GamerTab That was an excellent one.

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Blaironit Excellent film with a gripping story!

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

a_chinn Cannon Group Golan-Globus Productions were having great success with their previous ninja films, "Enter the Ninja," "Revenge of the Ninja," and "Ninja III: The Domination," so why not start a new franchise? Michael Dudikoff plays the titular American Ninja, a G.I. on a U.S. Army base in the Philippines. He keeps his ninja skills a secret, even when fellow soldier Steve James challenges him to a fight (don't worry, the two become fast friends after Dudikoff repeatedly flips James and chokes him out), but when Dudikoff uncovers arms dealers colluding with military officials, he is one ninja who's had all he can stands and can't stands n'more. To be clear, this is a terrible film, but if you enjoy campy 1980s ninja films, which I most certainly do, you will enjoy this ridiculous ninja/Rambo hybrid. FUN FACT: Director Sam Firstenberg has said this is one of his two favorite films he's directed, the other being "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo." Personally speaking, I think "Ninja III: The Domination" is his career high point.

Predrag "American Ninja" is a simple-minded little Kung-Fu action flick that is here simply for entertainment, no more no less. And let me start off by saying that American Ninja is by no means a film to be taken to heart, it's cheesy and hokey and is pumped full of the most annoying sword sound effects since "The Street Fighter", but, "American Ninja" can be a fun little 80's flick that will keep you on the edge of your couch cushion for an hour and a half if you view it with all your logic in suspension.What I love most of this film is..... It gives me what I expect. Ninjas, ninja training, ninja action, and the icing on the cake the epic battle between Joe and the leader of the ninjas.... The Black Star Ninja! Tadashi Yamashita as black star tears up the screen and in one scene, some other ninjas in a fight not equaled by Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan-fast and ferocious! This movie singlehandedly made me want to be a ninja throughout my childhood! Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

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

Jonathon Dabell American Ninja is a tired martial arts potboiler from the Golan-Globus production team (a pair of Israeli profiteers who unleashed various terrible movies on the world during the 1980s). This one tries to make an action hero of the handsome but thoroughly talentless Michael Dudikoff who, prior to this film, was best remembered for playing a dumb-ass named Ryko in the comedy Bachelor Party. Virtually nothing about American Ninja works, from its appalling score to the utterly routine action sequences. The performances are generally terrible, there's nothing original or interesting in the story department, and even the requisite martial arts moves are far from dazzling. In fact, the only thing that saves this film from the dreaded 1-out-of-10 rating is Steve James's amusing turn as the hero's sidekick. It's not an example of great screen acting by a long shot, but James does manage to embrace the absurd tone of the film with his tongue-in-cheek performance.At an American army base in the Far East there have been a number of ambushes resulting in the loss of military hardware. During a transportation of equipment, more American soldiers are attacked by a number of deadly assassins wearing ninja costumes. The ninjas try to kidnap the Colonel's daughter Patricia (Judie Aronson), who is tagging along, but an American private called Joe Armstrong (Michael Dudikoff) steps in to save her. Joe is a loner and none of the other soldiers know much about him – in fact, he doesn't know much about himself, as he has suffered from amnesia since he was quite young. He does know that he possesses incredible martial arts skills, and occasionally has flashbacks during which he recalls being trained as a boy by a mysterious Japanese mentor. Joe discovers that the army supplies are being stolen by a corrupt businessman, Victor Ortega (Don Stewart), who includes arms dealing among his list of misdemeanours. Ortega has a private army of ninjas guarding his lair and Joe has to take them on in order to put a stop to the bad guy's nefarious plans.The movie had a relatively cheap budget of $1,000,000 and grossed about ten times that amount. It is hardly surprising that Messrs. Golan and Globus were able to carry on churning out this kind of rubbish if 80s audiences were content to keep lining their pockets in such a manner. Everything about American Ninja shows signs of shoddiness. Dudikoff seems to have difficulty delivering the most straightforward of lines, and his expression barely changes during the course of the movie. The action scenes are simply ludicrous, with staggeringly inept bad guys – on this evidence even Dolly Parton could whoop their asses in a fight. The film even attempts to incorporate a few plot twists in the latter stages – with certain "good" characters turning out to be allied with the bad guys – but these twists are both heavy-handed and unsurprising. On the whole, American Ninja is thoroughly low-grade trash with nothing to recommend it.