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.
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.