35 reviews
This is an inferior outing with plenty of action , adventures , fights and suspense in a comic book style . New and last entry in which the tough American Ninja encounters ample reasons and opportunity to use his deadly skills . David Bradley starred fourth installment in "American Ninja" series titled ¨American Ninja: Annihilation (1990)¨ by Cedric Sundstrom with David Bradley, James Booth , Ken Gampu , going on this ¨American Ninja 5¨(1993) with Pat Morita , Lee Reyes , Norman Burton . This ¨American Ninja 5¨ has little to do with former entries , it explains why star David Bradley performs Joe , a different role than the Sean Davidson character he played in ¨American Ninja 3 : Blood Hunt¨and ¨American Ninja 4: The Annihilation¨. In ¨American Ninja 5¨ there're lots of karate combats , fighting and full of suspense and thrills . When a scientist's daughter is kidnapped , American Ninja , Joe Kastle (David Bradley), attempts to find her , but this time he teams up with an annoying brat , a youngster named Hiro (Lee Reyes) he has trained in the ways of the ninja . Kastle and his young sidekickset out in rescue of their friend , Lisa (Anne Dupont) , who has been captured , and being mistreated by some hoodlums .They attempt to free her , held for blackmail in the fortress of a villainous ruler , the nefarious Glock (von Franckenstein) , featuring an army of training Ninjas who obey the chief's every command . There a scientific is refusing to work on a potentially dangerous project , but this scientist results to be Lisa's father , who's coerced to develop a deadly insecticide , in order to plan a formula to use as a lethal military weapon . Of course , the villainous tyrant is supported by bands of implacable ninjas commanded by the evil Viper (Lew) . So Joe and Hiro must go through a series of dangers and confontations to execute their risked mission . As they'll wipe out a passel of violent Ninjas , as the relenting pair running afoul while facing off evil criminals . The two-fisted American Ninja Joe Kastle must take on deadly terrorist contenders , but then , things go wrong . Now his most deadly enemy ... is time. Evil with no cure. A warrior with no fear. The Magic Power of the Ninja Is About to Reveal Itself...
Lots of action , thrills , non-sense fighting and plenty of silly intrigue . This time the 'The American Ninja' David Bradley to do battle a sadistic terrorist along with his band of Ninjas and along the way , showing their impressive karate skills . As Joe Kastle joins a little boy against an army of violent Ninjas and his ruthless chiefs who are planning a fiendish global terrorist venom , threatening the world peace with horrifying disasters ; as our brave protagonists must save the kidnapped girlfriend and to stop terrible schemes . Of course , the main amusement results to be the breathtaking fights between the valiant heroes against the super-Nijas dressed in black, hooded , a blade on the back and using Shinkaisen, a metallized star they throw . Meanwhile , Joe and Hiro forge an intimate , agreeable friendship filled with wisdom , oriental philosophy and hard training based on the ways of the ninja . It's a gripping story of one man's feat and his short-aged partner , both of whom undertaking a dangerous rescue , including graphic violent scenes . At the beginning this movie was not originally intended to be part of the American Ninja series ; however , producers : Ovidio G. Assonitis , Bob Bralver and Perlmutter , changing of mind . The film displays a Norris' style , but Chuck does it much better . This low-key art-martial film is the firth entry about a heroe , the brave Joe Kastle along with his proficient very young sidekick , all of them executing a difficult mission . Stars David Bradley who is beefy as ever by playing a valiant karate man utilizing efficiently his deadly skills , and replacing the always good-looking , attractive Michael Dudikoff . And co-starred by the sympathetic Lee Reyes , brother of the most known Ernie Reyes who at the time starred various chop-socky movies . And some B-secondaries such as : James Lew , Marc Fiorini , Yamashita , Norman Burton and Clement von Franckenstein boasting his badness with hammy panache . Special appearance by Pat Morita, the famous Sensei plays briefly when he pawns off his "grand-nephew" Hiro on Joe and leaves to go to Greece for a vacation. Entertaining , though pedestrian -at times- screenplay , very loosely based on characters created by Avi Kleinberger and Gideon Amir . Atmospheric musical score composed by synthesizer in similar style to previous entries and functional cinematography . The film was lousily produced/directed by Bob Bralver , he's a low-grade expert about art-martial and Ninjas sub-genre , rip-offs and second-class films.
