American Ninja

Cannon Film Distributors | Release Date: August 30, 1985

6.6	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Ratings

USER RATING DISTRIBUTION

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Review this movie

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please sign in or create an account before writing a review.

Check box if your review contains spoilers

0 characters (5000 max)

User Reviews

User score By date Most helpful

Compi24May 20, 2020

A pleasant surprise served with a heaping spoonful of guilt on my part, "American Ninja" is as kitschy and goofy as all get-out, but damn it if I wasn't entertained throughout every moment of its steely-eyed, testosterone-soaked running time.A pleasant surprise served with a heaping spoonful of guilt on my part, "American Ninja" is as kitschy and goofy as all get-out, but damn it if I wasn't entertained throughout every moment of its steely-eyed, testosterone-soaked running time. God bless Michael Dudikoff. The guy clearly can't deliver lines all that well, but he doesn't have to! Half of this movie is just him Ryan Gosling-ing at the camera and cast, and it works well enough, damn it! Why Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal are household names and guys like Michael Dudikoff aren't will forever haunt my dreams. The guy's not an Arnie, Sly or Van Damme-tier action star, but he's a Norris/Seagal-level presence at the very least. I'd be glad to accompany him on another rib-cracking, arrow-deflecting journey through the jungle. What's that, you say? There's four more of these movies? Why, thank you, reader. I'll keep that in mind.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews

PolyWoggFeb 24, 2019

The Bottom Line
A basic action movie from the '80s but it doesn't hold up.
Plot An American soldier with special skills gets posted to an island base where someone keeps hijacking military convoys. When his convoy gets hit, he's cooperatingThe Bottom Line
A basic action movie from the '80s but it doesn't hold up.

Plot
An American soldier with special skills gets posted to an island base where someone keeps hijacking military convoys. When his convoy gets hit, he's cooperating right up until someone hits the Colonel's daughter, and then he intervenes. His memory of his childhood is mostly gone from an explosion on an island, but he has obviously had training. When the hijackers send Ninjas after him, it becomes obvious though that his skills are way more than just simple techniques.

What I Liked
Some of the basic fight scenes are fine, particularly between Joe and the Black Star Ninja. And the opening sequence is really well done. There's a scene where they shoot arrows at him, and he uses the handle on a shovel to deflect their trajectory...highly iconic and when I first saw it as a kid, I was hooked.

What I Didn't Like
I rewatched it recently, and it just doesn't hold up. As I said, some of the basic fight scenes are good, but the fight scenes with guns seems more like a Stephen J. Cannell TV show where a million bullets are fired but nothing ever hits its target. In addition, some of the stunt work is either done at low speed, shows that it isn't the actor doing the stunt (particularly a motorcycle jump), or in one case, requires a helicopter to hover in place for about 5 seconds for the stunt man to get ready to jump on the front.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews