Comeuppance Reviews

(2013-05-23 20:40:56)

Patience-testing exercise.

Did you know there is an American Ninja FIVE? Apparently there is, eventhough it was meant to be something called American Dragons and perhapsthey didn't want to confuse it with the other, better movie of the samename.In this anti-climactic ending to the American Ninja franchise, DavidBradley plays Joe Kastle (not Armstrong as in prior A.N. films), a guywho lives on a boat and likes to work out. One day, Master Tetsu(Morita) pawns off his "grand-nephew" Hiro (Reyes) on Joe and leaves togo to Greece for a vacation. While Joe is learning to cope withbabysitting this annoying brat, it turns out that his new girlfriendLisa (Dupont) is kidnapped by the evil Viper (Lew) and his gang ofninjas. Viper works for the nefarious Glock (von Franckenstein), a manwho is using scientists to develop an insecticide named ZB-12. Lisa'sfather is a scientist but refuses to work on the potentially dangerousproject. So Joe and Hiro must go through a bunch of travails inVenezuela to rescue Lisa who is kidnapped there. Along the way, Joe andHiro forge a friendship based on the ways of the ninja.Rather than be loyal to the fans that have followed the series throughthe years, Cannon pawns this juvenile, watered-down, PG-13 rated dreckon the audience like Pat Morita does his bratty relative onto DavidBradley in this patience-testing exercise.Bradley is likable enough and he looks like a young Craig Ferguson,although he is your classic action movie dumb-dumb. His young foil isanother matter. Hiro is a precocious 12 year old whose presence in thismovie is not needed. He says "whoa!" while Bradley fights the baddies,who are purple, green, and white ninjas, as if this was a video game.Speaking of which, Hiro's Game Gear plays a surprisingly big role inthis film. Hiro has a matching Miami Dolphins baseball cap/coat and,sadly, brings this movie into the current "ADD generation".The movie as a whole could have been better, even if it was aiming morefor the family market, but this Hiro kid gets on your nerves. Plus thewhole daughter/scientist father aspect was already done in AmericanNinja 2 (1987). Couldn't they come up with something new? It's directorLeonard's only movie to date and you think he would be familiar withpast entries in the series, but maybe he never watched them. That'scertainly what it seems like; he didn't try to impress with hisknowledge of past A.N.'s, that's for sure...which seems odd. HavingAmerican Ninja 5 be the only movie on your resume is indeed a bizarreway to enter movie history. The whole Karate Kid aspect of the film iseven further enhanced by the presence of Pat Morita. Did any kid eversee this movie...ever? The baddies are more interesting, as Glockstrongly resembles Bernie Madoff and James Lew's entrances and exitsare by far the best part of this movie. It's here that this filmbecomes utterly absurd. They should have gone in that direction more,if you see the movie you'll know what we mean.The jaunty flute music enhances the mild nature of the proceedings, andit's unfortunate that the mighty American Ninja franchise fell victimto the old sitcom trick of "Addakid", that is, when all the sitcom kidsgrow up and aren't cute anymore, to simply add a newer, younger, cuterkid regardless of whether it makes sense plotwise. It's an ignominiousway for this beloved series to go.Even though this movie came out in 1993, it looks and seems older, butmaybe that's because it's pretty lame and impotent, not to mention wayoverlong.You'd have to be a die-hard fan of the American Ninja films or any ofthe actors involved to sit through this insult to people who followedthe original four films in this series.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

(2013-05-23 10:44:02)

"We were attacked by five purple people eaters"

