The Karate Kid Part III (1989) User Reviews (200)

Deeply flawed, but undeserving of 4 razzie nominations

[suadabeslagic1976 · 5/10 · 15 June 2015]

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.

So bad that it's good?

[write_the_wrong · 5/10 · 8 December 2008]

The third installment in the Karate Kid trilogy proves to be director John G. Avildsen's most lackluster attempt at the series of films. It's almost as if he has given up with the process of making these films, perhaps taking a whole "Let's just see how this goes and hope for the best" approach to it. While it is possible that he directed this film with the intention of making a film that was "so bad that it's good" - it is more likely, however, that that was not the intention.

From start to finish, the film tends to break down new and exciting barriers of outrageous and ridiculous plots and actions. For one, the film begins with an unnecessarily long montage reminding the viewer of what happened in the first two films - stretching to about 5 minutes long. There's nothing wrong with a quick recap, but Avildsen's choice was to include whole scenes from the other films. As a result, the movie started at an awkward pace, already upsetting the usual flow of the first two films. Ralph Macchio acts as though he was tricked into participating in this movie, and as a result has decided to act in a most over the top and comically awful fashion. Not that Ralph Macchio has ever done anything worthy of an Oscar in the past, but this seems like an almost premeditated sort of low for the actor. Martin Kove returns as John Kreese, back and more ridiculous than ever. Pat Morita tries his best to save the film and maybe an attempt to make it slightly serious, but there is far too much overpowering this attempt.

The movie crosses the line of "so bad it's good" countless times. It is still possible to enjoy watching this film for the sheer fact that the outrageous acting and the obnoxious story in general is in fact so ridiculous that it allows the film to be enjoyed by some as a comedy, regardless of how it was originally intended to be.

It's kinda like the first two movies, just without the heart and decent characters

[Mr-Fusion · 5/10 · 23 September 2014]

I've gotta say, I was surprised by the ending to THE KARATE KID PART III. Daniel was physically outmatched (yeah, I know, he always is), but it was just nice to see something good come out of all of this. And seeing him outsmart the other guy was kinda nice. But there's a dour tone to this entire movie, and it all seems a bit silly.

Alright, so Kreese has bottomed out, and he's looking to rise from the muck and destroy Daniel LaRusso. That's kinda by-the-numbers for a second sequel, but I can see how they'd go with this for the hook. But the plan is to put the kid through psychological torment and macho head games to finally break his spirit and put the hurt on him. And it's all at the behest of the always-leering Terry Silver. They're just such one-dimensional bad guys. Pitting Daniel against Miyagi didn't make much sense because it could've all been handled with some rational explaining (but Daniel this time around is more hotheaded than ever).

Pat Morita makes this all sorta worthwhile because he well wears the weariness of a character that loses so much in the story. But I was surprised at how unsympathetic LaRusso was in this movie, and it's not very well-written. I've gotta wonder how this movie is different from Kamen's original script because it all feels very off. It's not a bad movie, just . . . Silly.

5/10.

The Karate Man Part III

[Joel_S · 29 July 2004]

Spoiler Alert This film is about a 35 year old karate boy and his wise old martial arts instructor. Ralph Macchio plays the title role, and seems to have gained about 45 pounds since the second film. Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi come back from Okinawa (the story of Part II) and continue to dress and think like it's 1984, even though the rest of the world knows it's 1989. The brutal karate teacher from the earlier films, John Kreese, has been run out of business thanks to the bad PR that resulted in his defeat at the hands of Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. Kreese closes down his Cobra Kai dojo. This film is from 1989, and the 45 year old Kreese decides to call the karate deal quits, but his billionaire 25 year old Vietnam war buddy talks him out of it. Kreese's 25 year old war buddy from the 60s is named Terry Silver, and he has a pony tail just like Steven Segal. Terry Silver also knows karate, just like Steven Segal. Terry Silver is also a pompous, full of himself a-hole, just like Steven Segal. Terry Silver is also younger then The Karate Man, Daniel LaRusso. Terry Silver helps Kreese get revenge on Daniel and Mr. Miyagi, using some outdated racist lingo like "slope" in reference to Miyagi. Hmmm, maybe Terry Silver was around for the 60s?

Steven Segal, errr, I mean Terry Silver sets up a new Cobra Kai dojo and enlists the aid of a bad boy karate teenage punk named Mike Barnes. Mike Barnes is a teenager with a ruthless style of fighting, and he is determined to defeat the Karate Man. Terry Silver promises Mike Barnes a hefty sum of money if he is able to beat the Karate Man in the karate tournament. Terry Silver lures the Karate Man to the dark side of the force, against Miyagi's noble Jedi ways. The Karate Man trains under Silver and starts to become evil like Mike Barnes. In a subplot, Mr. Miyagi and Daniel open up a Bonsai tree store, and they are repeatedly attacked by Mike Barnes, who wants the Karate Man to defend his championship. Daniel briefly gets a high school aged girlfriend, but then she dumps him when she finds out he is 35 and she never shows up for the second half of the movie. But after the Karate Man beats up an 18 year old kid at a dance club, he runs home to Mr. Miyagi feeling bad for what he has done. Daniel repents and Miyagi forgives him, Daniel then goes back to the Cobra Kai dojo to tell Terry Silver that he can no longer train under him. Terry Silver says, "you owe me more then that Danny boy". Mike Barnes and John Kreese show up and start beating up on the Karate Man, the Karate Man makes a run for the door after a few beatings. Mike Barnes is hot in pursuit of him outside. But then out of nowhere, as usual, comes Mr. Miyagi to save the day. Miyagi throws Mike Barnes back into the Cobra Kai dojo and knocks out the teenager after another punch. Miyagi then takes on Terry Silver and John Kreese after they make a few more bigoted comments against Asians. Miyagi easily defeats the both of them, and finally agrees to retrain the Karate Man. Terry Silver tells Miyagi that Cobra Kai dojos will open up everywhere and he won't even be a memory. Daniel yells back, "Yes he will! You won't!"

