniel is cool-headed when threatened with death in a foreign land, but the prospect of losing his title to a bunch of local punks turns him into a nervous wreck? The film also fails to find a coherent theme, besides poorly retreading the original.That said, the film does manage to get some things right. As whiny as Daniel is, he retains something of his likability, even if it is diminished. We also have the things that make the whole series fun; wonderfully over-the-top villains and pseudo-eastern wisdom. The emotional core of the film is tarnished but intact; that of the relationship between Daniel and Miyagi. These two characters, although somewhat botched, still work together well.None of the original Karate Kid films are by themselves incoherent, but taken as a whole the series is rather lopsided. They do get progressively worse as the series goes on, and by the end of Part III one is glad they never made a fourth film (unless you count the Next Karate Kid, and I don't). Still, while it's a shame that they never managed to quite recapture the magic of the first film, I'm glad I got to spend 3 films in the company of these terrific characters.

When you look at the acting in this movie, it makes you realize that the first two movies were probably much better acted. Everyone in this movie, including Pat Morita, just ham it up. The worst offender has to be Thomas Ian Griffith, who plays Terry Silver. It looks like he and the actors playing the bad guys took acting lessons from Eric Freeman's performance in SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART II. Eric won that role on account of his good looks, not his acting talent. I think it must have been the same situation regarding Ian Griffith.Next time you take karate lessons, use copies of the DVD to do your hand-breaking exercises.