Eight years after its creation, the "American Ninja" series released its fourth and final sequel, disappointingly ending its status as one of the more recognizable American martial arts franchises on a dreary note. "American Ninja 5" is a pretty bad, but contrary to its IMDb status, I wouldn't say it's one of the worst movies ever made. Aficionados of the first four films needn't bother with this one, though, and neither for the most part do regular action fans, but lovers of camp will be rolling for this one, and that ought to count for something. At least it's not a boringly bad movie.The story: when the presumptive girlfriend of ninjutsu instructor Joe Kastle (David Bradely, American Samurai) is kidnapped by an evil millionaire (Clement von Franckenstein, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger series) who is blackmailing the girl's scientist father (Aharon Ipale, The Mummy) to create a deadly chemical weapon, he must pursue her to Venezuela and deal with the legions of a deadly enforcer (James Lew, Balance of Power)...all while taking care of a rebellious young boy in his charge (Lee Reyes, "The Red Canvas").Hearsay claims that this isn't a true sequel, that it wasn't even meant to be an actual addition to the series, but I'm not convinced: yes, the film introduces all-new characters and doesn't reference any of the previous movies, but I can't imagine that the familiar plot points, the presence of dozens of masked ninjas, and the fact that the phrase "American ninja" is actually uttered are all coincidental. Nevertheless, the movie does introduce a lot of alien ideas to the series, none of which work. Toning down the violence content to suit a PG-13 rating is disappointing, but even more so is the film's attempts at humor: as the first installment of the series to readily acknowledge itself as an action-comedy, the film goes slightly overboard with dummy antics, mostly supplied by kid star Lee Reyes. Mystical and quasi-magic elements are also introduced, most noticeably in that David Bradley and his young friend can spiritually summon their respective sensei and uncle (Pat Morita, who gets top billing but only has a total of three scenes) via meditation and a lot of white smoke, but also in that James "Viper" Lew can appear and disappear in a similar cloud of white smoke with greater ease and versatility than you'd think possible. Straight-arrow would've been better.Speaking of James Lew, you really gotta feel sorry for him. As the American action industry's stalwart Asian villain and stuntman, he's done a lot of cool stuff in his career, but this role is pretty embarrassing. When compared to previous performers who had played similar parts in earlier entries to the series (e.g. Tadashi Yamashita as the Black Star Ninja, Kely McClung as the Super Ninja), Lew looks mighty stupid in his shocking red outfit and Dracula cape, like a Power Rangers villain. He's also much chattier than previous enforcer characters, therein lowering his level of mysticism further. You'd hope that he'd at least bring some acceptable fight scenes to the picture, but all of the six matches rate a solid "meh." They're not outright bad, just very boring, thanks to excessive cutting and less weapons-handling by David Bradley than I'm used to. He does, however, blatantly steal Jean-Claude Van Damme's trademark helicopter kick, which is kind of cool.Depending on whom you ask, though, the real killer here is the film's lack of fluidity, due to some inauspiciously-blocked and -edited scenes, coupled with poor acting all around. A lot of these scenes really must have looked better in storyboard, is all I can figure. In this, the movie retains a certain kind of charm and lets you look forward to the next simple scene or exchange they're going to bungle, but it's not enough to make for a truly enjoyable film. Leave it, I say.

LastWord-2

(2013-05-21 12:44:03)

I'm never one to hate a movie but.....

What is there to say. Without Mike, there can't be an American Ninja?Thewhole A.N. series slumped after part one but 5 was a major disaster. Ithadno story, no substance, no central idea and a lot of fake action.Movies like this give movies a bad name.

(2013-05-21 05:01:58)

Is this American Ninja or is this Disney?

