Movie Plot – The Karate Kid part III: Exiled villain John Kreese seeks revenge on Daniel and Miyagi, with the help of a comrade from the Vietnam War, the wealthy owner of a company that disposes of toxic waste, named Terry Silver.

Director: John G. Avildsen
Writer: Robert Mark Kamen
Cast: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Robyn Lively, Thomas Ian Griffith, Martin Kove

Back from Okinawa

Daniel and his sensei, Mr. Miyagi, are back in L.A. and longing for a quiet life. However, the peace is quickly disrupted when Daniel is forced to fight the “bad boy” of Karate, Mike Barnes. They want Daniel to join the new tournament. However, Mr. Miyagi doesn’t stand in favor of Daniel participating.

At first, Daniel agrees with Mr. Miyagi as he doesn’t want to use Karate to win competitions and respect his Sensei way of thinking. After all, that’s how Daniel got taught Karate. However, the villains don’t accept this and are forcing him to join the competition by bullying him in everything he does.

In addition, while all this is happening, Daniel and Mr. Miyagi opened their first Bonzai Tree Store. A sweet gesture of Daniel, and it is actually fun to see them work together. However, it was a very impulsive action where I thought who in their right minds would agree with this? 

Muwahahahahaha

What is very striking in the third Karate Kid movie are the bad guys. They are so over the top with their evil laughter. Especially the new character of film, Terry Silver who often reminds me of the Joker when he starts laughing.

How messed up would it be that grown men are plotting to ridicule one teenager. When you really think about their plans, it’s really absurd, and it often feels like that too. As a matter of fact, John Kreese called Terry Silver to help him out on this. I mean, fine, it’s still a movie. However, at a particular moment, Terry Silver is willing to give tons of money to Mike Barnes, a young “evil” Karate contender, to defeat Daniel. And with tons of money, I mean an over-the-top payment kind of deals. Something you won’t believe that anyone would offer. All that to make fun of one teenager. That’s one expensive joke.

Uninteniatelly a comedy film

I must say when I watched Karate Kid III, I must laugh very, very often. The problem is… it’s not supposed to be a comedy! Somehow I didn’t mind that. It’s definitely a “so bad, it’s good” movie. The dialogues feel very unnatural and are so ridiculous at times. As mentioned earlier, the evil schemes are really incredibly funny, while it’s not meant to be that way.

What’s unfortunate is that I really liked the first Karate Kid movie. Its sequels are really quite disappointing. Although that the big golden thread for me is the friendship of Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. This one is enjoyable to watch every time, in any movie.

What I also loved were the moments how Daniel trained in the first movie. This time a different way of training was taught to him and actually I quite liked that part. Seeing someone strive to become better always gives me satisfaction. I hate it when there are some who are just special without any explanation and are better than people with years of experience. Yes, I’m looking at you, Rey from the Star Wars Saga!

Conclusion

The Karate Kid part III (1989) is easily the worst of the original trilogy is. However, it’s still worth seeing just for the two lead actors who still have excellent chemistry.

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