Review of The Karate Kid Part III (1989) by Bloody W — 28 Jun 2015

Though The Karate Kid Part II was a step down for the series, with a third entry still teaming up the same two cast members with director John G. Avildsen it sounded like there were more stories to tell.

As well as having the same stars as the first two Karate Kid films, The Karate Kid Part III features the same writer. However, by the point of this film he clarifies that he is out of ideas. It is worth pointing out that he has since distanced himself from the film for his disgust with the manner in which the character Daniel LaRusso was supposedly altered from his original script. I don't blame him for doing that, but I can't find any sense that he had a sense of innovative originality at any point in the film.

The Karate Kid Part III is a massive betrayal to the first film. While one of the most important messages in The Karate Kid is that martial arts is to be performed calm and not aggressive as well as for defence rather than offense, The Karate Kid Part III sees the franchise protagonist sucked into being trained at the Cobra Kai Dojo when everybody knows that this is the last thing he would do. This is an insult to the characters and to the legacy originated by the first film in the series. For the first half of the film, the entire movie is about narrative building and none of the narrative has any actual karate in it. The martial arts do not enter the film until past the halfway mark, and by that point the level of creativity in the story has already been established as minimal as has the entertainment value. When the karate does come into the film it is an excess of repetitive fights depicting Daniel LaRusso being dominated by several characters. The choreography is impressive, but the fight scenes fail to compensate for the lack of them in the first half or the poor nature of the entire story. The relevance of the fight scenes are at their most minimal by the final fight scene in The Karate Kid Part III because even though the film is intended to be inspiring, Daniel LaRusso continues to be victimised by the violence of others. He shows no strength against others, and even though in the first film he beat everyone in the tournament and in the second he was able to defend himself in a street fight against Chozen Toguchi, this time around he lands a single successful hit the entire film which of course coincidentally proves to be the one required for tournament victory. After being nothing more than a victim the entire film who serves as everyone's punching bag, Daniel LaRusso suddenly turns it around with a single punch which is so deeply cliche that it is the actual humiliation at the heart of the film, and not what Daniel LaRusso experiences. Since the story has been written so that antagonist Terry Silver wants nothing more than humiliation from Daniel LaRusso, it is doe in the most ridiculous way possible. Frankly, the story in The Karate Kid Part III is all over the place because the use of actual fight scenes are crammed into the second half with minimal creativity while the story itself is consistently generic. At least there isn't a romantic subplot this time around, but the story still borders on it extremely strongly. The only reason that there isn't a romantic subplot is because actress Robyn Lively was 17 at the time of filming and so the legality of the situation did not match the intended vision of the original script. Either way, it fails to make the film any more compelling.

Even the dialogue is an overly familiar rehash. I really don't find much I would complain about with the dialogue, but it is mostly the same generic dialogue fed to audiences by the first two films with little in the way of cleverness or comic relief this time around. The characters in general are just poorly written. Even though the film still has its 80's charm and a decent musical score as well as some mild sense of visual appeal, everything is worn down by the poor writing in the film.

But I will admit that I didn't find fault with the cast in The Karate Kid Part III.

Ralph Maccchio once again steps back into the iconic role of Daniel LaRusso for a final time. He maintains the exact same charm that the character is iconic for. And though the direction taken for the character is poor, Ralph Macchio is able to accurately capture a sense of aggressive darkness within the character which serves as a legitimate driving force behind his actions. It may be limited by the narrative, but Ralph Macchio's efforts cannot be ignored and his determination for both the character and the fight scenes is fairly admirable. Ralph Macchio is the one person who does any justice to Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid Part III.

And of course, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita is in fine form again. After playing Keisuke Miyagi so many times the character loses his edge and there is no deep level of exploration into him this time since he remains a fractured-English speaking gimmick for the sake of the film. But still, even though the film tries to milk him for all he is worth the natural charm of the actor in his Academy Award nominated role still remains relevant as he still preaches messages of peace and wisdom against the backdrop of martial arts. His actual role in the story is reduced significantly which is a shame, but Noriyuki "Pat" Morita does his part.

Thomas Ian Griffith is a welcome newcomer to the cast in The Karate Kid Part III. Even though the character Terry Silver is a slightly more aggressive rehash of John Kreese, the manipulative demeanour that Thomas Ian Griffith puts into the part is able to transcend that. He puts on a facade really well and captures a fake charm for the character with a genuine sense of darkness within him, as well as being accomplished in the physical aspects of the part. Thomas Ian Griffith brings value to The Karate Kid Part III as both an actor and a martial artist, and that's more than you can say about any other cast member in the film.

Sean Kanan has little to boast about in terms of acting because he seems like a retread of what William Zabka brought to the first film as Johnny Lawrence, only with less genuine character. But his fighting technique is decent.

Robyn Lively is also ok.

So The Karate Kid Part III has a talented cast and some decent fight choreography, but the excess of repetition and lack of creativity in the insultingly pathetic excuse for a story is a sad end to the legacy of Daniel LaRusso.