Headscratchers / The Karate Kid Part III

• In Karate Kid Part II, Daniel was at his peak in terms of both character development and his karate skills. In Part II, he was a lot more calm, balanced and self-confident. He also was able to chop six blocks of ice easily, something that men who were twice his size couldn't even break through two. By the end, he was able to overcome a fight to the death with Chozen: A karate expert, Sato's best student, someone who was far stronger and experienced in Miyagi-Do karate , and whose kicks were strong enough to break statues of stone, yet it couldn't keep Daniel down (a testament of how strong Daniel was in the film). Daniel was faced with death other times as well.He bravely went into a Tsunami to save a girl, he didn't back down when Chozen held a spear to his face, all culminating in the death match.
  A sharp contrast is depicted in Part III when he became very weak. He couldn't even put up a fight against Mike Barnes, a champion ringer who only attacks in a straightforward manner, and did not display the skill that Chozen displayed in Part II. Then, he was shown struggling to break single boards of wood in Part III, obtaining bleeding knuckles and all, compared to his strength feats in Part II. He did not see through any obvious attempts at the manipulation tactics. Daniel was literally almost crying on the mat in the middle of the match because he was 'afraid'. It presented such a huge contrast with how he saw him in Part II.
  What happened to that development he should've gained after defeating Chozen into Part III?
  • Doylist answer: Since the film was a rehash of the first, Daniel had to be the underdog again, so much of his physical and mental development in the second was forgotten. Watsonian answer: Daniel's in a rather fragile state for this film. First he's coming back from Okinawa, where the trip seems to have lasted much longer than initially planned (the main plot of II starts six months after the events of the first film, and III starts nearly one year later, so Miyagi and Daniel were in Okinawa for six months). He and Kumiko have gone their separate ways, he has to readjust to life in America after being in Japan, he's expected to start college (and implies he has no idea what he wants to do with his life, either in or after college), he's lost his home and his beloved mentor has lost his job, and Daniel's gambled his future on Miyagi's dream business. The one thing Daniel knows he wants to do is defend his All-Valley Championship title, but Mr. Miyagi refuses to help him do so. Trying to get his mentor's approval and understand Miyagi's thinking on the matter, Daniel decides not to compete. . . then a bunch of thugs start trashing Miyagi's dream to force him to compete. Daniel wants to enter the tournament, but for himself, not because he's been bullied into it. With a rift growing between Miyagi and Daniel, Daniel getting training he thinks will help him only to learn he's been at the mercy of the bad guys pretty much since he stepped off the plane, and that he's still a teenager, it's easy to see how Daniel could be a complete emotional and psychological wreck by the time the final round of the tournament comes along. As for Chozen versus Barnes: yes, Daniel's fight with Chozen was to the death, but Chozen's style was familiar to Daniel. They were both in the same Master-Apprentice Chain, after all. Barnes practices a different style, and is focused on brutally breaking and terrorizing Daniel. Barnes is a kind of opponent Daniel hasn't faced: one utterly devoid of any sense of honor or respect for his opponent. The Cobra Kais in the first film wanted to beat Daniel, but fairly in the ring, had to be Ordered to Cheat, and felt terrible about it. Chozen may "not know what honor means," but still carried at least some level of respect for Daniel, or he wouldn't have wanted to fight him to the death in the first place. Barnes just wants to physically and psychologically destroy Daniel and get paid for it. Faced with someone so utterly devoid of any positive human traits could be a lot scarier than someone who just wants to kill you.
  • As of Cobra Kai, Season 5, we know that Daniel considers at least one of his encounters with Mike (I'd guess the one at the cliffs) an attempt on his life, so it's likely Daniel, perhaps subconsciously saw Mike as a mortal enemy just like Chozen, only stronger, in their final fight.

• Why is Daniel so scared when he was fighting Mike Barnes? He already fought Chozen before in Karate Kid 2, A BATTLE TO THE DEATH MIND YOU, and he was scared when some big mouthed idiot was scoring points and getting illegal blows on him that wouldn't kill him?
  • Terry Silver and his cronies spent a large part of the movie luring him to the dark side, then manipulated him into stepping over a line, hurting someone, such that at the time of the match, Daniel is a psychological wreck.
  • Daniel felt a lot of personal betrayal as well as confusion due to Terry's mind-games. He also felt like he'd betrayed Mister Miyagi, which he did, though his mentor forgave him.
  • Just because Barnes wasn't trying to kill him doesn't mean that Daniel is not afraid of someone who has been terrorising him for months, especially after learning that the guy he thought was helping him defeat Barnes was actually screwing with him mentally and physically the whole time. What Barnes, Kreese and Silver did to Daniel was far more insidious and machiavellian than anything Chozen even dreamed of. Plus, Barnes is a nasty enough guy that he might well have tried to kill him under different circumstances, and certainly put him in the hospital at least, so the fact that he's not trying to kill him right now is mitigated.
• What became of Kreese after the third movie?
  • In the series Cobra Kai, Cobra Kai was banned from the All Valley Tournament as a result of the events of the third film. With no other option, Kreese attempted to reenlist in the military, only to be turned down after failing a psychological evaluation. A war buddy of his (possibly Terry Silver) offered him a job, but Kreese turned it down as he felt it was a handout. At some point he began living in and out of homeless shelters.