Pluskylang Great Film overall

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Spoffdarko The title of my review aside, I adore this film.When American Ninja was released on VHS back in 1986 Ninja fever was rampant. Even in the sleepy little village where I lived in England, every single boy of my age dreamed of being a ninja. The school playground was rampant with us wannabe assassins in duffel coats!In the aforementioned little village we only had one video shop, I spent weeks and weeks in a state of despair on Saturday afternoons, as we would go there only to see the dreaded "Film on loan" tab attached to the box. Eventually we finally turned up one afternoon and it was there...With no "Film on loan" tab on it! my life was finally complete and we took it home. My parents were never really into the whole "film ratings exist for a reason" thing. Incidentally, neither were the parents of pretty much all my friends, ahhh...The 80's, these young un's today don't know what they missed. Saturday evening finally came and American Ninja was inserted into the top-loader...As I sat eating my Vesta curry, My life literally changed in the following 90 minutes, I learned more than any teacher could ever show me at school, Joe was literally a god! This guy could do anything...Beat anyone! Most of my friends had already seen it and we were all finally on the same Ninja wavelength! We practiced Joe's moves, disappeared in a "cloud of smoke" (England gets a lot of fog in Autumn/ Winter) behind the school canteen, jumped over the tyres in the playground as part of our "ninja training school".Watching it back a couple of weeks ago (now I am 38) It is total crap, but total crap of the highest order. I thought ninja's were actually, you know, supposed to be elite assassins. Here they seem to get away with being pretty mediocre to be fair, they miss the easiest targets, and are usually knocked out by a punch or kick that does not seem to really connect (or even come close in some cases). Joe comes across like he has something stuck up his backside most of the film (maybe constipation?)and the whole thing is just laughable.But laughable in the best possible way.Thank you Golan Globus and Cannon films, thank you Michael Dudikoff and Steve James, thank you the guy who did the music.I am indebted to you all for this slice of my childhood that I can also enjoy now I am a grown-up, albeit in a different but still entirely satisfying way!

Woodyanders Happily eschewing logic and pretense in favor of loads of exciting and well-choreographed fights, punch-ups, and explosions, this film comes across like a cheerfully ludicrous live action comic book in the most breezy and entertaining manner possible. The slight story centers on loner martial artist army soldier Joe Armstrong (a likable performance by Michael Dudikoff), who almost single-handedly thwarts a gang of nefarious bad guys and lethal ninjas who are involved in an illegal arms operation. Director Sam Firstenberg, working from a perfectly absurd script by Paul De Melche, relates the eventful narrative at a constant zippy pace, treats the silly material with admirable seriousness, and stages the plentiful rip-roaring action with abundant go-for-broke flair and skill. The enthusiastic acting by the pumped cast keeps this picture humming: The gorgeous Judie Aronson adds lots of sass and humor as the feisty Patricia Hickock, Steve James registers strongly as the rough'n'tumble Curtis Jackson, Don Stewart positively oozes as slimy head villain Victor Ortega, and Tadashi Yamashita cuts a menacing figure as the ruthless Black Star Ninja, who uses such things as smoke bombs, poison darts, and even a portable wrist laser gun (!) in his game, yet futile attempts to take out our hero. Hanania Baer's slick cinematography provides an impressive high-gloss look. Michael Linn's energetic score hits the stirring and spirited spot. Best of all, this flick gets right down to rousing brass tacks from the start and rarely lets up for 95 wildly kinetic minutes. A hugely enjoyable romp.

ebiros2 Golan-Globus and Canon films made few memorable movies in the '80s. This series is one of them.The story's formula holds true to Golan-Globus' action, martial arts formula. It's an interesting mix of ninja, US army, and action. I like this series more than Chuck Norris' Missing in Action series made around the same time by Golan-Globus. While the action is less realistic, the style, and location is more glamorous. Michael Dudikoff is a pretty good actor as far as action movies are concerned.The movie is pretty high quality considering its budget. As usual, Golan-Globus film has good cinematography, and the scenes are beautiful. But unfortunately, the movie is - boring. Somehow, the story doesn't flow very well, and gets trying as it gets further into the story.The series gets better as it progresses until American Ninja 3. Then American Ninja 4 is bit of disappointment, so this series is bit of hit and miss, but it's an original concept that's held up to the test of time.

Comeuppance Reviews Now this is what we're talking about! Much imitated but never duplicated. A true classic of the action genre.Pvt. Joe Armstrong (Dudikoff) is a troubled loner sent to an American army base in the Philippines. He doesn't say much, and he really doesn't want to play hackysack with his fellow officers. On a routine truck convoy, baddies kill some of Armstrong's fellow officers, and Armstrong escapes with Col. Hickock's spoiled daughter Patricia (Aronson). While Patricia falls for Joe, the remaining officers on the base blame him for the tragedy. At first, they disparagingly call him "karate boy", but he eventually wins their respect and the friendship of Cpl. Curtis Jackson (James) due to his excellent fighting skills. He has been training since he was a boy, but has amnesia and doesn't remember a lot of his past.As it turns out, an evil gun runner, Ortega (Don Stewart) is in cahoots with some of the army brass (including the Fred "time to make the donuts" guy lookalike John LaMotta as Sgt. Rinaldo), and there is only one obstacle to his newest million-dollar deal: Armstrong! Fortunately for Ortega, he has a large Ninja training camp on his vast estate. So he sends his army of Ninjas after Armstrong, Jackson and Patricia. When Patricia is kidnapped, Joe goes into full ninja mode and it becomes ninja vs. ninja in a fight to the finish. Will they be victorious over the nefarious ninja army? It's no wonder Cannon and director Firstenberg put Dudikoff and James back together shortly after this in Avenging Force. (1986) They work very well together, especially here, with the gregarious, charismatic Jackson and the mysterious, belligerent Joe. The climax puts the Rambo-like machine-gun shooting of James with the smooth Ninja-ing of Dudikoff with his never-ending supply of clever moves. It makes for an excellent combination that can't be beat.That's what's great about American Ninja - it's high-quality action fun that seems to put pleasing the audience as its number one priority. Why can't more movies, especially today, do this one simple thing? Please the crowd! What's so wrong with that? Well, we're proud to announce American Ninja simply does just that. It's not uncommon when you watch it with people to hear yells of "Yeah! Awesome!" and the like. You've heard the title "American Ninja" so many times, for such a long time, you probably don't realize how good it is. You just have to watch it to see why it's withstood the test of time so well.Comeuppance Reviews fan-favorite Richard Norton appears in a short, small role - but in the credits he is only recognized for stunts. But if you watch carefully, you can spot him as a soldier in the film.For Fun with a capital F - go with this great classic that is deserving of its fame and status.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com