Written by Christian Garcia
Today I am looking at the final chapter in the original Karate Kid trilogy with The Karate Kid Part III.
Most feedback I have heard about the third film tends to be negative, but I wanted to give it a fair shot going on and after watching season 4 of Cobra Kai, I wanted to see where Terry Silver got his start.
Is this movie as bad as everyone says? Let’s take a look at what was thought to be the final chapter of the Karate Kid story.
The Hero’s Journey:
Daniel’s journey in this film is about losing focus and letting fear consume him and learning that if he has a strong root, that is all he needs to grow.
Daniel and Miyagi’s relationship begins to rift because of Daniel’s desire to defend his title in the All-Valley tournament while Miyagi does not want him to. Daniel also spends his college fund and ice breaking winnings to help fulfill Miyagi’s dream of starting a Bonsai tree store. Miyagi makes Daniel his partner and things seem great at first. They then encounter Terry Silver who apologizes to them for John Kreese’s actions and informs them of Kreese’s death. Starting a new business and seemingly having made peace with the past, things are looking up for Daniel.
But then in comes Mike Barnes, who begins harassing Daniel into fighting him in the tournament. Daniel initially refuses but then Barnes and his crew up the ante by breaking into the Bonsai tree store and stealing their trees. A frustrated Daniel begins losing focus and blame himself for the trouble. He tries to make up for it by digging up a valuable bonsai tree that Miyagi had told him about and sell it to make the money back. While trying to retrieve the tree, he and Jessica are confronted again by Barnes and his crew and have their lives threatened unless he agrees to fight which he finally does. Barnes pushes further by breaking the tree. Daniel brings the tree to Miyagi to attempt to save and begins blaming himself again for their problems. He tells Miyagi about agreeing to fight in the tournament and Miyagi refuses to train him.
Daniel becomes frustrated with Miyagi’s passiveness and believes that if he had agreed to fight Barnes in the beginning it could have been avoided. This leads him to Terry Silver. After Silver saves him from another attack from Barnes, Daniel decides to train with him. During these sessions, Daniel learns a more aggressive style of karate and is slowly being manipulated by Silver. He becomes angrier and more aggressive. He snaps at Mr. Miyagi and his dissention culminates when he punches a guy in the face for hitting on Jessica. He has a moment with Miyagi where Miyagi shows him the bonsai tree that was previously broken by Barnes and sees that survived and is growing. Miyagi says it is because it has a strong root and as long as it has it, it will continue to grow. This makes Daniel see the error of his ways and goes to Silver to end their training. Silver reveals his allegiance with John Kreese and Mike Barnes and is ambushed. Miyagi arrives to make the save and take down all three of them.
When Daniel faces Barnes in the tournament, he is put through his most painful encounter yet. Barnes continues with the aggressive offense and forces Daniel to confront his ultimate enemy: fear. Daniel is ready to quit but then Miyagi gives him a pep talk and reminds him to focus and reminds him that his best karate is still inside of him and that “It's OK to lose to opponent! Must not lose to fear!” This gives Daniel the focus that he needs, and he defeats Barnes using kata.
In the end, Daniel regains his focus and maintains his moral core which helps him to be a better person and a better fighter. Even after learning the aggressive style of Cobra Kai, Daniel chooses to stick with what Miyagi taught him and overcomes temptation. Despite overcoming the fear instilled in him, his time with Terry Silver left a heavy scar on him. This scar would be reopened and cause Daniel to lose focus yet again when Silver would reappear in Cobra Kai a mere 32 years later.
The Villain:
Terry Silver
Terry Silver is the head of a toxic waste company known as Dynatox Industries. He is a wealthy and loyal friend to Cobra Kai sensei, John Kreese.
Kreese comes to Silver in the film’s opening and tells him of his intentions to shut down Cobra Kai after losing all his students because of his attack on Johnny Lawrence following his loss to Daniel in the first film. With no students and no money, Kreese is ready to call it quits. However, Silver vows to help him gain revenge on Daniel and Miyagi and sends Kreese to Tahiti to rest while Silver plots his scheme. Silver recruits Mike Barnes to fight Daniel in the next All-Valley Tournament, plants the seed to tear Daniel and Miyagi apart and at the request of Kreese, make Daniel’s knuckles bleed.
Silver is a master manipulator and exploits his enemy’s weakness to use against them. He breaks into Miyagi’s house to dig up dirt on him and Daniel and learns about Miyagi’s military service. The next day he introduces himself to Daniel and Miyagi and claims to have been sent to bring balance to John Kreese but then lies and says that Kreese has died. He apologizes to them for Kreese’s behavior and claims that Kreese’s time serving in Vietnam affected his behavior, playing on Miyagi’s military service and appealing to his sympathetic nature.