Mr. Miyagi then tells Daniel "come, now we do kata!", and they do the kata on the beach, on the top of a mountain, and in Miyagi's backyard. After a few days of this kata training with Mr. Miyagi, the Karate Man enters the All-Valley Under 18 karate tournament for boys. The Karate Man does not have to fight the other young boys this time around, as their is a new rule saying he only needs to fight once, lucky for him. The punk teenager Mike Barnes makes it to the championship round and starts to once again beat up on the Karate Man. The Karate Man is out of his league with Mike Barnes, despite defeating Johnny Lawrence in the first film, and defeating Chosen in a fight to the death in the second movie. The Karate Man seems to have forgotten everything he learned. After getting severely beat up by the teenager Mike Barnes, the Karate Man tells Miyagi to throw in the towel. Mr. Miyagi comes to the Karate Man and tells him not to give up but to use the secret kata that he taught him. The man-boy gets up off the mat and proceeds to do the super secret Miyagi kata from Okinawa. Mike Barnes is stunned when he sees the kata, and actually waits for the Karate Man to finish his entire form before he attacks. When Mike Barnes finally lunges, the Karate Man in a single move flips him over and punches him to get the winning point. Mr. Miyagi and the 35 year old boy celebrate with a hug. THE END.

Too Silly.

[AaronCapenBanner · 3/10 · 1 September 2013]

After returning from Japan, Mr. Miyagi & Daniel(Pat Morita & Ralph Macchio again) try to settle in to their lives, only to have old foe John Creese(Martin Kove) return seeking revenge after losing his students, his school, and his money. He turns to grateful Vietnam veteran buddy Terry Silver(Thomas Ian Griffith) to help him regain what he lost, and punish Miyagi and Daniel.

A great pity this is such a comic book level script, with over-the-top villainy(at one point, both Creese and Silver laugh at Miyagi & Daniel like they're the Joker and Riddler!) and redundant character development(Did Daniel learn nothing from the first two films?) Only Pat Morita keeps this disappointment from complete ruin, with his fine performance(he looks appropriately weary of it all!) Ending is predictable, but too abrupt, leaving loose ends never tied up.

Not nearly as bad as it's reputation would suggest

[grahamyounie · 7/10 · 9 April 2010]

The Karate kid Part 3 is a film that if looked at again today reminds you of how great the 80's were. No CGI, no massive budget, no massive stars, just good old fashioned entertainment where Daniel LaRusso yet again succeeds against all the odds.

This film is not perfect by any means. It has a fairly weak story and some poor dialogue and character motivations are somewhat unbelievable. Don't the villains have anything better to do with their time than to harass our hero into entering the tournament. does it really mean that much to them to get Daniel to fight. come on, get a life guys.

As has been stated on countless other reviews, the love interest here is pointless because their relationship goes nowhere, they decide to be friends because she has an on off boyfriend. Her purpose here is to hang out with Daniel and eat macaroni cheese with him. not exactly Romeo and Juliet. heck its not even bert and ernie! However, in my opinion the positives just about outweigh the negatives. Mr Miyagi is yet again the strongest link, adding his usual mix of humour and wisdom in equal doses. As his friendship with Daniel slowly disintegrates, you really feel for him as the sadness washes over his face, that his surrogate son is for the first time against him and not with him.

Mike Barnes is a good foe for Daniel. you can really believe that he is Karates bad boy as his PR make him out to be. You believe that Mike could and does kick Daniels ass at almost every opportunity. He is much more threatening and abusive than previous opponents.

The music in this film is beautiful. Bill Conti in all 3 movies has done some of his best work. The music that plays over Daniels Kata training is tranquil and memorable. The music that plays over Daniels final bout leaves goosebumps all over your body.

And speaking of the final fight, yes it is a letdown that Daniel doesn't need to make his way to the final this time because of a new rule that allows the previous champion to automatically reach the final. Its almost as if they thought Macchio didn't have it in him to do another 6 round fight montage due to his obvious weight gain. whatever the reasons for this, it sucks. its like you wait 90 minutes for the inevitable fight and unlike the first movie where you watched Daniel make his way to the final, here he goes straight into the final. I mean doesn't he need those early fights to warm up. Obviously because he gets his arse whipped big time.

Daniel gets beaten up but Barnes keeps the score at 0-0 because he deliberately loses a point for kicking his balls and punching his face. he's basically trying to make him suffer until sudden death over time. and when sudden death over time arrives, your either gonna be split into two camps. you'll either laugh and call it ridiculous or you'll be swept up in the moment and think, wow, that was magic movie-making in 1 minute. i'm for the latter. i love the ending. the whole scene from Miyagi telling Daniel to shut the hell up and find his best karate inside and let it out to Daniel getting up with a new determination in his eyes to the music to his opponents confusion and to the final move, it all just gives me goosebumps and almost brings a tear to my eyes. silly and unbelievable it may be but you could say the same about the crane kick. i personally like this film quite a bit despite its flaws. rewatch it and maybe you'll agree.

