I just watched American Ninja for the first time in years. Spectacular. What makes this movie so great? I’ll start with some sample dialog:
Army Colonel: Jackson! Have you had a chance to check the wounds?
Stereotypical Black Army Guy: Yes sir, I have.
AC: Well, what is it?
SBAG: Have you ever heard of ninjitsu, sir?
AC: What’s that?
SBAG: The secret art of asassination.
AC: Yeah, of course I have!
SBAG: Well according to witness testimony and evidence, this massacre was the work of ninjas.
AC: ninjas? hm.
If that doesn’t convince you, my timely review of the movie will:
“An American Ninja? What are you talking about? There is no such thing!”
Implausible as it may sound, this movie revolves entirely around the life of an American Ninja. Can you believe it? Everyone knows it is punishable by death for a ninja to teach his secrets to Westerners. But, Sam Firstenberg, director of “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo”, crafts a convincing backstory to explain how this American Ninja came to be.
American Ninja centers around Joe (Michael Dudikoff), a man with no past who was discovered with complete amnesia as a child on an island in the Pacific by a construction crew. Before being found on the island and returned to America, Joe was befriended by a stranded Japanese soldier (played by John Fujioka, who would later show of his ninja skills once again in Mortal Kombat) who taught him the ways of the ninja. But this isn’t just a simple action movie about ninjas. Set in the Philippines, the action and social commentary quickly get underway when rebels attack Joe’s U.S. Army convoy. Rebel attacks in the Philippines are still a problem today (see Cavite). You quickly learn that the rebels are being led by a mysterious businessman who also has a team of ninjas working for him!
I don’t want to give away the whole story, but in less than two hours this movie comments on the rampant problems that U.S. soldiers have with ninjas, corruption within the U.S. Army, the disproportionately large number of southerners in high-ranking military positions, the ineffectiveness of machine guns, Hispanic people buying WMDs on the black market, and most importantly – the need for a black supporting actor to balance out a movie.
Fresh off of his rousing performance as a hospital intern in Mask, Steve James paves the for black buddy actors Louis Gossett Jr. and Danny Glover as Joe’s rival-turned-buddy after he challenges Joe to a fight and gets his ass kicked in front of everyone. Even the action sequences have an underlying message. Rather than spend money on expensive fight choreographers, Firstenberg opts to use the same play-fight choreography you used as a kid when you pretended to be a ninja, driving home the point that you look like an idiot when you pretend to be a ninja and you should stop trying. Judie Aronson is somewhat forgettable as Patricia, the unnecessary love interest who also happens to be the Colonel’s daughter. Patricia’s awkward delivery meshes well with her unnecessary lines and inappropriate screams. She does, however, manage to keep her clothes on for the entire movie at a time when all action movies required T&A or at least a little T.
Overall, the movie manages to cover too much ground in a very short time by cutting dialog down to a minimum and using abrupt scene changes to rush you through the loose plot without having to sit there forever. All of this is accomplished AND there are still points that are so slow that your mind wanders, giving you time to reflect on your day rather than being constantly bombarded by a movie. It’s no surprise that story writer Gideon Amir turned down all other writing offers for the rest of his career to focus on American Ninja 2 & 3. Though unfortunate that Amir was too exhausted by American Ninja 3 to participate in parts 4 and 5, he gave us the epic American Ninja Trilogy, and we should be thankful for that.
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
(Watch the trailer)
Oh yeah and Austin peoples: study up on this. I’m going to be making references to this movie for weeks, which includes the Nov. 10th-12th weekend when I will be in Austin once again.