I will state right off the bat that I have always been a fan of the American Ninja series. Yes I know they aren't art but I enjoy the cheesball action and performances. After viewing American Ninja 4, which was rather entertaining in its own B-grade way, I was looking forward to viewing American Ninja 5. The hookey cover art through me for a loop at first. It's just a lame picture of the characters in the film in stupid poses and mist added in to make it look "mystic". I was hoping the movie would be more entertaining than the cover art led on. Sadly it wasn't.Here we get the "PG-13/Karate Kid wanna-be" version of American Ninja. David Bradley (American Ninja 3 & 4) returns but this time he plays a different character. He plays Joe Castle and not Sean Davidson from American Ninja 3 & 4. I found that to be a little strange, but oh well. One of his friends (the guy from the Karate Kid series no less) drops off his grandson (named Hiro) for Bradley to look after. Bradley reluntantly agrees and even takes the kid on a date he has that night. His date gets kidnapped by, take a wild guess, a bunch of ninja and he and the annoying Hiro kid go off to South America to rescue her. This is where the story rips-off American Ninja 2. The Ninja are using Bradley's 'girlfriend' (even though he only new her for a day) as blackmail so her father will create a deadly gas. Snore, been there, done that, and better.Another bummer is that now the great fight sequences are gone. The fights from the previous Ninja enstallments are more tamed down, kid friendly battle scenes with Hiro making stupid comments every now and then. It's as if the filmmakers were targeting fans of the Karate Kid series instead of fans the violent R-Rated American Ninja franchise. Mistake.To top it off, the music is some of the worst I have ever heard and belongs more to a made for cable Disney movie than a martial arts film.If you can't tell, this is the Disney version of an American Ninja film. Hell I thought any minute I would see Herbie the Love Bug driving down the street to great our heros. Only buy this DVD if your a completest. Otherwise your better off buying American Samurai, which would have been a far better American Ninja sequel than this tame junk.

Hprog

(2013-05-20 16:06:37)

What a load of crap!

Many years ago I saw parts 1 and 2 of the series and they were averageaction movies without great plots going on, ok but they were fun to see.Outof casuality, I was looking for info on the sequels here and read theterrible comments on this one, and out of casuality again, they showed itonlocal tv a few days ago.Nothing, and I mean NOTHING in this movie is good except for thelandscapesof my country, which made me wonder how much did they spend travellinghereto film such a piece of garbage.Terrible acting, laughable absurd fighting, predictable crappy plot, anditdoesn't connect to the series at all.Oh boy, if any of you is reading this whithout having seen the movie,pleasedon't see it EVER.

weiland_49

(2013-05-20 07:46:06)

OK, but not very nice!

Take it for what it is... The movie has got bad writing and semi badacting.. However if you manage to overlook these faults it might be OK.If you take it for what it is it might be an entertaining actionflick.... I think the lead actor is pretty decent, but overlooking hiswork judged by IMDb, one can't be impressed. If you see it for what itis, it is a mindless no thinking action movie. It is the perfect moviefor a hangover. A plus for the movie is seeing the legendary PatMorita, even though only for a small part, but it is nice to see theold martial arts expert on film again.. the setting of the movie isreally nice, it takes place in the Caribbean or something. It is alwaysnice to see views like those.

(2013-05-20 03:48:16)

"If you're gonna hit me, hit me HARD!"=Worst action movie line EVER!

