Fixing Karate Kid III

 As a film lover, a dear favorite of mine is the classic KARATE KID. A touching and endearing story between a boy without a father and a man without a son. The bond and friendship that develops between the two plays out in a masterpiece that can be watched and rewatched countless times.  Truth to be known, I thought that KARATE KID II while not near as good as the first, was still a passable film.  I cannot say the same for the third film.  

It's not that KARATE KID III didn't have potential. The characters and the ideas were there, they just weren't used right. It had potential to be a great film and if a few things had been tweaked, it may have been.  As a writer, I am constantly hounded by the importance of revision. Why it is so important to go back over material you've written and rewritten hundreds of times, in the event that there may be something about it you can make better. To visualize what that means by example, I find no better illustration than KARATE KID III. 

First off what one has to do is identify the problems.  Once the problems are identified, then you can analyze how to go about fixing them.   Let's list the problems in bold and answer them in normal text. 


MIKE BARNES IS A SEVERELY UNDERDEVELOPED CHARACTER 

In a recent interview with Sean Kanen who played Mike Barnes, the interviewer asked him if he felt that Mike Barnes was underdeveloped. He said he felt that he was, but it wasn't completely the fault of the writers and the directors.  Part of the problem was that Sean had severely injured himself in a stunt and ended up nearly being fired as he missed a lot of the production.  There were scenes that they never got to film as a result.  Would these scenes have sufficed? I don't know.  I can't help but think I still would have been left wanting more.  

Here's what I would have done.  A picture in a Magazine, labeled "Karate's Bad Boy" wasn't enough for me. I don't think it was enough for most viewers.  The old cliché "show don't tell" comes into play here.  We needed a montage of Mike Barnes winning some major tournaments. We needed to see him winning gold medals at junior Olympics and World Games. We needed to see listings of world rankings.  We needed to see ESPN and other sports analysts talking about how good he was.  We needed solid evidence of this kid's talent and why he would pose such a threat to Daniel Larusso. 

NO EXPLANATION OR REASONING BEHIND DANIEL'S LOSS OF CONFIDENCE AND FEAR 

Daniel Larusso had recently gotten back from Japan.  In a match that could have ended in his death, he defeated one of Okinawa's greatest fighters Chosen.  There's absolutely no reason why he should be scared to death of fighting Mike Barnes in a tournament with officials and rules.  It makes absolutely no sense.  That's where we play into fixing this problem with the next problem. 

NONE OF DANIEL LARUSSO'S OFFENSE WORKS AGAINST MIKE BARNES 

Now I could buy that Mike Barnes was a better fighter than Daniel Larusso, but the fact that when they fight Daniel can't get a single move on Mike other than occasionally catching him in a flip that isn't worth any points?  I'm sorry, I don't buy it.  If Daniel can defeat Chosen, he should be able to at least give Mike Barnes a decent fight.  How could I as a writer make it to where it makes sense that Mike Barnes is able to counter every move Larusso does? 

Here's how you fix it. 

Have Terry Silver teaching Larusso techniques and then he goes to Mike Barnes showing Mike the exact techniques that Daniel is going to try on him.  It then makes sense as to why Mike is able to always be two steps ahead of Daniel.  A scene could be shown where Daniel breaks down and is frustrated wondering why none of his offense will work against Mike.  


While there are a few other things I would change, those are more so for my own preference.  The issues stated above and the solutions I have provided to them, I think are what could have made Karate Kid III a cherished film, rather than the carbon copy of the original that most dismiss it as.