#American Ninja

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American Ninja Italian poster art (1987)

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The Hunted (1995)

“I can’t keep running away. If anything I’d learn from her is that you’ve got to accept your fate with courage.”

A tech executive, Paul Racine (Christopher Lambert) goes to Nagoya to close a business deal with a Japanese company. Following the success, Racine declined his two colleagues invite to have fun to celebrate as he simply wants to retreat to the hotel bar to drink before turning in.

Until he met Kirina (Joan Chen) at the bar where they chat for a while before heading out to see a traditional Japanese performance. He began to fall for her and wishes to see her again the next day but she politely declines. Racine was on his way out when he remembered he left something.

Upon returning he witness a group of Ninja trying to kill her. He tried to stop them but the next thing he knew, he woke up in the hospital where he was questioned by a detective before he was visited by a man named Takeda who believes his life is in danger for having seen the Ninja (John Lone).

They offered to give him shelter but Racine declines feeling assured that the presence of the police officers at the hospital is enough. He changed his mind later when he was almost killed by a group of Ninjas who kill every single police officers on sight in the middle of the night trying to kill Racine.

Racine raced against time to save his own life as he tries to find Takeda. He learns that Takeda (Yoshio Harada) and his wife, Mieko (Yoko Shimada) are descendants of a Samurai whose clan was almost destroyed by the same Ninja clan hundreds of years ago, and now wants to destroy the clan for good. 

It’s interesting that they based the Samurai clan that of Takeda Clan. While the symbol is the same, the colour is different as the Takeda Clan is red.

Interestingly, in history, Takeda Shingen was rumoured to have been killed by a Ninja just when he was making a bold move towards Kyoto which could’ve turn the tide of the war against Oda Nobunaga. The only formidable Daimyo left in the way of Oda’s expansion was Uesugi Kenshin who also dies and rumoured to have been killed by a Ninja as well. Some would say it was Oda’s doings.

While the Takeda Clan was weakened after the death of Shingen and his son, Katsuyori who was defeated by Oda. His daughter survives and marries Kenshin’s son, Uesugi Kagekatsu. So I’d like to think that in this movie the Takeda bloodline continues which explains why the character, Takeda, wants to wipe out the same Ninja clan, fearing them as a threat even today.

The movie is quite “real” in a sense that Christopher Lambert is not the typical knight in armour to the rescue as the character, Takeda, is the one who does all the real fighting with the Ninja. Christopher Lambert’s character is more of a supporting role, helping out where he could, aiding the Takeda in defeating the Shinobi, which I think is realistic than some hollywood movies.

I mean you couldn’t expect an office worker with no combat experience to defeat the entire Ninja clan who had trained their entire lives just by training with a Katana for a week right? While the story takes place in Nagoya, the second half takes place at Hikone Castle. If you like the 80s Sho Kosugi Revenge of the Ninja and Michael Dudikoff American Ninja, this one is for you.

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American Ninja and American Ninja 2: The Confrontation will be released on Blu-ray on October 31 via Kino Lorber. Produced by Cannon Films, the martial arts films star Michael Dudikoff.

1985's American Ninja is directed by Sam Firstenberg (Ninja III: The Domination) and written by Paul De Mielche. Guich Knock, Judie Aronson, Steve James, John Fujioka, and Tadashi Yamashita co-star.

1987's American Ninja 2: The Confrontation is directed by Sam Firstenberg and written by Gary Conway (Over the Top) and James Booth. Steve James, Jeff Weston, Gary Conway, Michelle Botes, and Larry Poindexter co-star.

Special features for both titles are listed below.

American Ninja special features:

Audio commentary by director Sam Firstenberg and stunt coordinator Steven Lambert

Audio commentary by director Sam Firstenberg, moderated by filmmaker Elijah Drenner

A Rumble in the Jungle: The Making of American Ninja

Theatrical trailer

Stationed in the Philippines, 18-year-old U.S. Army private Joe Armstrong (Michael Dudikoff) is escorting a supply convoy when it is ambushed by rebels—one of whom he recognizes as a Black Ninja warrior. Instinctively, Joe defends himself using the esoteric martial art of Ninjitsu—an ability that puts him under suspicion by his commander and fellow soldiers. Alone in his fight against corruption, the boy finally discovers the secret of his mysterious past—a secret that pits him against the evil Black Star Ninja (Tadashi Yamashita) in the ultimate martial arts battle.

Pre-order American Ninja.

