franchise has been rightfully remembered as one of the best martial arts series Hollywood has ever seen, but The Karate Kid III just never seems to get the respect it deserves. As the inspiring coming-of-age tale of Daniel LaRusso facing off against his bullies to become the Under-18 All-Valley Karate Champion, The Karate Kid was one of the most successful movies of 1984. With Daniel practicing under his wise mentor, Mr. Miyagi, The Karate Kid kickstarted a franchise that remains popular right up to this day, although some entries are more acclaimed than others.
As a franchise that includes several sequels, spin-offs, an animated series, and even the popular Netflix show Cobra Kai, it’s disappointing just how . Despite powerfully adding to the series lore, The Karate Kid Part III wasn’t appreciated in its own time. Now, with the power of hindsight and the impact of all that came after it, we can reappraise the third movie in the franchise and give it the respect it deserves as a good movie.
The first Karate Kid movie was a hit with audiences and critics alike, and Mr. Miyagi’s actor, Pat Morita, even earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. The Karate Kid Part II was also praised for shaking things up and shifting its location to Okinawa as it explored the tragic backstory of Mr. Miyagi. However, even though , California, critics slated it as simply rehashing aspects of the original.
The truth was that The Karate Kid Part III added depth to the series and helped lay the groundwork for a lot of storylines that would be explored decades later in Cobra Kai. With Daniel LaRusso not only forced to use his karate skills to protect the honor of those in his life but also reckoning with a personal struggle about the kind of man he wants to be moving forward, Part III brought his story arc full circle in a way that felt compelling.
, and this installment was not afraid to go darker and more violent than it had ever previously attempted. Through the introduction of a new all-time great villain with Terry Silver to the way it explored how trust can be exploited, The Karate Kid Part III was also far deeper than it's usually given credit for.
Even though the first Karate Kid was essentially a teenage Rocky story, it also felt very grounded in the real world. By the time the series got to The Karate Kid Part III, the franchise was starting to lean much more heavily into its more wacky side. With cartoonish villains and some truly wild montage sequences, . However, looking back on the film today, this wackiness was exactly what has allowed it to endure well to this day.
Ralph Macchio did not return as Daniel LaRusso for the fourth movie in the series, The Next Karate Kid, and instead, Mr. Miyagi took on a new female student played by Hilary Swank.
Although the original Karate Kid stands as a must-watch classic of the 1980s, Part III has a cult appeal that was informed by its more absurd moments. As the once believable aggression of the Cobra Kai dojo gave way to some truly off-the-wall moral standings, the caricatured evil of this entry's villains was a major part of its appeal. Although it may have seemed like Johnny Lawrence and John Kreese were about as bad as it could get, Terry Silver pushed things even further than audiences could have ever expected.
The Karate Kid franchise has had its fair share of compelling villains, although Terry Silver stands as one of the series' most memorable. With a fantastic performance from Thomas Ian Griffith, Silver was a fellow Vietnam veteran of the Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese and soon revealed himself to be even more manipulative and sociopathic than the dojo’s founder. While Silver initially lured Daniel to the dark side to train under the ways of Cobra Kai, before long, he was mentally torturing him and pushing him well outside his comfort zone.
Silver was one of the best parts of the Cobra Kai sequel series, and his characterization in Part III laid the groundwork for many storylines that would be central to the show.
As perhaps the most over-the-top villains in the entire franchise, Silver was one of the best parts of the Cobra Kai sequel series, and his characterization in Part III laid the groundwork for many storylines that would be central to the show. , and he helped elevate the movie from a standard sequel into one of the most thrilling entries in the franchise. The inclusion of Silver alone was enough to solidify The Karate Kid Part III’s status as a great movie that deserves more respect.
The most shocking and emotionally charged twist of The Karate Kid Part III was seeing Daniel LaRusso train at Cobra Kai and embrace a more aggressive style of martial arts. With Mr. Miyagi’s non-violent philosophy being so central to the first two movies, the fact that Daniel was able to be lured away from his sensei by Silver made for thrilling viewing that added real stakes to the narrative. While critics dismissed Part III as rehashing earlier movies, watching .
At its core, The Karate Kid franchise is about the mentor-mentee relationship between Daniel and Mr. Miyagi, and to see Daniel totally lose himself and be overtaken by his inner conflict was the ultimate test of Miyagi’s teachings. Part III made plenty of bold narrative choices and was not satisfied to simply bring back old characters; instead, it gave Daniel a story arc of real narrative depth and introduced a villain who would be so memorable that viewers would eagerly anticipate his return decades later in Cobra Kai. For these aspects alone, deserves more respect.