The ending...ugh...the ending

[KHayes666 · 4/10 · 14 May 2008]

You know, the movie shouldn't have been made period seeing as Ralph Macchio (Daniel-San) was pushing 30. The sorry fact is it was still watchable...but for the wrong reasons.

The plot is Daniel and Mr. Miyagi come back from Okinawa (where the 2nd movie took place) and have to re-locate due to the dilapidated hotel being sold. Danny forgoes college and uses his tuition money to help Mr Miyagi open a store to sell Bonsai Trees.

Now think about that for a second, the kid (in name only) just gave away his future to help an old man with a store sell something maybe 10 people out of every 100 want.

Meanwhile evil dojo owner John Kreese (played by Martin Klove) is down on his luck, avoiding bill collectors after his students ditch him after his outburst in the second movie. He plans to retire but his old Vietnam War buddy Terry Silver talks him out of it. Terry convinces Kreese to go on vacation while he plans revenge against Danial and Miyagi. He enlists the help of renegade karate kid Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) to pester Daniel into defending his under-18 title.

The funniest thing is that the actor who played Silver, Thomas Ian Griffith, was 27 at the time making him a year YOUNGER than Ralph Macchio. Its just hilarious knowing this fact to see Thomas bully Ralph around like he's a little boy. Sean Kanan was supposed to be playing a 17 year old and he was 23 himself. In fact, only Robyn Lively who played Jessica Andrews was the age she was supposed to be, 17. John Kreese and Terry Silver were supposed to be Nam buddies, now with Martin Klove at 45, I could believe him but with T.I.G. only 27, I found it really hard to believe HE was in nam. Its unintentional comedy at its best, you got T.I.G. playing a character who he's too young to be and Ralph Macchio playing a character he's way too old for.

Now here's where the ingenious plan takes place. Silver's plan is to befriend Daniel into turning against Miyagi and being put into position to be swerved and humiliated by the Cobra-Kai. This is actually a very brilliant idea since Daniel is (in the storyline anyway) getting a little old to be hanging around Mr. Miyagi so in his mind its time for a change. I won't bore you with the rest of the plot because you've either seen it anyway or need to see it to appreciate, but I have one very large complaint....the ending.

The first 2 movies had rather unfufilling endings, but while Part 2 pretty much filled us in on the events after Part 1....part 2 was pretty much forgotten. This one however takes the cake. Daniel is able to defeat Barnes and win the tournament, which is all fine and dandy but the movie ends with him hugging Mr Miyagi. What happens with Cobra-Kai, what about Jessica, with Terry Silver? Ralph Macchio was pushing 30 so there was no way a 4th movie could be made (with him as the lead character) so why have an ending where NOTHING is settled? Imagine you're watching in a theater, Terry Silver does all these devious antics to humiliate Daniel and Miyagi and all that happens is Mike Barnes loses the fight.....so we are to assume Terry just goes back to his normal job and Kreese re-forms Cobra-Kai with Barnes? The ending left a bad taste in my mouth and if it wasn't for T.I.G. the movie would have been a washout.

The highlight of the movie is where Mr. Miyagi beats up Barnes, Kreese and Silver single-handedly and they still taunt him 25 seconds later as he walks away with Daniel.

I give it 4 out of 10 because Pat Morita and T.I.G. deliver the goods

better than it's rating

[jcrawley-00891 · 7/10 · 12 January 2021]

This movie is pretty much the same as the other two, quite predictable but still enjoyable. it's easy watching great to watch anytime

Lousy Movie

[BatStarIndyFreak · 3/10 · 14 July 2002]

SPOILER WARNING

You know when the formula is getting old when you see Daniel Larusso get the third girlfriend and bring her over to meet Mr. Miyagi saying how he's a great friend and always has an answer to a problem. What I'm starting to hear at this point is, "I have no life and this old guy from Okinowa is the only guy who be my friend!" Another dragging formula is Miyagi's discouragement to Daniel of fighting and he has to kick the crap out of all the bad guys beating on Daniel before he decides to train him for the tournament. Then I felt this whole movie crush under it's own weight when Daniel takes a beating over and over before finally winning with just a single punch. Am I supposed to be impressed with this? I guess by tournament terms he won, but by fighting terms he had his butt handed to him. There was just no feeling of victory here. Just plain LOUSY!

Now the real pain begins, Danny-Boy

[jaudon29 · 7/10 · 8 July 2016]

We all know the story, but what we finally learn is that our Mr. Larusso is a bit of an underachiever. It's obvious that Daniel Larusso doesn't want to go to college. I mean, he takes his winnings from the all valley championship and buys a very expensive plane ticket to Okinawa. Then he takes the rest of his savings that he won from breaking the ice and opens a nursery? He doesn't understand a thing about running a business, and not a f-ing thing about plants. No porters five forces? Didn't see if the market was saturated with other nurseries. Opening it in the San Fernando valley? They've been under a drought since the mid-80s. How these plants getting watered? Nah nah... There's way too many red flags.

The real problem I had with the story is that Cobra Kai would have succeeded regardless. They didn't need mike "bad boy" Barnes and his best bud Snake to vandalize the shop. Kicking a girl in the stomach while she's having a delicious Mac 'n Cheese dinner? That's just unAmerican. If Daniel doesn't fight, Mike wins the tournament and Mr. Silver throws out his mustard colored cobra Kai shirts, drawing kids into his dojos.

Mr. Myagi refuses to train Daniel for the tournament, leaving everyone scratching their heads, since he got Daniel into this mess in the first place. But could you really blame him? He recently lost his father, and is most likely looking forward to retirement, when Danny comes along with this wild idea to open a bonsai tree shop. Now he's forced to run this shop by himself, when all he really wants to do is add on to his house and watch Maury.

worst one of the 3 in my opinion - possible spoiler

[gfnoyes · 3/10 · 10 October 2008]

I loved Part 1, and I couldn't wait for Part 2, and when I heard there was a Part 3 coming out, I was actually counting down the days until the release of the movie but I will say I was very disappointed with this movie, out of the 3 of them, I think it was the worst one first of all, it seems a lot like the first 2, when Daniel comes across someone trying to hurt him and good old Mr. Myagi comes to the rescue, but he hardly does much in this movie - for instance, in the scene when Mike Barnes, Snake and Dennis come into the Bonsai Shop, all of a sudden, Mr. Myagi appears out of nowhere (how he got past the oncoming train is anyone's guess), and all he does is grab Mike's hands, forces them behind his neck and kicks him in his rear-end The only good fight that he did was in the Cobra Kai's dojo against Terry and John Kreese, and he didn't even do much in that fight. All he did was throw Terry into the mirror and then at the end, in the tournament scene, Mike Barnes is standing there in the ring shouting all kinds of offensive comments to Daniel, as if that would ever have been allowed, and then after totally pulverizing him, Daniel does some type of Kata and of course, he just grabs Mike's arm, throws him in a somersault and then chops him in the back, and then gets the point and wins, and Terry literally throws in the towel (or actually he throws up the shirt into the crowd) if this were a real tournament, even though Mike Barnes didn't win the tournament, he won second place, and people would have still been interested in learning karate at his school I think a better ending would have been if Daniel had lost the fight and then realized that winning is not everything and he went on with his life and continued with his karate, or maybe they could have had a part 4 where he would have come back for a rematch a year later after having more training

So ridiculous, so much fun, so underrated

[Hayden-86055 · 8/10 · 1 January 2021]

The Karate Kid part 3 is one of the most outlandish sequels ever, especially in comparison to the first two Karate Kid films. However, I've always highly enjoyed this film and the amount of disregard it gets is unjustified in my eyes.

Acting wise it's as good as ever Ralph Macchio is still spot on as Daniel, Pat Morita is better than ever as Mr Miyagi and Martin Kove is back as Kreese. You've also got newcomer Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver, the craziest and most stupendous villain in any Karate Kid film, Terry Silver is highly unpredictable and completely off his nut, a millionaire who's main goal in the film is to go after Daniel and bully him into entering the all valley tournament (again) so new "bad boy" Mike Barnes can humiliate him in front of his town. It's a bonkers plot, but it completely works! Similar to the original Daniel finds himself a girlfriend, Jessica played by Robyn Lively; although this time she's not interested in him romantically.

The plot's quite good and is most similar to the original with many new plot points such as Daniel and Mr Miyagi opening up a bonsai tree shop instead of Daniel going to college and, most intriguingly is when Daniel chooses the super violent and very handsome Terry Silver to be his teacher over Mr Miyagi putting strain on their relationship, and also his body as Terry seems obsessed with sadistically pushing Daniel to the limit training wise, Silver is really a psychopathic character. The music is also of very high quality and is just as good as the 1984 original, if not better with Bill Conti again taking the reigns as composer.

8/10: Extremely entertaining and no where near as bad as some reviewers make it out to be

Not that bad, but it is nothing brilliant either

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 13 July 2010]

Having enjoyed the first two films, I wanted to see this film too. While not particularly brilliant, I do think it is better than people make it out to be. The script is weak, the plot predictable and the villains unbelievable with somewhat unrealistic motives. However, it did move fairly briskly, had some neat direction, it looked good, the karate sequences were efficient and well choreographed, the ending was decent and there is some nice messaging. I have liked the character of Miyagi as well, he strikes me as wise and caring, the sort of character I like. The acting also was not too bad, Ralph Macchio once again is appealing while Pat Morita, who is always watchable, gives another solid performance. Overall, it was decent, while nothing exceptional. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Part III? What for?

[MaxBorg89 · 5/10 · 14 April 2008]

Rumor has it Tom Cruise was offered the chance to reprise his signature '80s role in two (!) Top Gun sequels, but refused because he didn't want to do the same thing over and over. He has a point: some films, like Star Wars or Indiana Jones (even Rocky or Rambo, to a reasonable extent), can and in fact deserve to have follow-ups, because the people who made them genuinely think there is more to tell about those characters (Rocky V is too much, though); others, like Top Gun or The Karate Kid, are crippled from the beginning by the fact that they are indelibly connected to the decade that spawned them, and also suffer from having fairly basic scripts and characters that wouldn't really benefit from any continuation of the story. Sadly, Ralph Macchio never realized this, and so here we are: The Karate Kid, Part III.

Whereas the first film dealt with a recycled subject (young boy gets revenge on those who humiliated him) from a new angle, Part III resurrects the revenge theme with all its clichés. The "driving force" (assuming there is one) of the screenplay (if you can call it that) is John Kreese (Martin Kove), the sadistic karate teacher whose students got their asses kicked by Daniel Larusso (Macchio). Broke and lonely, Kreese decides to ask an old army buddy, Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), to help carry out a diabolical plan that will make Daniel and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) suffer like never before. Getting them to fight back, however, will prove harder than usual, as Miyagi is more interested in opening a bonsai shop and Daniel refuses to act violently since he is - what a surprise, this - in love.

