American Ninja was the other series of cult-classic martial arts/Ninja movies (the other being the Ninja Trilogy, Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and Ninja III: The Domination, which starred Sho Koshugi) that were put out in the 1980s by Cannon films and Golan-Globus productions. The plot is set around the character of Joe Armstrong, played by Michael Dudikoff, in one of his early roles, a Private on an American military base in the Phillppines. When a convoy moving not only weapons but the daughter of the base's colonel (played by Julie Aronson) is attacked by rebels and a band of evil ninjas, Joe is forced to fight to save the Colonel's daughter. From there, the movie becomes a mix of an action-drama, a romance story, and a story of a reluctant hero. The rest of the main cast includes Steve James as Corporal Curtis Jackson, Don Stewart, as a French arms dealer, Victor Ortega, Tadashi Yamashita (who had black belts in multiple martial arts styles) as the Black Star Ninja, and John LaMota, as Master Sargent Rinaldo.
The blu-ray, which was released in 2016, got a decent A/V transfer, so it is definitely an upgrade from the VHS version, which many people who are old enough to remember the movie probably owned. There are a handful of extras that were made for the 2016 release, including a commentary track that is basically a conversation between producer Elijah Drenner and the director of the movie Sam Firstenberg (who also directed Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja III) that provides a lot of details about the production of the movie and a lot of interesting tidbits, including the fact that the movie was originally developed for Chuck Norris, who passed on the role because he did not want to have his face covered. Then, there is a 22-minute behind-the-scenes/making-of featurette that includes interviews with Dudikoff, Firstenberg, Aronson, and the stunt coordinator, Steve Lambert, and the theatrical trailer.
Ultimately, this is a movie that is mostly an action movie that will appeal to those who were kids or young adults in the 1980s. The story is pretty cookie-cutter and the script was nothing to write home about. Dudikoff, who had no martial arts training before he was cast in the movie, actually does a very good job in the action sequences, and did a lot of the fight work himself. He actually looked very fluid and looked like he had practiced martial arts for years (unlike Franco Nero in Enter the Ninja who looked absolutely awful in the fight sequences he performed). The problem with this movie is that the script was pretty bad, and Dudikoff had to play Armstrong with almost no personality. Steve James and Phil Brock (who played the comic relief in the movie) probably had the best material to work with. It very much feels like a low-budget 1980s action movie and would probably not be made the same way today as it was back then. But, if you accept the fact that you are not going to see an Academy Award-winning drama and accept it for what it is, it is enjoyable.
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