American Ninja is hands down Michael Dudikoff's greatest moment in film. (Okay he has two films, Avenging Force and The Silencer that are actually legit decent B.movies but still) Indeed watching Michael Dudikoff completely try and do his best James Dean impression alone makes American Ninja the greatest ninja movie ever made. (At least in my opinion.) Also what makes American Ninja so brillant isn't so much the action sequences (which are pretty enjoyable) but that the musical score is so daft and completely ridiculous that American Ninja is a can't miss, in terms of utter brillance.

"He posess great skills!"

Another aspect of American Ninja is that, like Cyborg, this also a Golan and Globus combined effort, and these men of cheese delivered the finest gouda this side of Holland and American Ninja doesn't disappoint. Let me explain that a ninja actually tips a palm tree over a car to prevent the damsel in distress from escaping. The ninjas somehow manage to kill soldiers armed with bows and arrows, however being that the soldiers are no marksmen we see them fire M16s only hitting one ninja. (Are they sure this wasn't the Coast Guard?) In anycase Dudikoff opens a can of whup ass on these ninjas and apparently he's a ninja because uses a tire changing kit to destroy 5 ninjas (Okay they're armed thugs dressed as construction workers) but Michael Dudikoff is a quick one, one said guard tries to wack the Dudmesiter with his machine gun, and the Dudmeister ducks causing the construction guard/hijacker to fall flat on his ass. Priceless.

"How do you like that numbnuts?"

Of course the ass-kicking portion more then makes up for any slow spots this (non)script has. For instance we get a completely impressive (if not a tad too hokey) climax where the black star ninja uses lasers, fire and all kinds of cool ninja contraptions to take down our only Ninja to defend the American way, however America never tolerates a loser so our hero (straight from the Reagan era) isn't going to go down with a fight and although I'm not going to completely spoil it, just let me imply that Michael Dudikoff made an American Ninja 2 (On par with this) and American Ninja 4 (Not fun-bad, just bad bad.) However what is most impressive is that Dudikoff never really posesses the fanciest footwork to get everyone to think he's a ninja but Michael Dudikoff's James Dean like impression is to get us by that prior to filming, Dudikoff had no martial arts training. Still there is something about his last name, Dudikoff, Dudikoff, Dudikoff which made him a star. I mean you know the guy has to be a tough motherfucker if his last name is Dudikoff. That and this movie.

"I think I touched something!"

However Steve James is there also and he does pull off the Ironside Agenda. He is easily the most charismatic and likable actors in the movie. I mean Dudikoff gives the second best performance in the movie, so you know right there that we are dealing with actors who are terrible. I mean there is an actor named Guich Koock. Also a guy who speaks with an embarrassingly bad french accent. Which leads to "American, american ninja, I want to negoitate!" not to mention a damsel in distress who was most likely chosen because of how hot she was, but she sadly never shows us her goods, because it must've not been in her contract. However to make up for this sad turn of events, Dudikoff goes through out the film hardly ever wearing a shirt.

"Let's get out of here this place stinks!"

Another aspect of this is the whole Ninja theme, which basically make this a timeless artifact of the 80's. I mean few things were as prominent as ninjas and breakdancing and Sam Firstenberg gave us both of best worlds, in giving us the Breakin series, this and it's sequel as well as Ninja III:The Domination which combined the elements! Thankfully nobody sports a mullet and seeing Dudikoff's awkwardness of showing his buff torso is something that makes this the perfect flick to watch on a rainy night. Indeed I own all four of these movies on DVDs and hands down this is my favorite guilty pleasure.

"Have you ever heard of ninjisu, sir?"
"Of course I have!"

So go out and see it, cause if you don't, cause life is precious and I don't think anyone can afford to die without seeing this movie at least once. Oh and it gets better on repeat viewings. There's a reason why I own it on DVD. So get off your duff and see it, it's the perfect 80's martial arts flick. After all it's better than most Chuck Norris flicks. Then again though what isn't?

"Then he shall die!"

Oh and the dialog is priceless too.

Hamlin Grade: 7

Ryan