Love, vengeance, honor, blood and gratuitous butt-kicking are all thrown in the mix, though hardly any of them work to full effect. As a matter of fact, the more explicit violence suffocates the franchise's trademark comedy bits, leaving a few underwhelming Daniel/Miyagi moments with the duty of lightening the tone. Even worse, though, is the over-the-top behavior of the villains: Griffith does nothing but stare manically, shout and laugh, while Kove, who was funny in the first installment of the series, transforms Kreese into a grotesque parody of his earlier work. Only when the dead-certain final battle arrives, there is a sense of the trilogy regaining whatever it lost from Part II onwards. But the question remains: how many people will still be paying attention at that point?

Unintentionally hilarious – does it deserve a 1, or a 10?

[bayou_hannibal · 27 July 2012]

I don't know how many stars to give this movie, because a 1 tells you not to see it, and a 10 tells you that it is an excellent movie. Truth be told, this is one of the worst movies ever made, and that is why you absolutely must see it. It is more unintentionally funny than most actual comedies, and it provides as much entertainment value by accident as lots of movies do on purpose. It is like a train wreck, but with this wreck, the passengers are all slipping on banana peels as they exit the train.

Here is what I think happened – the producers decided that they wanted to cash in on the franchise one more time, so they decided to bring back Mr. Miyagi and Daniel for one last hurrah. The script writers cooked up another story about Daniel fighting the Cobra Kais, getting beaten up, competing in the karate tournament once again, and then winning in the end. Then Ralph Macchio showed up for day 1 pudgy and out of shape, and panic erupted. Quickly, the script was rewritten with all of Daniel's fight scenes taken out, and the tournament rules changed so that all Daniel had to do to defend his title was show up for the last fight. I find it next to impossible that anyone associated with this movie honestly expected the audience to buy this, but they were far enough into the project that they had no choice but to finish it.

So what do we get? We get an hour and a half of poor Danny getting abused over and over again. He's chubby. He's pushing 30, but he is still 17 in the movie and he sounds like he is about 13. He gets punched. He gets taunted. He gets kicked in the balls. His, uh, "girlfriend" gets harassed and almost assaulted as some bullies trash Mr. Miyagi's shop, but Mr. Miyagi does absolutely nothing but push the bullies out the door. At no point, does it cross anyone's mind to call the cops. At some point, we start sympathizing more with the bullies than Daniel. He is such a wimp with no defensive instincts, and at this point, Mr. Miyagi seems like an insensitive dope because he makes Daniel get beaten to a pulp multiple times before he will finally agree to train him.

You can tell that just about everybody acting in this movie knows that it's a stinker, so why bother trying? Ralph Macchio totally phones in his performance, and so does Pat Morita (Miyagi). The minor actors in the movie, like Thomas Ian Griffith (the evil pony tail guy) and Martin Kove (the big evil trainer from the first movie) seem to get the joke here. They play over the top, exaggerated cartoon villains, whose only function is to be pointlessly mean. They are grown men, but their lives revolve around torturing a 17 year old boy as revenge for winning a karate tournament. At the end, Daniel finally faces down the big bully. Only this time, he doesn't try to throw any punches or block anything. He just stands there like a doughboy punching bag, yelping out in pain with his girly voice. I have always thought that the greatest achievement of the first two movies was that they made Daniel's triumphs believable and convincing. Since Mr. Miyagi focused on defense and maintaining a positive attitude, Daniel could survive a fight against a privileged bully and a brutal Okinawan street fighter who did not have this kind of positive influence. But in this one, it's just a massive beating. It is just so hard to take seriously that you get a sadistic pleasure out of it, kind of like watching somebody get hammered with a 2X4 in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Maybe the worst thing about this movie is that deep down, somewhere buried underneath the terrible acting and the awful script, there were some good ideas here. A Vietnam vet befriending Daniel and teaching him the darker side of martial arts – sounds like a story with a lot of potential. Maybe the world isn't inherently a good place. Maybe life has predators and prey, and maybe a Vietnam vet is an appropriate guy to teach that to Daniel, who up to this point is still pretty naïve. Maybe a movie that questioned the idealism of the first two and dug into some gray areas could have been really good. But, nope! We just got a tired rehash of the lessons from the first two movies, but they don't even seem to make sense here. Our Vietnam vet is actually just a villain – so cartoony that he even goes around a corner for a sneaky evil laugh while he listens to Daniel punch a piece of wood. Ouch! This one shows up on cable somewhere every once in a while, and if you can catch it, I highly recommend it. Invite some friends over, have a few beers, and have a few laughs at the expense of this tire fire.

A bit vacuous

[Agent10 · 5/10 · 8 August 2002]

While this film went back to the more casual appeal of the first film, it proved to be a bit of a rehashing of the first. The only difference, we see Daniel take on the `dark side' (a.k.a. not Mr. Myagi's way) of fighting. Sure, this had to be a little different, but Daniel trying to be a tough guy seemed a little off in a way. Sure, this film was entertaining, but it proved the series was running on empty. However, Mr. Myagi proved he could still kick plenty of butt, making the ending all worth it.