This movie really hit me hard...with IDIOCY! When I saw it on the IMDB `100 worst movies' I figured it would be bad. Nothing could prepare me for this movie. This is a formulaic, typical martial arts movie with extra cheese and no originality. Bad guys kidnap girl. Ninja master and troubled kid go on a quest to save her...You know the plot. We have seen a million times before and we already know the ending! When I watch a martial arts movie I am expecting horrible acting, cheesy dialogue, hokey script and bad one liners. Fortunately, even the cheesiest martial arts films have GOOD ACTION, GORE AND LOTS OF FIGHTING! In this movie we don't even get the blood, gore and butt kicking...There aren't any heads lopped off with katana, shuriken stuck in someone's eyeball, or ANY of that cool stuff one would expect to find in a ninja movie. It was like someone took a mediocre action flick and edited all the gore out so it wouldn't scare kids under 6 years old. I REALLY can't stand when movie writes can't make up their minds! A movie needs A TARGET AUDIENCE! It is a rare movie that can please all age groups so writers and directors must choose a group to gear it toward. These writers tried to make a movie to appeal to kids and adults but instead of writing a kids movie, they took a `grownup' script and watered it down to make it `kid friendly' losing the adult AND kid audience! Simply put= Kids don't CARE about secret scientific pesticide research and kidnapped older ladies and adults don't want to see bad acting, clichГѓВ©, predictable plots with NO gore! No wonder this dreck bombed! Is it a kid's movie? If so it needs more of the kid kicking butt. It also needs more `cool' gadgets and non-gory action which appeals to boys. It also needs a plot that teaches kids something valuable and that kids can comprehend. There is a kid doing martial arts in this movie but there is way too much talking and the plot is too boring for a kid. What kid wants to watch a "kids" movie where the adult is the hero? In a kid's movie THE KID should be a hero! This kid in the movie is named "Hiro" but he is actually more of a sidekick. Kid's movies are supposed to be FUN, creative and should empower and teach kids. Kids would fall asleep during this movie! Is this a grownups movie? Not really. If you are an adult you will notice the bad acting, the slow pace and the lack of plot. It also doesn't have a lot of action compared to other ninja movies. The fight scenes have ok choreography but they are VERY typical scenes with no original moves. Martial arts fans looking to check out the `cool' moves will be disappointed. Some of the stunts ARE cool but there is hardly any fight scenes in the movie compared to most other action movies! The bad guys in the movie are also VERY stereotypical and would only be scary in a kid's movie...So it fails for adults too! This movie even fails to have camp value. Campy movies are SO cheesy you can actually laugh and make fun of them. With this movie you can't even do that. There are many cheesy, corny martial arts movies that are A RIOT with bad plots, fake looking gore, overdubbed voices that don't match the mouths and unrealistic fight scenes. This is what makes them funny! This movie isn't even cheesy enough to be funny, it's just lame! So yeah, maybe this would be a cool movie...if you are an 8 year old boy and your strict parents won't let you watch violent `grownup' martial arts movies. Even then, I would sooner beg the kid's parents to let him watch a good martial arts movie rather than recommend this awful one. Some movies are so bad they are funny, movies like this are just BAD and not worth watching even for a laugh!

(2013-05-19 23:48:11)

Gave it 2 stars for the Martial Arts and the kid...

I saw this movie on TV, and I have to say that it's probably not the best movie in the world...but it's not the worst, either. So lighten up, peoples! The Martial Arts is actually pretty good, not as cheesy as Power Rangers style Martial Arts. I know that guy David Bradley isn't a very good actor (no wonder I haven't seen him in any other movie recently!), but the kid who plays Hiro is the only one (besides Pat Morita), with actual acting talent. Also, the kid who plays Hiro is actually pretty good looking. Anyways, if you've seen the other AMERICAN NINJA movies, then you can be pretty sure what AMERICAN NINJA 5 is all about. To put a long story short: Bad acting (for the most part), a cheesy storyline, OK special effects, and OK Martial Arts moves. This movie is the kind of movie you should see at least once, but not buy. If you can rent it or watch on TV, that is better than actually going out to buy the video or DVD, if they've made a DVD out of it. Could've been so much better!

fwer-637-955494

(2013-05-19 09:16:59)

Ba-Zinnngggg!!!!

I bought this movie for me and my daughter to watch and what can i say,this movie was funny, action packed, and full of really clever zingerswhich had me laughing non stop. American Ninja V is an instant classicthat I had hoped would go down in history as one of the greataction-comedies. The expertly choreographed fight scenes keep yourheart pumping and your mind at all times completely at a loss for whois fighting who and why. This unique style is both ground breaking anda pleasure to watch. The dialogue is very witty and surprisingly fullof rich subtext. For example, when the male and female leads areescaping from an army of ninjas, the female comically remarks, "Ladiesfirst!" (Ba-Zing!). This seemingly one-dimensional and inane one lineractually reveals the film's deeper message of female empowerment andsocial equality. Another example of this emotionally layered narrativeis the small Asian child's swift transformation into a fat white manduring the stellar chase sequences. I recommend American Ninja V toeveryone I meet. It is one of the classics that redefined the way Iwatch films.

marcusoja

(2013-05-18 19:13:09)

Horrible, horrible and more horrible.

