American Ninja 5 (1993)

Garbage martial arts movie that has nothing to do with the previous four American Ninja films, despite the title. This was originally called American Dragons but Cannon changed the name to reap whatever limited rewards they could from having it associated with the American Ninja series. Note David Bradley's character name is different from his previous appearances in the series. The plot to this stinker has "American Ninja" Joe (David Bradley) teaming up with Hiro (Lee Reyes, brother of Ernie Jr.), a young man whose granduncle (Pat Morita) wants him to learn to be a ninja. The two must rescue a girl from a ponytailed villain called Viper. Stupid stuff. Lacks any of the cheesy appeal of the American Ninja movies that starred Michael Dudikoff. Not even Mr. Miyagi can save this one. Good for some mockery I suppose.

OK i agree that this movie is the worst of the series. It looses almost all American Ninja traditions and has a really cheep plot. It have turned from the action movie in to a family comedy and that is probably the worst thing about it. But i must admit it still was quite enjoyable to watch. It was funny and there still was a lot of ninja action and one or few chasing scenes. The actors did a great job. All the fans of the first four American ninja parts may be disappointed this time. It's a 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 be enjoyable for a different audience.

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

I hate this movie. It has absolutely nothing to do with any of the other American Ninja movies. It still has the mindless, bumbling ninjas that attack the star in usually poorly choreographed fight scenes, except now everything has been toned down for PG-13, smarmy, Kodak moment/comedic schtick.David Bradley should be ashamed of himself. He is not cast as "Joe Armstrong" of the other movies, but as "Joe Kastle." An entirely new character that had nothing to do with any of the other movies. Not as "Sean Davidson," his previously dopey character. Did the writers think that we wouldn't notice this?Most of the young Reyes kid's stunts are done by a big fat white guy stuntman. The reason I know this is because the camera makes it painfully obvious every time. The dialogue is corny, and David Bradley's comedic lines are absolutely wretched. The plot almost exactly mirrors part 2's plot: Mean rich guy with an accent that deals with other evil rich guys with accents has a "brilliant" scientist (with an accent) working for him to make some super chemical that will allow him to rule the world. Scientist with accent cannot quit or runaway because mean rich boss with accent has kidnapped his daughter (who does NOT have an accent.) American Ninja gets wrapped up in this fiasco by incredible luck and circumstances.The "Super Ninja" of this movie is a vampire looking guy (James Lew) that farts everytime he appears or disappears. Pat Morita rounds out the cast in three scenes where his presence is entirely useless to the plot.Most importantly, this movie suffers the most from one very large flaw, just like part 3: Micheal Dudikoff's entirely unemotive acting and hilarious fight sequences are not present. Thank Goodness he had the smarts to end it with part 4.