Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita are back again as the young martial arts specialist and his Oriental teacher, and, for the third time around, John Avildsen (Rocky) directs them. Unfortunately, the pattern has so calcified that Gene Autry westerns seem like models of moral complexity by comparison. For the plot to work this time, Daniel (Macchio) has to be dumb enough to believe in an evil environment-polluting millionaire (Thomas Ian Griffith) who poses as a karate instructor. The villain mistrains the hero so that he’ll be hurt and humiliated in a match with nasty Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan). Robert Mark Kamen, as usual, is responsible for the script, with heaping spoonfuls of pseudoprofundity. (JR)