American Ninja 2 special features:

Audio commentary by director Sam Firstenberg and stunt coordinator BJ Davies

Audio commentary by director Sam Firstenberg, moderated by filmmaker Elijah Drenner

An American Ninja in Cape Town: The Making of American Ninja 2

Theatrical trailer

When U.S. Army Rangers Joe Armstrong (Michael Dudikoff) and Curtis Jackson (Steve James) go on a Caribbean mission for missing Marines, they find themselves matching their deadly Ninjitsu skills against the elite Ninja forces of The Lion (Gary Conway)—a psychotic drug lord who genetically alters his fighters into superhuman martial arts killers! Learning that four kidnapped Marines are about to undergo The Lion’s inhuman transformation, the Rangers infiltrate his island fortress—and launch into an explosive battle against a horde of mutant Ninja warrior-clones!

Pre-order American Ninja 2: The Confrontation.

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On June 28, 1986, American Ninja debuted in Italy.

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NOSTALGIA: FILMES DOS ANOS 80 ENVOLVENDO NINJAS! 

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American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt (1989)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

Let me preface my review of American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt by saying that I have seen the first in the series, but not the second. Is it possible that I missed something along the way, that I would recognize this as a masterpiece if I had seen each instalment in the franchise? No. The connection between this film and the other so thin it's barely worth noting. Even if it featured characters you cared about, the performances are appalling, the action scenes laborious & badly choreographed, the plot idiotic and the camera work amateurish. You’ll struggle to stay awake.

Martial artists Sean Davidson (David Bradley), Curtis Jackson (Steve James, reprising his role once more) and Dexter (Evan J. Klisser) learn of a powerful terrorist known as “The Cobra” (Marjoe Gortner). He plans on selling a new super virus to the highest bidder. To prove its effectiveness to the sceptical General Andreas (Yehuda Efroni), "The Cobra" infects Sean. Now, time is running out for him... and the world.

We’re scraping the bottom of the outhouse with this plot. "The Cobra” is finalizing his deadly virus because General Andreas doesn’t understand how biological warfare exists, he demands to see its effectiveness. What better way to prove your weapon will kill anyone and everyone who gets infected than by using it to kill the greatest martial arts fighter on Earth? Of course, that begs the question. How do you determine who the greatest warrior is? By throwing an endless amount of cartoon ninjas - the kind who always dress in black and insist on wielding medieval weapons against potential fighters - against a bunch of guys participating in a nearby martial arts tournament. Whoever beats the most gets the title, I guess.

Even if the set up made sense, the execution is awful. Most of the dialogue is dubbed over, probably because the original actors were either barely intelligible thanks to their accents, or so awful even shoddy filmmaker Cedric Sundstrom cringed. It makes you wonder what their performances were because nobody is convincing. Not when they’re following the script and certainly not when they’re improvising dialogue on the fly.

If at least the action scenes were good, but they aren’t. There’s no tension or excitement as our three heroes casually bat away black-clad morons in broad daylight. They’re so unconcerned with their opponents our heroes don’t even bother to hold onto the weapons they grab to defeat them. The camera always seems positioned at the wrong angle, or slightly too far, making you wonder if this wasn’t everyone’s first foray into motion pictures. It’s improved none by the climax, which features that trademark ninja magic courtesy of Chan Lee (Michele Chan), who comes in, solves every problem at the last second and makes you wonder why anyone bothered.

There’s something exhausting about a plot that only continues because the villains are too stupid or too stubborn to pick up a gun. The “who cares?” story, the flat characters and the general lack of ambition will have you pining for the good old days of American Ninja, and not because Michael Dudikoff is gone. The only good scene in American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt (what does that title have to do with anything?) features a small plane landing on a moving flatbed truck. It’s got nothing to do with martial arts, but that’s some damn good flying. (On VHS, May 27, 2018)

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American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (Cedric Sundstrom, 1990)

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IT CAME FROM AMAZON!

American Ninja

American Ninja 2 The Confrontation

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No EVIL Gets Left Behind! "P.O.W. The Escape" reviewed! (Ronin Flix / Blu-ray)

“P.O.W. The Escape” on Blu-ray at Amazon.com! Colonel James Cooper’s moto is no one gets left behind.  The seasoned P.O.W. extraction officer volunteers for a politically spearheaded suicide mission to save Vietcong American captives before a cease fire treaty ends the war, effectively turning the P.O.W.’s into M.I.A. and possibly never heard from again.  As the U.S. Airborne Colonel expected,…

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American Ninja (I - II - III) Cast: Then and Now ★ 2023