Prismark10 American Ninja is a ridiculous action film, even worse by Cannon standards of the mid 1980s.Michael Dudikoff lacks charisma and screen presence as the mysterious Joe with a criminal past and elite martial arts skills but with no idea how he got them.He has arrived at an US Army base in the Philippines where he is a bit of a loner. Almost immediately on his first mission driving a convoy of trucks, the American soldiers are attacked by a group of filipino rebels who try to steal their weapons and take colonel's daughter, Patricia. Joe is to the rescue as Patricia just screams and irritates.Joe discovers that people in the US army base are involved in gun running with local mercenaries but not too many people believe him.A feeble B movie, with ineptly staged action scenes.

Robert W. American Ninja is the definition of a cult favourite. It reeks of the 80's (which I love) and I've never really spent any time with Kung Fu films but I have a feeling it definitely channels that demographic of film. American Ninja was a theatrical release back in 1985 and when you watch it now you wonder how that is even possible. Something like this would never make it theatrically nowadays. American Ninja is everything that makes a bad movie so great. Ridiculous stunts, overacting, underacting, and a main cast that THINK they are so bad-ass and completely serious about these roles that you inadvertently find yourself loving every minute of it and investing yourself in these ridiculous macho heroes. The American Ninja series has been on my to watch list for years. Now that I have some extra time on my hands I started it and it was everything I expected it to be. The stunts and special effects are borderline terrible and yet they're doing the best they can with what they're given. The sub-plot of the mysterious origin of "Joe Armstrong" is sort of silly and unnecessary but I get they're trying to make this as serious as they can and that isn't easy.What can you really say about Michael Dudikoff? He never made it to A-Lister and hardly is a B-Lister. He had no martial arts training at all going into this film which makes him an odd choice. Somehow he's watchable but mostly for morbid curiosity sake. He is so bland and trying so hard to be brooding and serious. He's so bad that he is perfect in this movie. Steve James is awesome. What else can I say? Like Dudikoff, he is awful. He acts bad but he is so high energy and so much more charisma than Dudikoff. They work together though but James is just train-wreck enough to not be able to not like! Judie Aronson is the romantic interest and she is okay but she is there for a single purpose and does that decently. John Fujioka is Dudikoff's mentor and he is quite good but a very small role without a lot of screen time. Don Stewart is an "okay" villain but this movie desperately needed a really bad-ass villain considering its an 80's action movie.Sam Firstenberg is an expert at this type of movie. His directorial list is a what's what of silly absurd B-Films that I have no doubt he thinks were fantastic. His direction isn't terrible and like I said earlier this might be the perfect homage to the Kung Fu Genre. The story isn't bad, in fact, its simple and straight forward with plenty of action even if that action is ridiculous. This type of film is a whole genre in itself and you have to respect it for that. If you're someone who gets together with friends and watches and the worst of the worst and has a great time doing it then American Ninja should be HIGH on your list. I intend on making my way through all five of these (although five apparently has nothing to do with the first four despite having a returning actor who changes characters...fantastic!) This series is one to watch and just laugh. 7/10

Emerald Reprobates This film comes straight from the 80's action mould. And not the good mould that Top Gun came out of.The loner with no memory but super ninjistu skills and his army buddies face off against generic European bad guys and Black Star Ninjas.The good guys win, the girl falls for the guy and everybody lives happily ever after except the non American ninjas and the Sensei of the good ninja.The fact this spawned four sequels must have been part of some tax dodge by the producers.If you are looking for an action film from 1985, give Rambo First Blood Part 2 a look before you watch this.Featured on Episode 55 of The Emerald Reprobates Podcast

TOMASBBloodhound Just when you thought director Sam Firstenberg could not take ninja films any further, we were treated to this spectacularly brilliant cheese fest in 1985. Michael Dudikoff, fresh off his stint in Bachelor Party, was cast as "Joe".... The American Ninja!!! Did it matter that Mr. Dudikoff had absolutely no martial arts training before this film? Certainly not. They only wanted a guy who looked like James Dean, didn't have to say much, and could act like he had a chip on his shoulder. Dudikoff more than fits those criteria. You have to feel for Steve James, though. He actually was a great martial artist, but had to play the sidekick role. At least in the two installments of this series I've seen.The story centers around our hero the mysterious "Joe" who is a newly arrived private at a U.S. Army base in the Phillipines. At least that's where they filmed this. Most movies about the military refer to their characters by their last name. Not here. I don't recall us ever learning what Joe's last name is. But nobody knows much about the young man. He was found on some Pacific Island as a young boy with no family or memories of one. Raised in reform schools until he "almost killed a man at age 16", Joe clearly needed some discipline, and the army is where he ended up. Curious however that the army has no knowledge of Joe's date of birth, yet they know how old he was when he almost killed a man! The film is filled with goofs like that! Anyway, Joe was apparently trained as a ninja while still a boy! And could you believe the guy who trained him actually works as a gardener on a plantation near Joe's army base??? As Elaine would say on Seinfeld.... GET OUT!!! Turns out the owner of this plantation is also stealing arms from Joe's base and selling them to the highest dirty bidder, too. And this plantation is also the training ground for an army of evil ninjas, too!!! Sounds like we have a Golan/Globus production here! Can Joe stop the sale of these arms and defeat the ninja army and their leader??? Honestly, you get what you pay for with this movie. There is a lot of action, and some of it is compelling. Despite Dudikoff's lack of training, he almost pulls it off. At least we get to see Steve James flex his muscles between stealing every scene. Judie Aaronson of Friday the 13th IV and Weird Science fame is here to provide a plucky love interest. She does fine with her character and comes off kind of like Jane in a Tarzan movie. The musical score is made from old Missing In Action pieces, and some outrageously over the top horn playing. Some of it sounds like Chuck Mangione's Feels So Good on crack. The film even has jeeps that will explode after slightly tapping a palm tree. Trust me. It's an hour and a half of your life that you probably didn't need, anyway! 5 of 10 stars.The Hound.