It’s safe to say that The Karate Kid Part III wasn’t the high point of the franchise. The film found John Kreese attempting to take his revenge on Daniel and Miyagi with the help of Terry Silver, a wealthy businessman who served with Kreese during the Vietnam War. Over the course of the film, Daniel found himself dragged into the web of Terry Silver, who trained him using brutal methods. The Karate Kid 3 was largely trashed upon its release and star Ralph Macchio still isn’t a fan.
Ralph Macchio spoke with THR about The Karate Kid 3 and why he doesn’t like the film as much as the others.
I was not a fan of how the Karate Kid 3 came out. I felt the story was only repeating itself and was not character forwarding for the end of LaRusso. And production-wise, it was being written one way and then changed another way. It was not a smooth ride. In the end, there were parts of the character that I didn’t embrace as well as I did with the original and the first sequel. I don’t put it on the top of my resume.
That said, Ralph Macchio added that he’s grateful that The Karate Kid 3 provided such an inspiration to the most recent season of Cobra Kai. “It gives us so much story,” Macchio said. “And what is so wonderful about doing the Cobra Kai series, the creators find ways to take that story and let it evolve and find backstories for characters who might have been thinly written.” Macchio continued: “There is a larger-than-life element to Cobra Kai. When you break it down, it is kind of ridiculous — but that is why it is so much fun! So you take a character like Terry Silver for this show with those larger-than-life elements and his relationship with Daniel, then add those layers of complexity to his evilness. And now it becomes a refined performance. On top of that, from the perspective of Daniel as an adult, now we are adding other stakes and elements about his own kids and students. It is remarkable that what I would call the shortcomings of the original franchise are now bearing fruit 36 years later.” As we know, Terry Silver has a major part to play in Cobra Kai‘s fourth season and his return was part of the plan from the very beginning.
The fourth season of Cobra Kai is now streaming on Netflix and you can check out a review from our own Alex Maidy right here.