Retro Review: ‘American Ninja’
One of the great parts of the legacy left by 80’s studio Canon Films is their ninja films, most notably their American Ninja franchise. In an era where action movies needed to bigger and more action-packed and more American, Canon was going to have their piece of the cinematic pie budgetary restrictions be damned. They had proven before that moviegoers liked ninjas with cult classics like Ninja III: The Domination, so having and “American” ninja to capitalize on Cold War jingoism was a no-brainer. With their new leading man Michael Dudikoff at the lead, in 1985 the infamous studio released American Ninja.
On an army base in the Philippines, the enigmatic Joe, is a loner not looking to make friends. But when the sinister ninja order Dark Star Order rear their evil heads Joe’s own martial arts skills immediately puts him at odds with these baddies. The powerful kingpin pulling the strings with both the evil ninja clan and the commanding officers at the base believes Joe is too dangerous to keep alive. In order to save the day Joe will have to take his ninja abilities to another level.
This is the epitome of B-grade, immensely entertaining style of action movies that endears Canon to movie fans to this day. The plot is predictable, the characters can be boiled down to “loner hero” “African American best friend” and “evil arms dealer” with no depth beyond that. I doubt it even competed in the 1985 Oscars, but chances are if you are turning on American Ninja this is exactly what you are looking for. Originally intended as a vehicle for Chuck Norris, the responsibility for carrying this flick falls on the muscle-y shoulders of star Michael Dudikoff. While he had no martial arts experience, the studio had high hopes that Dudikoff could be their go-to star, the Boris Karloff to their Universal or the Myrna Loy to their MGM. While this is probably the only time his name is mentioned in the same sentence as these legends, Dudikoff does have the chops to be the kind of leading man for the Canon style of film. He broods with the best of them while still able to pull off the stunts and fight choreography with ease. That being said, it is his co-star Steven James as Curtis who many latch onto, and is a character deserving of far more screentime than he receives. He is cool, level-headed, likable, and sticks to his guns. In a perfect world he would have gotten his own martial arts movie to elevate himself beyond the “sidekick” role.
While Michael Dudikoff carries things in front of the camera, behind the camera veteran martial artist and fight choreographer Mike Stone as well as director Sam Firstenberg makes sure the audience gets what they want: ass-kicking fights. There is no effort made to ground American Ninja in any form of reality because that would ruin the popcorn fun of it all. This carries all the way to the film’s absolutely bonkers climax as Joe and his newly rediscovered ninja father (who has teleportation abilities apparently) as Curtis with a tank and machine gun rolls in and goes to town. This is the perfect reward for the faith of those who stick with this movie until the end.
This is by no stretch of the imagination a well-made movie but American Ninja succeeds at being pure entertainment. The success of the movie would lead to a number of sequels and a devoted cult following.