Good Movie, a little boring in the middle

[ant_zzy · 6/10 · 30 March 2007]

OK, this movie is good, however, there are few things that could have been changed to make it better. I believe there was way too much emphasis on the bonsai tree. All of the mountain climbing tree planting etc....was just plain boring to me. The fighting scenes on the other hand were excellent. As usual Mr. Miyagi did a wonderful job of acting. Ralph Macchio, however, was less than watchable, he is pudgy and whiny and seems a lot less skilled. He beat Johnny in part one, He beat the the oriental guy in part two, and he has all these wonderful skills that miyagi has taught him, yet he can't beat Barnes "Bad Boy"????? Come on!!!!! In both scenes where Miyagi fought Barnes, he easily defeated him....and I mean easily! Yet, Daniel can't even hold a leg to Barnes! I just don't get it! Miyagi wiped the floor with both John Krese and Terry Silver, he had absolutely no problem with either of them,(I never could understand why Miyagi didn't fight Sato in part II, that would have been excellent! but that is a whole other story) and he is the trainer of Daniel.....yet Daniel is still such a wimp! In my opinion, just because he beat Barnes in the tournament doesn't mean he will ever be able to beat him in a street fight, because with that kata move he did to Barnes in the tournament, Barnes could have gotten up and beaten him down in a street fight with no officiating. I would recommend seeing this movie if you are a Karate Kid fan, even though it isn't as good as the other ones, just for pure curiosity sake.

tired repeat and silly villains

[SnoopyStyle · 3/10 · 27 January 2016]

Disgraced karate teacher John Kreese loses his students and his dojo. He finds help from his Vetnam war buddy Terry Silver who is a wealthy toxic waste disposal businessman. Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) return from Okinawa to find their apartment being demolished. Daniel uses his college fund to buy Miyagi a bonsai tree workshop. Jessica Andrews (Robyn Lively) makes pottery across the street. Terry Silver buys properties for Kreese to restart his dojo. Miyagi won't let Daniel defend his title. Terry recruits thugs to force Daniel to enter the tournament. Miyagi won't train him and Terry tricks him into being his student. Terry teaches him all the wrong techniques.

The major problem is that this repeats the original and even ends with the same tournament. There are also a few minor annoyances. I doubt the cops would ignore the vandalism and the beatings. There has to be a more devious way to force Daniel into the tournament. Those young thugs are cheesy villains but Thomas Ian Griffith is infinitely worst. I love Martin Kove but his character mostly gets sidelined. The most disappointing is Daniel himself. After all these years, he has not grown much. The third film should have Daniel be a big brother to someone else. It's an obvious way for the franchise to continue but they decide to do a repeat.

Why did they bring Daniel without a backbone?

[aimb · 7/10 · 17 August 2006]

In this movie they really failed to give us the same message that martial artists always give when they perform in public: self-confidence.

In this part, Daniel comes back from Okinawa, after he had to fight to the death Sato's nephew, Chosen, a true Japanese black belt. Daniel had to fight this guy who was really stronger and a much better fighter than Johnny (KK1) or Mike Barnes (KK3). Anyone could think that after such an episode in his life, Daniel would gain tons of self confidence and backbone made of steel. It did not happen that way.

Mike Barnes was just an average fighter, perhaps a bit better than Johnny but as I said, perhaps. Mike is violent, a total bully, but even so he doesn't pose a threat like Johnny did in KK1. If you've seen the first part, you'll remember that Johnny was about to crush Daniel's skull when Miyagi stopped him. Johnny was more menacing that Mike.

In this part, Daniel has to fight Mike, and Daniel is so nervous and fearful you just stare at him and wonder: Is this the same Daniel that defeated and could have killed Chozen back in Okinawa?. Just to make a rough comparison, it's like you were able to fight and defeat Hulk and then you were afraid to fight Mike Tyson or any other ordinary human boxer.

When humans face and defeat big difficult obstacles, they grow stronger and more self-confident. This is not Daniel's case. In KK3 we're presented a weak and unsure Daniel, who fights Mike like he had no combat experience at all.

I think they did not sit down and see this in their minds before they went ahead with the movie. This is the part that does not make sense.

Anyways, the movie in general is fine, just the part that completes the trilogy with Daniel-san. Pleasant to watch, specially because it's a movie from the '80s and it can bring so many nice memories back to you, when we all were almost two decades younger.

Horrible, terrible conclusion to the trilogy.

[Laner · 4/10 · 30 August 2000]

Ya just gotta ask, "What were they thinking?" The first movie was a classic - a genuine piece of pop culture, and a great "underdog" movie. While the second wasn't as good, it was still a decent movie which expanded on the story of Daniel & Mr. Miyagi. But this one stunk up the joint... first off the new bad guy Terry Silver (the millionaire mogul/karate expert) is laughable as a villain - his performance is *so* over the top it's ridiculous. It's obvious they got someone who knew his karate, but didn't know jack about acting. It's also ironic that he's actually younger than Ralph Macchio

Robyn Lively - she's attractive enough, but belongs in sitcoms. Also, what's with Daniel *never* getting the girl in the long term???

As for Macchio - I don't know... he seemed to be *way* too enthusiastic. Was he this much of a motormouth in the first two movies? It's almost as if he was trying too hard to compensate for the fact that he is five years older, trying to portray a character that is only one year older.

The pacing of this movie is all wrong. They spend way too much time on trivialities such as the Macchio/Lively relationship. What was the point of that anyway? There was hardly any time spent on the training and actual fight (and as any fan of the Rocky movies could tell you, that's the most important part!)