¨American Ninja¨ has various entries starred by Michael Dudikoff , subsequently replaced by David Bradley and Steve James , being mostly directed by Firstemberg and Cedric Sundstrom . As the American Ninja series is formed by the following ones : the first two "American Ninja" series entries produced in middling/low budget by Yoran Globus and Menahem Golan, Cannon Productions , ¨American Ninja I¨ (1985) by Sam Firstemberg with Michael Dudikoff , Steve James . ¨American Ninja 2¨ (1987) by Sam Firstemberg with Michael Dudikoff , Steve James , Larry Poindexter , Gary Conway , Jeff Celentano . ¨American Ninja 3 : Blood Hunt¨(1989) , here Michael Dudikoff turned down the lead role in this film for various reasons , among them being the fact that he didn't want to get burned out on martial-arts movies , being replaced by David Bradley , along with Steve James , but David Bradley's character was originally offered to Kurt McKinney, who turned it down for fear of being typecast as a martial-arts actor. ¨American Ninja IV¨ (1980) by Cedric Sundstrom with David Bradley , Michael Dudikoff , James Booth , Ken Gampu , Robin Stille and here the late Steve James who early died of pancreatic cancer is substituted . And ¨American Ninja 5¨ (2003) by Bob Bralvel with David Bradley , Lee Reyes , Pat Morita , Anne Dupont , James Lew , Clement von Franckenstein , this film was not originally intended to be part of the American Ninja series . As Cannon Pictures : Menahem Golan , Yoram Globus made it under the title American Dragons but the title was modified to American Ninja V before release .
Lots of action , thrills , non-sense fighting and plenty of silly intrigue . This time the 'The American Ninja' David Bradley to do battle a sadistic terrorist along with his band of Ninjas and along the way , showing their impressive karate skills . As Joe Kastle joins a little boy against an army of violent Ninjas and his ruthless chiefs who are planning a fiendish global terrorist venom , threatening the world peace with horrifying disasters ; as our brave protagonists must save the kidnapped girlfriend and to stop terrible schemes . Of course , the main amusement results to be the breathtaking fights between the valiant heroes against the super-Nijas dressed in black, hooded , a blade on the back and using Shinkaisen, a metallized star they throw . Meanwhile , Joe and Hiro forge an intimate , agreeable friendship filled with wisdom , oriental philosophy and hard training based on the ways of the ninja . It's a gripping story of one man's feat and his short-aged partner , both of whom undertaking a dangerous rescue , including graphic violent scenes . At the beginning this movie was not originally intended to be part of the American Ninja series ; however , producers : Ovidio G. Assonitis , Bob Bralver and Perlmutter , changing of mind . The film displays a Norris' style , but Chuck does it much better . This low-key art-martial film is the firth entry about a heroe , the brave Joe Kastle along with his proficient very young sidekick , all of them executing a difficult mission . Stars David Bradley who is beefy as ever by playing a valiant karate man utilizing efficiently his deadly skills , and replacing the always good-looking , attractive Michael Dudikoff . And co-starred by the sympathetic Lee Reyes , brother of the most known Ernie Reyes who at the time starred various chop-socky movies . And some B-secondaries such as : James Lew , Marc Fiorini , Yamashita , Norman Burton and Clement von Franckenstein boasting his badness with hammy panache . Special appearance by Pat Morita, the famous Sensei plays briefly when he pawns off his "grand-nephew" Hiro on Joe and leaves to go to Greece for a vacation. Entertaining , though pedestrian -at times- screenplay , very loosely based on characters created by Avi Kleinberger and Gideon Amir . Atmospheric musical score composed by synthesizer in similar style to previous entries and functional cinematography . The film was lousily produced/directed by Bob Bralver , he's a low-grade expert about art-martial and Ninjas sub-genre , rip-offs and second-class films.
