Ostracised villain John Kreese attempts to gain revenge on Daniel and Miyagi, with the help of a Vietnam War comrade, the wealthy owner of a toxic waste disposal business.Ostracised villain John Kreese attempts to gain revenge on Daniel and Miyagi, with the help of a Vietnam War comrade, the wealthy owner of a toxic waste disposal business.Ostracised villain John Kreese attempts to gain revenge on Daniel and Miyagi, with the help of a Vietnam War comrade, the wealthy owner of a toxic waste disposal business.
- Awards
- 5 nominations
- Mr. Miyagi
- (as Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita)
- Dennis
- (as Christopher Paul Ford)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe house where Terry lives is actually the Ennis House, a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1924. The house has been used in multiple films, but most notably as the original "House on Haunted Hill (1959)," but also in Blade Runner (1982) and Grand Canyon (1991).
- GoofsWhen Terry Silver and Daniel are in the Cobra Kai dojo for the first time together and Daniel is attempting to sweep the "knee" of the wooden dummy, the wood is solid and he cannot break it. As Terry Silver prepares to demonstrate the move, a break in the wood of the first leg is plainly visible. Sure enough, that's where his foot makes contact and the wood falls apart. A break in the torso, where he hits it, is similarly visible.
- Quotes
Mr. Kesuke Miyagi: Inside you same place you karate come from.
Daniel Larusso: My karate comes from you.
Mr. Kesuke Miyagi: Ah. Only root karate come from Miyagi. Just like bonsai choose own way grow because root strong, you choose own way do karate same reason.
Daniel Larusso: I do it your way.
Mr. Kesuke Miyagi: Hai. One day, you do own way.
Kreese, the ex-marine and Karate teacher, who was humbled with a few punches and kicks, has never forgotten the bitter taste of defeat at the hands of Miyagi and Daniel. Bankrupt after the first tournament defeat, he's back with a particularly nasty friend and a new fighter. He is aching to lure Miyagi and Daniel into the fight of their lives. When Daniel decides not to compete in the challenge, he becomes the target of numerous attacks by the villainous fighter, who will stop at nothing to win Daniel's title back. But when the relentless abuse becomes blackmail, Daniel goes against the sound advice of Miyagi and enters the competition, alienating his mentor.
What I find most frustrating about KK3 is its story. In the first we learn about a loner kid, who has shifted to L.A, who meets a Japanese janitor, who knows the ancient practices of Karate. In that film we get the chance to feel for both Miyagi and Daniel. In the second, we learn more about the history of Miyagi, and the background as to why he came to America. Yet the third film has a story that I would say is boring. It is all about revenge, but to do it, they recreate what was done in the first film and bring it back into the third. All of the Karate Kid screenplays were written by Robert Mark Kamen, who I believe ran out of fresh ideas for this movies script, and tried to cash in on what made the first movie so popular.
The popular characters of this series, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), return from their most extraordinary trip to Miyagi's native land of Okinawa. Daniel's home and Miyagi's workshop are being demolished, with the pair told that is progress'. So with all this doom and gloom, Daniel has the bright idea of helping Mr. Miyagi start a bonsai store for his retirement. Through these actions, Daniel gets to meet a new girl named Jessica (Robyn Lively), who works in a pottery store across the street. This part of the story, while it was different, did not have the same affection, as say the relationships Daniel had with Ali or Kumiko.
Yet the other new characters in KK3 are not what I would call that great'. After being humiliated by Miyagi and Daniel, Kreese (Martin Kove), has given up his life as a Karate teacher. When he goes to return the keys to his Dojo, the owner is long-time army friend Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith). He has slicked back hair, a sneaky grin, and deals professionally in dumping toxic waste. Karate is just a hobby to this man, and is the perfect person to get revenge on the slope Miyagi and the punk kid' for Kreese. To get this revenge he asks for the services of Karate's bad boy', Mike Barnes, (Sean Kanan from The bold and the Beautiful), who is a mean, nasty and hateful character. He is out to make Daniel's life a misery, forcing him to sign up and fight in the next All valley karate tournament'.
When Miyagi does not agree to train Daniel in the tournament, he says his reason being if karate used to defend honour, defend life, karate means something. If karate used to defend plastic metal trophy, karate no mean nothing." So Daniel decides to get some training from Mr. Silver, who puts his revenge plan in action, making Daniel do things that he doesn't wanna do'. Through this we get to see one new part to the story, which is Daniel, the star student of Miyagi, being unfaithful to his friend and wise teacher, treating him without honour or respect.
Look there is plenty of rehashed elements in this film, with what I have discussed being just a few of them. The fighting scenes in this film are a little more violent than the previous films. Yet the highlight of the film has to be when Miyagi helps Daniel from being beaten up by the bad guys, in the process thrashing all of them one by one. After, he agrees to train Daniel, so he can be rid of this petty fighting once and for all.
I am sure that director, John G. Avildsen, had the right intensions when he went about making this movie. However, I am afraid that the story had run out of good ideas, and so they wanted to show Daniel getting picked on just that little bit more. Daniel sure has had an ordinary life. Thankfully he has had Miyagi as a father figure', saving his butt many times. What is good about all of these movies is Miyagi's view about karate that it is to be used for good, not evil, with the concluding scenes of this movie showing how true Miyagi's words really are. I want to leave you with one final thought. Ralph Macchio was 28 when he agreed to come back and be 19 year old Daniel LaRusso in KK3. My question to you is, was Ralph just a bit too old to look 19?' I believe he was.
CMRS gives Karate Kid III': 2.5 (Ok - Good film)
- Old Joe
- Feb 6, 2003
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Karate Kid III - Die letzte Entscheidung
- Filming locations
- Ennis House - 2607 Glendower Avenue, Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, USA(Terry Silver's house)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $38,956,288
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $10,364,544
- Jul 2, 1989
- Gross worldwide
- $38,956,288
- Runtime1 hour 52 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1