This is probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The plot isn'tmore ridiculous than many other b-action movies, what makes this movieworsethan all others are the pitiful acting from actors whom never should havebeen allowed to enter a set. These actors actually make soap opera actorsseem like academy award winners. As if this wasn't enough you have to seethe worst "karate" scens ever shot. The only thing they ever hit is air.Allthis is captured on what seems to be a hand camera.Whatever you do DON'T watch this movie... try doing something more fun andless painfull during these 1.5 hours, like ripping of your pubic hair withapair of tweezers.(1 / 10)

kurciasbezdalas

(2013-05-18 03:45:19)

There is no bad movies only wrong audience

OK i agree that this movie is the worst of the series. It looses almostall American Ninja traditions and has a really cheep plot. It haveturned from the action movie in to a family comedy and that is probablythe worst thing about it. But i must admit it still was quite enjoyableto watch. It was funny and there still was a lot of ninja action andone or few chasing scenes. The actors did a great job. All the fans ofthe first four American ninja parts may be disappointed this time. It'sa very different film. I think it was made more for a younger audience.So maybe American Ninja fans would't like this one but it should beenjoyable for a different audience.

Reggie Cloutier

(2013-05-17 12:51:08)

Best Family Movie Ever Made

Remember how awesome the 90's were? This movie encapsulates the 90'scompletely in an all out ninja assault. What can I say about thiscinematic masterpiece? The way David Bradley swiftly knock out anyninja without even being hit once shows that he is truly a master ofmartial arts to be rivaled by none. And the bond forged between hischaracter Joe Kastle and his tiny sidekick companion Hiro isbreathtaking and emotional. Each character uses their own abilitiesseparately at the start of the movie to help each other out but thenbond as one ninja super force when Joe teaches Hiro the way of theninja in under a day. Forget Joe Armstrong and Sean Davidson! They havenothing to do with this movie because David Bradley uses his amazingskills as a thespian to switch between roles in a series where hesalready played as a prominent character. Joe Kastle is the best thingto happen to this series, if you don't own this movie you'll get cancerand die in your own feces.

planktonrules

(2013-05-16 09:47:02)

It's terrible...but there are other martial arts films that manage to be worse!

While this film isn't part of the actual 'American Ninja' cannon sinceit has nothing to do with the previous four films in the supposedseries, I really didn't care. After all, NONE of these film have decentratings (the highest current on has a score of 4.8) and they are allapparently sub-par. However, the most incredibly sub-par of them all isthis film, "American Ninja V", which has the distinction of being souniversally hated that it made the IMDb Bottom 100 list--and that iswhy I chose to watch it. You see, I occasionally like a really badfilm--it gives you a good laugh at the filmmakers' expense! This filmhas one clichГѓВ© that makes it hard to like. No, it's not ninjas--it'sinsufferable kids who come along to help the hero. Not only is this kidan annoying brat, but he also is a bad actor...like most of the folksin the film. This is a problem, as most folks coming to see the filmprobably ended up rooting for him to get killed! A modern ninja (DavidBradley) is asked to watch some brat (Hiro--Lee Reyes). Almostimmediately, they get sucked into an international conspiracy involvinga crazed general, weapons of mass destruction, purple ninjas and somecartoon-like baddie in a black and red outfit with a cape! They end upin Venezuela (which might well explain the current state of poorrelations between this country and the US) and get their butts kicked.Then, the mysterious Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita--and yes, I know he is notreally playing Miyagi here) shows up an announces that the talentlesskid is really the son of a great ninja master and that he has powersthat have not yet been tapped--secret ninja training his dead fathertaught him when he was very, very young(???). And, there is a shortmontage with Bradley and Reyes training and BAM, the kid is asuper-ninja! Well, at least that's what they want us tobelieve--neither appear particularly skilled in martial arts. And thetwo of them go on a rampage to rescue the girl (there always is one)and save the planet.This film has neither element needed in a good martial arts film. Thestory and acting are dumb. And, the martial arts action is lousy. Infact, I could easily see Asians watching this and becoming angry thatthe US could produce a film with absolutely no one with good martialarts skills. Well, perhaps not--as I have seen a lot of martial artsfilms and bad martial arts films are unfortunately relatively common.And this brings me to a problem with ranking this bad film among thehorrid Bottom 100 list. The Asians have made a lot of martial artsfilms and have produced a few that are FAR WORSE than this film. Forevery Sonny Chiba or Bruce Lee film, there are others that simply areterrible. My favorite of these horrid films featured guys using 3 foottongues to fight AND they had gorillas (guys in cheap gorilla suits)who also did wretched kung fu! So, no matter how stupid "American NinjaV" is, it isn't even close to the worst the Far East has to offer. Thebig difference is that "American Ninja V" has a much wider audience andtherefore is easier to notice and hate! For the life of me, I sure wishI could remember the name of the film with kung fu gorillas and theguys with the huge tongues--I'd love to see it again! I remember howthe punches and kicks often weren't even within a foot of the intendedvictim! It made "American Ninja V" look like "Gone With the Wind" incomparison!! If you can place the title, drop me a line. I am SURE it'sa real film and I am not hallucinating about it! Cartoon-like villainsand special effects

bronsonskull72

(2013-05-16 01:06:16)

* Out Of Five

The original plot is scrapped for a tedious yarn involving DavidBradley taking some youth prodigy under his wing, and teaching him theways of the ninja while saving a scientist's daughter from Viper (JamesLew) and his band of ninjas in this belated and worthless sequel. Themain problem is of course that Michael Dudikoff and Steve James arenowhere to be found. (This was the appeal outside of the action scenesin 1 and 2) instead we have the charisma-free Bradley who stumblesthrough a series of lame one-sided fight scenes with the sameexpression on his face. The action scenes themselves are lame and eventhe David Bradley VS James Lew action scene, which I for one waslooking forward to, comes off as utterly incompetent. Worst of allthough, is that there's a whiny kid and that alone makes thisdeplorable. If you really want to see a white guy ninja movie, stickwith American Ninja 2-the best of the series.1/5 Matt Bronson Review brought to you courtesy of Spike TV and theirmidnight airing.

Ninja-Bandit

(2013-05-15 04:55:32)

Nice if you like David Bradley, but the worst of the 5

First time watching it I was greatly disappointed as I was expectingsomething like AN 3. Its the worst of the 5 mainly because of the kid.That kid with little ninja experience could beat other adult ninjaswith ease, come on! Perhaps it was made for 10-11 year old kids. Didn'tlike the cheap jokes either. This is a low budged B-movie, but I thinkit didn't require much to be become a good movie, like the first 4. Thequality of acting and sites are good, action wise not bad, but itsthose childish jokes that makes it the worst. If they made it moreserious without those dumb jokes and more realistic more heroic, those10-11 year old kids would like it even more. There is much lessviolence in this movie than in first four, which is fine. Still betterthan nothing, enjoyed Bradley acting and another ninja movie. ActuallyI would take more like these if it were possible.

sveknu

(2013-05-15 00:47:21)

Oh no!

I can live with David Bradley being a bad actor and all, but when justeverything else is just as terrible as his acting, it starts to getreal ugly. American Ninja V is a great example of how some people justdon't know when to stop. After the third movie, this series has beennothing more than a piece of crap. This last movie is the worst of themall. The action scenes (fight scenes, mainly) are very bad. The storyis childish, stupid and totally uninteresting. I almost fell asleepseveral times during the movie, and even the action didn't make it anybetter. What is Pat Morita doing in this disaster? I guess his qualitycontrol was out of function the day he signed up for this one.

Gideon40

(2013-05-14 02:44:26)

Good movie if you are under 10 years old

I havn't seen the other four films, but judging from the nature of thisone,I assume the other four were something like it.The worst part of this horrible film are the ninja thugs that the herobeatsup like it is an everyday hobby. In the first place, the "ninja" thugs doNOT behave like real ninjas. Come to think of it, neither does the hero.Ninjas are supposed to be ASSASSINS who work in the night and kill withSTEALTH and SILENCE. The thugs here dress up in the most cheesy and plaincostumes and come out screaming loud and waving their swords and nunchakuslike they think they know how to use them, only to be clobbered by the herowithin a second or two.This film is good if you are under 10 years old and like movies where noneof the good guys die and all of the bad guys die. True Lies may have beenlike that too but it does it with STYLE.Another dumb aspect of American "Ninja" 5 is most of the lines areretarded.Example: After the boy Hiro manages to clobber a couple of ninja thugs(asifa twelve year old could beat up a "ninja"), and rides on top of a wheeledtable which the hero uses as a battering ram through the thugs, one of themreports to his boss:"the boy was this big, but he had the strength of tenmen" as if he was describing an encounter with a deadlyalien.So in conclusion, for mindless hokey fun, this is a good movie. For goodquality action flick, this is pure dumbness at its best.

(2013-05-13 15:00:46)

Don't be fooled by the title, American Ninja 5 does not exist.

When I heard of American Ninja 5 for the first time a few years ago, I thought to myself, I loved the first 4, I got to find this one. Well it's a good thing I didn't since I saw it one late night on Spike TV. Apparently it's a kiddie martial arts movie much more similar to 3 Ninjas than American Ninja. What made the people who made this movie decide to deceive people into thinking that this kid friendly ninja movie is a sequel to the rated R action of American Ninja 1-4? I suppose they wanted to capatalize on the success on 3 Ninjas and slap on the title of American Ninja at the same time actually thinking they would make more money or something. It's not rated R, and David Bradley doesn't even play Sean Davidson this time. Maybe Michael Dudikoff wasn't available this time again like in part 3 and they thought, everyone wants to see a kid friendly movie instead of the 2 American ninjas teaming up again. What a joke. Instead they team up Bradley as a new character with a 10 year old who, although good at martial arts, but c'mon, he's 10. And if I remember correctly, there was actually ninja on rollerskates in this movie. Oh yeah, and the leader ninja actually wears a cape. Ninja don't wear capes. He looked more like an Asian Dr. Strange then a ninja. I had heard the original title for this was actually American Dragons. It even had that title when it was on Spike TV. It must have done so bad that before they shipped it to stores they probably changed the title to grab fans of the American Ninja films. Luckily, I was not sucked in, I didn't buy this dvd, I wouldn't even buy it for a dollar. I might take it for free just to sell it to someone I hate. Actually, I wouldn't subject anybody to see this and would use it as a coaster instead. I wish I could give this 0 stars because it makes me so upset. Please, I do recommend the first 4 American Ninjas which I have on dvd, but don't get this. Just look at the ridiculous cover and know it's terrible. There's a reason I only mention American Ninja 1-4 to anybody and never mention this. Because this is not a sequel! This has nothing to do with the first 4 films! Remember that! Actually don't! Pretend this doesn't exist like I do.

Funky A

(2013-05-13 20:40:25)

Hey, the guys at the video store put this comedy in the action section!

Hum... This movie is the worst in many categories... First of all, it hasthe worst music I have ever heard in a movie... It is a collection of cheapkeyboard beats inspired by video games from the Nintendo game console... Ithink... It also has the most annoying character younger than 14 years oldever. Young Anakin Skywalker from Episode One teaming up with JeffGoldblum's daughter in The Lost World: Jurassic Park are less annoying thanthe 12 years-old Hiro in this movie. And it has some of the worst actionscenes ever put on film. In one scene near the beginning, David Bradley"kicks a guy in the face", even if is foot clearly kicks the air. But whatis really bad, apart from all those revealing mistakes, is the actionitself. Ninjas jump out of a bush and get a kick in the face before going onthe ground and never coming up. These scenes look likes they are comingstraight out of an old karate video game. The script is more than poor, itis pathetic. Oh! Did I mention the acting? Really bad... really reallybad... Probably the worst I have seen since Revenge of The RadioactiveReporter. The actors are absolutely ridiculous, and not one single line inthe movie is convincing... One of those "so bad it's funny"movies...6%

(2013-05-12 22:59:32)

SIGH!

SIGH! WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY? IT TRIES TO BE A COMEDY BUT I WAS DEPRESSED. BRADLEY? HE CAN'T ACT.