American Ninja - An Officer and a Ninja

There are some films which you know are bad while you're watching them... and you just don't care. 'American Ninja' is one of those.  Back in the eighties, films seemed to get going a lot quicker than they do these days.  Therefore we're soon introduced to 'Joe' - a loner soldier who's recently joined a military company - who singlehandedly saves a convoy of army equipment from an attack by - you guessed it - ninjas.  We don't know why this young man is so gifted in hand-to-hand combat... and we don't care.  By now the film is so ludicrously over the top we're just along for the ride.

Michael Dudikoff is the lead and, for some reason, despite his strong and silent manner, he really does seem to work as the star.  Apparently, if you read up on the Internet, he didn't have a martial arts background before starring, but that doesn't seem to matter.  He's like a James Dean kind of loner who's the 'strong and silent' type, but occasionally kicks the hell out of anyone who crosses him.

Naturally any strong and silent hero has to have a 'love interest.' I guess back in the eighties women were generally there just to be rescued, so don't expect too much in the way of 'character development' when it comes to Judie Aronson's performance, but that's hardly the actress' fault.  They may not have 100% chemistry, but - luckily - we have Steve James as 'the best friend' to give our quiet hero someone to 'play off.'

If you're expecting 'wall to wall action' then you may be a little disappointed around the middle segment of the film where it all - sort of - felt like 'An Officer and a Gentleman' to me, but, after the high-octane start, everything goes back into 'overdrive' for the final segment.  There's tons of fighting in the climax - all done in that 'eighties way' where one man takes on a whole army of bad guys (all of which have 'Stormtrooper aim!').

If you like eighties action movies then this one is definitely for you.  It certainly falls into the 'so-bad-it's-good' category.  If you value 'entertainment' in your films over more traditional elements such as 'logic, reason' and 'common sense' then you really need to give this one a watch.  Let's just throw in some 'ninja magic' towards the end.  Why the hell not?!

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one