One of my all time favorites.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The first action scene alone is worth watching this 1985 movie over, as unarmed American soldiers take down Filipino mercenaries armed with Automatic weapons. It stars with a blast, literally, and just keeps getting better. I mean, ninjas in the Philippines, does it get any better than that?This movie has it all; stereotypical villain, martial arts, goons unable to-hit anything more than an inch away, lots of action and of course ninjas! Granted this is not Shakespearian cinema, but it is still entertaining for the campy thing it is. And it was also a trip down memory lane to my childhood."American Ninja" is predictable to the core, sure. But it still has an entertaining enough storyline. The background story of Joe doesn't make much sense. But all this can be looked past because this is, after all, a ninja movie! You know that when someone snatches your arrow out of its trajectory and breaks it that you have found your arch nemesis.As for the action and martial arts, taking into consideration that it is from 1985, then it was adequate and did what it was supposed to. However, if you haven't seen the 1980's ninja movies, and only watch todays martial arts movies, I believe you will not be impressed with "American Ninja".In all its cheesy, campy self "American Ninja" is an entertaining enough movie if you want to kill some time with a no-brainer movie.

It was about a young man who was enlisted in the Army after given a choice of prison or the service, after nearly killing a man. The young man, Joe Armstrong, doesn't fit into the service at all in the Philippines. He quickly becomes a thorn in both his sergeant and his colonel's sides after he disobeyed a direct order to allow a group of rebels hijack military equipment. However, he wins over the colonel's daughter, after he saves her life from the local rebels and a group of Ninjas. He also befriends his drill instructor after the instructor tested out how good of a fighter Armstrong really was. An person he befriends is a Private named Charlie. Soon, Armstrong's sent off to drop off deliveries, and he realizes that he is a target of a Ninja Assassination Plot. It was a good plan to place the setting in the Philippines, because there was a lot of corruption going on. If you want to know how it ends, watch it to find out.

Happily eschewing logic and pretense in favor of loads of exciting and well-choreographed fights, punch-ups, and explosions, this film comes across like a cheerfully ludicrous live action comic book in the most breezy and entertaining manner possible. The slight story centers on loner martial artist army soldier Joe Armstrong (a likable performance by Michael Dudikoff), who almost single-handedly thwarts a gang of nefarious bad guys and lethal ninjas who are involved in an illegal arms operation. Director Sam Firstenberg, working from a perfectly absurd script by Paul De Melche, relates the eventful narrative at a constant zippy pace, treats the silly material with admirable seriousness, and stages the plentiful rip-roaring action with abundant go-for-broke flair and skill. The enthusiastic acting by the pumped cast keeps this picture humming: The gorgeous Judie Aronson adds lots of sass and humor as the feisty Patricia Hickock, Steve James registers strongly as the rough'n'tumble Curtis Jackson, Don Stewart positively oozes as slimy head villain Victor Ortega, and Tadashi Yamashita cuts a menacing figure as the ruthless Black Star Ninja, who uses such things as smoke bombs, poison darts, and even a portable wrist laser gun (!) in his game, yet futile attempts to take out our hero. Hanania Baer's slick cinematography provides an impressive high-gloss look. Michael Linn's energetic score hits the stirring and spirited spot. Best of all, this flick gets right down to rousing brass tacks from the start and rarely lets up for 95 wildly kinetic minutes. A hugely enjoyable romp.

Joe Armstrong is drifter forced into the military finds himself stationed in the Philippines. After his convoy is attacked by ninjas (that's right ninjas in the Philippines) Joe finds himself hunted by this mysterious group of ninjas, and the United States Army seeking his court marshal. Can Joe survive and prove he is an American Ninja? American Ninja should be listed on very VH1 I love the 80's special. Every once of this movie screams 1985. From the big hair to 1980's TV show special effects (American Ninja must have hired the special effects guy from A-Team) to ever present crotch rocket. American Ninja is at one with the 80's.The major problem with American Ninja is that it's a child of the 80's. American Ninja doesn't transcend to new generations. It's stuck in 1985. The sets, the script and the characters are just believable to today's viewers.That being said Micheal Dudikoff did a good job as Joe Armstrong. His acting was believable for a 1980's film. His acting had a few wholes in it, but mostly good. The character I love to watch the most was Cpl Jackson, the black Rambo of the 1980's. Really I know that last sentence wasn't pc but it was the truth. For some reason in the 80's Hollywood felt the only way to connect with the African American community was to copy other characters and replace them with an African American actors. I guess Hollywood forgot about amazing African American actors such as Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby from the 60's and 70's. I feel characters like Jackson where huge stumbling blocks for African American actors. All in all, American Ninja was great in 1985 but didn't transcend to today's audience. Sunday, May 23, 2010...written by John Richards for http://aroundthemovies.com