When he hears that Daniel will not fight in the tournament, he has Barnes and his crew harass Daniel until he signs the form. After he agrees to fight, Silver orchestrates an encounter where he saves Daniel from Barnes and earns his trust. When Miyagi refuses to train Daniel for the tournament, Daniel turns to Silver. Silver makes Daniel endure brutal training exercises that include beating a wooden dummy. Silver slowly manipulates Daniel into using more aggressive tactics and turns him into a more aggressive person. His manipulation pays off after he has Daniel destroy the dummy and proclaims he is ready for the tournament. While Daniel is at a night club with his friend, Jessica, Silver bribes a stranger to hit on Jessica and provoke Daniel, which results in Daniel punching the guy in the face to Jessica’s disgust.
Realizing that his new aggressive attitude and tactics are alienating him from Jessica and Miyagi, Daniel goes to Silver and refuses to fight in the tournament. Silver then reveals his true agenda and his alliance with Kreese and Barnes, and they attack Daniel until Miyagi arrives to save him.
At the tournament, Silver announces his intentions to open more Cobra Kai dojos across the valley. He instructs Barnes to inflict pain on Daniel. He and Kreese care more about inflicting pain on Daniel than winning the tournament and it is that obsession with revenge that ends up being their downfall. Daniel unleashes his kata, which Silver previously dismissed as useless, on Barnes and wins the match. With his plan a failure, Silver leaves in disgust as Daniel celebrates.
Mike Barnes
Mike Barnes is a professional karate fighter who is hired by Terry Silver to fight Daniel LaRusso in the All-Valley Tournament.
Barnes continues to bully and harass Daniel into fighting him in the tournament. He even threatens Daniel’s life to get him to accept his challenge. He proves to be Daniel’s greatest opponent both physically and mentally. In the lead up to their fight, Barnes instills fear in Daniel which causes Daniel to get into his own head which leads to his dissent nearly pulls him away from Mr. Miyagi. In their actual fight, Barnes is physically his biggest threat as he is instructed to inflict pain on Daniel even willing to nearly get himself disqualified to do it.
While Johnny Lawrence had a personal grudge against Daniel, Barnes is strictly business. Silver promises Barnes fifty percent ownership of their Cobra Kai locations and will do anything to get it. The amount of mental and physical anguish Barnes caused leaves a heavy mark on Daniel that follows him into the Cobra Kai series.
The Film’s Pros:
Terry Silver
The only saving grace of the film and the only element that would ever make me recommend this film is Terry Silver. Thomas Ian Griffith’s performance as Silver is entertaining to watch for over-the-top and how maniacal he is. He is reminiscent of Cesar Romero’s portrayal of the Joker in the 60s Batman series. He is very hokey and crazy. The opening scenes with him are very entertaining to watch just for how absurdly crazy he is. At one point in the film, he literally tells his assistant that “his business will be strictly revenge” for the next several weeks. Despite working with poor writing, Griffith’s performance is the most memorable and the only thing in this film that is worth seeing just for how insane it is.
Silver is a master manipulator and Griffith’s performance captures it very well as well as the moments where he is manipulating Daniel into thinking he is a nice guy. He is very convincing and if it had not been revealed in the beginning of the film that Silver was a villain, audiences would have fallen for his mind games the same way Daniel does. It is the moments where Silver is earning Daniel’s trust where Griffith’s performance truly shines. He comes across as likable and charming and reminds me of Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance as Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Had they not shown us Silver’s process of planning his revenge in the beginning of the film and instead just introduce him when he first arrives at Miyagi-Do, it would have made the reveal of his plan to Daniel much more impactful and more shocking.
Terry Silver is the most notable element of the film and the only one that really works although not without its flaws. While his over-the-top madness is fun to watch, he is the typical one-dimensional 80s villain who likes being bad just for the fun of it. Besides being both cunning and manipulative, there is not much more to him than that. Cobra Kai would do a much better job of adding dimensions to him when he appeared in season 4 and would solidify him as one of my favorite characters in the franchise.
The Film’s Cons:
Rehashing of the first film
In my previous review of Part II, I mentioned that a good sequel expands on what the first film did and does something different rather than be a rehash of the original. Sadly, Part III does the latter.
The setup is identical to the original film where Daniel must train to fight a bully in the All-Valley tournament. While the element of Daniel training with Cobra Kai is an interesting idea, it is never fully fleshed out to its full potential and leads to a climax that is identical to the first film yet feels less epic. It also lacks the feel-good emotional moments that made the first film a timeless classic and feels hollow and empty.
Daniel’s character development
While Part II felt like it was continuing the story and growing the characters, Part III feels like it is taking step backwards, especially in terms of character development.
Daniel LaRusso’s character growth was a big factor in the success of the first two films. He learned important lessons in karate that helped him grow as a young man and both films ended with him having learned and grown from the experiences. In Part III, it feels as though Daniel forgot the lessons, he learned in the first two films and has reverted to the hot-headed kid that he was in the beginning of the first film.
He makes choices in this film that make him come off impulsive, naïve, and sadly at times just dumb. His impulsive decision to invest his college money in the bonsai tree shop came off as more questionable than heartfelt. It felt more like a naïve kid making an impulsive decision rather than a mature young adult making a smart investment. When Mike Barnes and his crew steal the bonsai trees from their store, Daniel’s reaction feels like how he would have reacted in the first film. He gets angry and wishes he had struck first but having just watched Part II, it felt out of character for him.
But the worst of it is how he doesn’t see anything wrong with Terry Silver’s training regimen right away. The fact that Silver’s erratic behavior during their training sessions did not set off any red flags for Daniel really makes him look naïve. After dealing with the likes of Johnny Lawrence, John Kreese, and Chozen, you would think that Daniel would be able to notice those familiar behaviors in someone like Silver who is as subtle as a heart attack.
You would think by the third entry in a franchise that the hero would be more mature and well-rounded. Sadly, in the case of Part III, Daniel comes off as less mature and more naïve. He feels more like he did in the beginning of the story rather than a further development young man who has endured so much in between.
Jessica Andrews
Jessica Andrews is one of the most forgettable characters in the Karate Kid franchise and seemingly only serves to be the token girl character of this film.
The first film had Ali and the second film had Kumiko who were two strong female characters that had great chemistry with Daniel and served the story. Ali served the story of the first film as she was the catalyst that caused the rivalry between Daniel and Johnny Lawrence. Kumiko in the second film served the story as her life was put in danger which caused Daniel to fight to the death for her.
While Ali and Kumiko were love interests, Jessica is just a friend. The choice to do that is a bold one given for the times and is a nice break from tradition. However, besides that Jessica’s friendship with Daniel is not very interesting to watch and has no impact on the story. There isn’t much about their friendship that seems to affect Daniel and we don’t see that many moments of them together that build their relationship. In the first film, he and Ali have nice date scene that let us see their chemistry. In the second film, Kumiko shows him a dance in a touching moment. With Jessica, we don’t get anything like that and while there is the scene where they go to retrieve the bonsai tree, it felt more like a situation made to have Mike Barnes catch Daniel in a vulnerable position rather than build Daniel and Jessica’s friendship.
Their attempt at making her feel important is when Silver bribes a guy to hit on her in front of Daniel which causes him to punch the guy and then Jessica leaves him in disgust. This was done to be a moment that makes Daniel see the dark path he is going on and cause him to see the error of his ways. But this easily could have been done with him striking someone in front of Mr. Miyagi and feeling great shame. Jessica is not even in the films climax as she and Daniel make their peace and then she leaves to go back home. Ali and Kumiko at least made it to the final acts of the film to support him.
Jessica could have not been in the film at all, and it would not have affected much. While not every female character needs to be a romantic interest, had Jessica been a romantic interest, she could have served more to the film’s story and as an important piece of Daniel’s growth. What if she had been a girlfriend that he had lost because he let anger and rage get the better of him? While Ali and Kumiko gave him support and love, Jessica doesn’t really add much support to him at all. She had potential to be a great platonic friend character, but she is given very little to do and seems rather pointless. If she had not been in the film at all, they could have spent more time focusing on the rift between Daniel and Miyagi rather than a pointless and uninteresting friendship.
Final Thoughts:
The Karate Kid Part III is easily the worst film of the original trilogy.
The plot recycles elements of the first film and feels like a rehash with the addition of another villain. The character development of Daniel takes more steps backwards than forwards and the climax feels more like an empty rehash of the first film’s climax with less stakes and no real payoff.
While there was potential in the plotline of Daniel turning to the dark side and learning the Cobra Kai ways of karate, it is never fully fleshed out. While Part II at least had some heartfelt moments between Daniel and Miyagi, Part III lacks the emotional moments and the heart that the previous films had. It feels more like a sequel made for the purpose of having another sequel rather than an important piece of the story that needed to be told. Cobra Kai would do a great job of incorporating elements from Part III into Daniel’s story to make it feel more significant.
The only thing in this film that is worth watching is Terry Silver. His performance shines above all the other elements of the film and the scenes were him were the only moments of the film that are enjoyable. But as enjoyable as he is, he is not enough to save the film. Although it is the weakest film in the original trilogy, I do think it is worthy of at least one viewing just to see the craziness that is Terry Silver. But besides that, one viewing, this is a film that can easily be skipped and for the Cobra Kai fans who are worried about missing anything important, they got you covered.
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