Tuesday, April 8, 2014

04/08: The Karate Kid Part III

Perhaps the most pointless of sequels, especially at that time, this is nothing compared to today. Sure, this one did get bad reviews for various reasons, but its nothing like any of the last 5 Resident Evil and Fast films. But it was a great update for any Karate Kid story for the franchise in 1989, during one of the greatest summers of movies. Of course, it was hard to compete with movies like Batman and Ghostbusters II.

The main plot of this movie is John Kreese (Martin Kove), whom we all remember as the leader of the Cobra Kai, plotting revenge for his loss that happened nearly a year ago from Daniel and Miyagi. We know how sick, unstable and bad-tempered Kreese is when he goes off on his student Johnny (William Zabka), which we see in the second movie, again shown in the third. Dwelling on it, he recruits his rich friend to help him get his man to beat Daniel in an upcoming match. Meanwhile, Daniel and his mentor move in together and open up a bonsai tree shop, while getting pricey ones.

I'll admit: it did lack a lot of edge. All we saw was a guy who held a grudge for Daniel and Miyagi, who he blamed for his business going down. Some say Daniel should have had another romantic situation but this near-romantic one was taken lightly in the story. It also didn't mention what Daniel would have wanted to do with his future, even if his college fund dough was used on the shop. I guess I would have to say it was a not-so-bad swan song to cap off the trilogy. (And no, I'm not counting The Next Karate Kid) Pat Morita passed away in 2005, ending all hopes for a reunion. Most of the cast reunited for a Youtube video: 'Sweep The Leg' by the band No More Kings. Despite of a few movies he was in (including My Cousin Vinny), it is safe to say Ralph Macchio is forever typecasted as The Karate Kid. I'm sure he don't mind, as explained a couple days ago, he's making the rounds now at Wizard World's Comic-Con.

My rating: 5 out of 10

In closing, here's a list I compiled years ago:

FIVE THINGS I LEARNED FROM WATCHING THE ORIGINAL KARATE KID TRILOGY:

1. No matter what, Miyagi is always right.
2. Sweep the leg.
3. No matter what, Daniel has no trouble with getting the girl.
4. Always help your enemy in the case of a bad situation.
5. Don't give in a fight unless necessary.

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