Review of American Ninja (1985) by Craig H — 16 May 2009

This film features a solid performance by Steve James; you can actually believe that this solid and truly, well, manly, actor could devastate anyone who got in his way. Unfortunately, they made Steve the sidekick to the truly annoying, wimpy-looking, Michael Dudikoff.

Dudikoff was a reasonably skilled martial artist who later developed a bit of a comic goofiness that made his characters more enduring. Here, he is taking it all too seriously and the goofy-looking "man-perm" doesn't help enhance his performance.

Ninja's were the big baddies of matial arts films in the 1980s, this film came out towards the tail end of that trend and did well enough to spawn a series of increasingly lame sequels (several of which are nearly redeemed by Steve James' presense).

Its no better than any other bad martial arts films made in the Philippines.