As for the karate itself, it's L A M E. The Karate Kid series has always been more about the philosophy behind martial arts rather than the physical aspect. All of Mr. Miyagi's wise platitudes are dead-on, but the "crane technique" would be easily countered by any half-competent black belt. Even so, it worked in the first two flicks. But in this one, it's just ridiculous. The final fight, the "bad boy of karate" is whipping Daniel like a government mule, then in sudden death Daniel decides to break into his "Secret Miyagi family kata", which causes both his opponent and his partners to suddenly back away in fear! This is so absolutely ridiculous it's pathetic. Once again, any competent karate student would simply look at Daniel with a bit of confusion, then continue on with the business of kicking his butt. It just seemed all too anti-climactic.

I'm really surprised they made a fourth movie after this stinker, but at least it gave us our first look at Hillary Swank. Yum :)

Cobra Kai 4

[LuckyFour-LeafClover · 6/10 · 9 January 2022]

I'm guessing like a lot of Cobra Kai fans, I re-watched this movie for the first time in years recently. In Cobra Kai 4 Terry Silver returned and talked about how over the top the them of this movie was. Ralph Macchio has pretty much said the same in real life.

Daniel goes from a confident fighter to an insecure and winy one. The plot is ridiculous as well: a billionaire who puts his life on hold to terrorize a teenager.

Nontheless Thomas Griffith was very good as Terry Silver the evil villain. It does still have some touching moments with Mr. Miyagi and Daniel. It's the last time the two are on screen together.

Ultimately its a ridiculous movie but not without its charms. Cobra Kai 4 did well to incorporate it unto today.

So bad its good

[sleazydinosaur · 1/10 · 27 December 2003]

Minor spoilers

This is the definition of a guilty pleasure, it's so incredibly awful, but also fun to watch. Filled with unintentional comedy, I actually went to see this twice at the movies, I had to show a friend of mine how terrible it was. First of all, it takes place exactly a year after the first one, even though it's really been over 5 years, and Ralph Macchio is pushing 30, but playing a 17 year old. The evil karate instructor from the first movie wants to get revenge on Daniel for beating his star pupil, and enlists the aid of a pony tailed rich friend, and a teenage "bad boy" of karate. The pony tailed guy is really into this revenge plot, he goes over the plan sitting in a sauna, and just bursts out laughing, just like from a comic book. The ponytail guy pretends to befriend Daniel, and train him, because Miyagi wants nothing to do with Daniel fighting in this tournement because......well, because that's what it says in the script. Of course, eventually the terrible trio let Danny in on their little plan right before the big tournement, and miyagi shows up and says that he'll train Danny, and then proceeds to wipe the floor with all three of the karate experts, and as Danny and Miyagi walk away, the three are still laughing and taunting Danny, which seemed odd to me since he's being trained by the guy that just beat all their asses all at once....but the laughing and the taunting were in the script, so why not. Of course, Danny is losing badly up until the last moment, until Miyagi gives him a word of encourgement, and then Danny snaps out of his stupor and wins......because it was in the script. Yes, it's really as bad as it sounds, but you'll laugh yourself silly, I promise.

Dear God, Please Rid Us Of Daniel!!!

[Khaled Yafi-01 · 9/10 · 7 June 2000]

What is Daniel Larusso's problem? Why after three torturous films is he no more a man than when he first moved to L.A? I just don't get it!! In the first installment he had an excuse to be a sissy; he was being bullied by the bad boys of his new school and he didn't know how to defend himself. I accept that! In the second one, he was in a foreign land and was being bullied by some oriental bad-boy. He gets his butt kicked throughout until the last scene when in the face of near death, he looks into Miyagi's eyes and gets the inspiration to overcome fear and win the day and the girl. I don't buy it but I can bear it!! In the third installment, he projects so much obnoxiousness and pathetic emotion that you hope that his clearly, superior opponents will kick his ass once and for all. No such luck!!

In this film Daniel is forced to defend his title which requires him to fight only the final match.(Easy enough no?) His opponent is some blonde punk who is being trained by Kreese (the disgraced teacher in the first film whose nose Miyagi twists to render him unconscious)and backed by the finances of Terry Silver, a smooth Karate kicking business man. Silver, played with nice slick touches by Thomas Ian Griffith is watchable as he disrupts Daniel's level of discipline and successfully convinces Daniel that he wants to help him defend his title after Miyagi refuses. Daniel, idiot that he is, can't see the charade and accepts his help. Griffith projects some air of smoothness but doesn't quite convince he's really all that cool. Still some Karate student that I know, Amir Hashim-Zada seems to think he epitomizes 21st Century Maleness. To each his own, I guess! The three of them have a business deal going that requires Daniel to fight the final and get beaten in order for their new Dojo's to be opened. Miyagi refuses to train Daniel because he feels Daniel's reasons for defense are wrong. Please excuse Daniel for getting beaten up throughout the film and being forced to enter the tournament!!. Sorry Miyagi, how unreasonable Daniel has become!!! Anyway enough plot....

What I don't get is why Daniel complains and cries consistently about his circumstances and seems to have forgotten any skills that Miyagi has taught him over the past couple of films. That is until, in the heat of the moment, he looks into Miyagi's eyes and everything comes back!!(How realistic!!). I loved the first film, for although Daniel was predictably annoying, he was living out the zero to hero story we all love. And Miyagi became a household name that we couldn't not love. Incidentally, Miyagi remains good throughout the films. Without him the movie hasn't a leg to stand on. It's a real statement on the charisma of the leading man Macchio. He simply has none.

The trouble with Daniel is that he has the weakest personality that doesn't ever appear to develop, despite all Miyagi's wisdom, until the last 2 minutes of the film. I can accept that these films don't expect that much from the viewer, but come on!!, we should at least believe that Daniel is a worthy hero by the end. I find it really funny that Miyagi likens Daniel's spirit to that of a bonsai tree with a strong root. Daniel seems to make Miyagi's wisdom and teachings look meaningless. Daniel ought to be a man's man by this film, but he still walks like a girl, he talks like a girl, and BY GOD he still FIGHTS like a girl!!!Any sympathy you may have mustered for him from the past two films is quickly dispensed in this film because he whines and cries when things consistently don't go his way. For God's Sake Daniel, are you that dense, since when do things go your way??? By now you should be man enough to deal with the bad things in life!!!! Everyone else does and most haven't had the privilege of Miyagi's teachings!!

I must say the final scene is truly pathetic!!The bad boy is keen to win a point then lose a point thereby keeping the scores at 0-0. He wants Daniel to suffer (Don't we all?) so he claims a legitimate point then beats the life out of him to lose the point. The match makes it abundantly clear that Daniel is 5 belts worse than this guy. BUT the match tied at 0-0 thanks entirely to the bad-boy, goes into sudden death when Daniel searches deep inside of himself, giving the obligatory look to Miyagi, and pulls off one good move and wins the match. Then he has the arrogance to say "Yes We did It" as if he should have the audacity to think he deserved to win the fight. It could be poor writing or bad acting, or both, but it's a pity that even after 3 films, even my young girl cousin reckons she could beat up whimpy Daniel!!

The irony of all of this, is that this film is shamefully watchable. I like it because Daniel forces giggles from the audience and Miyagi is always watchable as he chants his pearls of wisdom and does his various spiritual mantra's that are meant to mean something!! Sorry Miyagi, I didn't quite catch their significance this time around, and as much as I like you, I fear Daniel has not learned a bleeding thing from you since you met him!!!

Enjyoable movie

[alkisphilon-12-257195 · 7/10 · 27 May 2019]

This definitely doesn't deserve such a low rating. Can it be compared to the first Karate Kid? No. But it has a good story, solid directing (of course...mr Avildsen) and nice characters. Surely it could go in a different direction, be more mature etc. But this movie is fun. Ralph and Pat are great as always.

I had forgotten just how bad it really was!

[TOMASBBloodhound · 4/10 · 21 January 2009]

And yes, I have seen much worse in terms of films. But considering what a classic the original was... to arrive at this point is pretty sobering for a kid who was truly inspired by a great film in 1984. And part 2 was pretty good also, but mostly for the exotic location and convincing villain. But this 1989 disaster is saddening for two basic reasons. First of all, it has a ridiculous plot. And worst of all, it was obviously made for $$$ purposes only. All the inspiration was gone by this point, and this is painfully obvious in nearly every lame scene.

First off, the film is oblivious to the concept of the passage of time. Five years had passed since the original film, yet the film would have us believe that it picks up the moment Daniel and Mr. Miyagi step off the plane from Okinawa. By 1989, Ralph Macchio was almost 30 years old, and he had gained significant weight since part 2 was released in 1986. And above all else, it just isn't natural that all of the things we've seen since the original could happen to one person in the span of only a year. The film doesn't even try to hide the changes in clothing and hairstyles. I was actually surprised I didn't see a bolo tie on any of the band members at that dance. Virtually every soft rock musician wore them back in the late 1980s. Anyway, the film is full of cheese, but there are some reminders of how good the series had been. And even some nice new things, too.

There are some good things in this film. Frankly, I think actor Thomas Ian Griffith walks away with this picture. He overplays his Terry Silver character to immense proportions, and he looks like he's having fun. The man never became the star he probably should have. Wouldn't he have made a better action star than the wooden Seagal? I think so. Anyway, it's fun to see him put Daniel through all the pain while training him for his title defense. Pat Morita is great as always with his humor and wisdom. He was the one constant in this series, and he was always on his game. The film also scores points for exploring a big rift that forms between Miyagi and Daniel. There are some scenes where the old man looks absolutely crushed that Daniel won't listen to him any more.

But there are more problems here, folks...... lots more. Simply put, the plot is so laughable that anyone over perhaps age 8 could have written the original treatment of the script. The thought of a millionaire toxic waste dumper tormenting a teenager to somehow win back the honor of the evil karate master from part one. Just laughable! How about the new tournament rule allowing the returning champ to only fight in the final match?? Huh?? That would be like allowing the Kansas Jayhawks to only play in the last game of March Madness this year while their opponent would have had to win 5 games in the tournament just to get to the game. Ludicrous! The dialog is so over-the-top, so amateurish that I cannot imagine how these actors got some of the words out of their mouths. Acting from many of the supporting characters is unconvincing to say the least. Robin Lively has no chemistry with Machio, but I guess they were just supposed to be friends. It wouldn't surprise me if they decided to just make them "friends" on the set when they realized how much older he is than her in real life. The actor playing Mike Barnes had some good moves, but no thespian talent to speak of. Oh well, the remake with Jackie Chan and Will Smith's kid is bound to be worse, though! 4 of 10 stars.

The Hound.