¨American Ninja¨ has various entries starred by Michael Dudikoff , subsequently replaced by David Bradley and Steve James , being mostly directed by Firstemberg and Cedric Sundstrom . As the American Ninja series is formed by the following ones : the first two "American Ninja" series entries produced in middling/low budget by Yoran Globus and Menahem Golan, Cannon Productions , ¨American Ninja I¨ (1985) by Sam Firstemberg with Michael Dudikoff , Steve James . ¨American Ninja 2¨ (1987) by Sam Firstemberg with Michael Dudikoff , Steve James , Larry Poindexter , Gary Conway , Jeff Celentano . ¨American Ninja 3 : Blood Hunt¨(1989) , here Michael Dudikoff turned down the lead role in this film for various reasons , among them being the fact that he didn't want to get burned out on martial-arts movies , being replaced by David Bradley , along with Steve James , but David Bradley's character was originally offered to Kurt McKinney, who turned it down for fear of being typecast as a martial-arts actor. ¨American Ninja IV¨ (1980) by Cedric Sundstrom with David Bradley , Michael Dudikoff , James Booth , Ken Gampu , Robin Stille and here the late Steve James who early died of pancreatic cancer is substituted . And ¨American Ninja 5¨ (2003) by Bob Bralvel with David Bradley , Lee Reyes , Pat Morita , Anne Dupont , James Lew , Clement von Franckenstein , this film was not originally intended to be part of the American Ninja series . As Cannon Pictures : Menahem Golan , Yoram Globus made it under the title American Dragons but the title was modified to American Ninja V before release .
I can live with David Bradley being a bad actor and all, but when just everything else is just as terrible as his acting, it starts to get real ugly. American Ninja V is a great example of how some people just don't know when to stop. After the third movie, this series has been nothing more than a piece of crap. This last movie is the worst of them all. The action scenes (fight scenes, mainly) are very bad. The story is childish, stupid and totally uninteresting. I almost fell asleep several times during the movie, and even the action didn't make it any better. What is Pat Morita doing in this disaster? I guess his quality control was out of function the day he signed up for this one.
I've been seeing lots of movies on the bottom 100 list lately and they have been getting steadily worse, the last one, Th underground comedy movie was just horrible. American Ninja 5 though, is far too good for that list. Sure, the dialog is stupid, the plot is stupid, the action is lame, and he actors can't act but it's fun. You really have to see this as a comedy (a much funnier one than many of the actual comedies on the list) which is made abundantly clear by he use of light hearted music in all the action scenes. I would like to give this film a higher score than 3 out of 10 but I can't ignore the fact that it is a bad film, in pretty much every way. American Ninja 5 is in essence a "so bad it's good" movie but doesn't quite get there.
I havn't seen the other four films, but judging from the nature of this one, I assume the other four were something like it. The worst part of this horrible film are the ninja thugs that the hero beats up like it is an everyday hobby. In the first place, the "ninja" thugs do NOT 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 with STEALTH and SILENCE. The thugs here dress up in the most cheesy and plain costumes and come out screaming loud and waving their swords and nunchakus like they think they know how to use them, only to be clobbered by the hero within a second or two. This film is good if you are under 10 years old and like movies where none of the good guys die and all of the bad guys die. True Lies may have been like that too but it does it with STYLE. Another dumb aspect of American "Ninja" 5 is most of the lines are retarded. Example: After the boy Hiro manages to clobber a couple of ninja thugs(as if a twelve year old could beat up a "ninja"), and rides on top of a wheeled table which the hero uses as a battering ram through the thugs, one of them reports to his boss:"the boy was this big, but he had the strength of ten men" as if he was describing an encounter with a deadly alien. So in conclusion, for mindless hokey fun, this is a good movie. For good quality action flick, this is pure dumbness at its best.
This is probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The plot isn't more ridiculous than many other b-action movies, what makes this movie worse than all others are the pitiful acting from actors whom never should have been allowed to enter a set. These actors actually make soap opera actors seem like academy award winners. As if this wasn't enough you have to see the worst "karate" scens ever shot. The only thing they ever hit is air. All this is captured on what seems to be a hand camera.
Whatever you do DON'T watch this movie... try doing something more fun and less painfull during these 1.5 hours, like ripping of your pubic hair with a pair of tweezers.
(1 / 10)
Whatever you do DON'T watch this movie... try doing something more fun and less painfull during these 1.5 hours, like ripping of your pubic hair with a pair of tweezers.
(1 / 10)
Take it for what it is... The movie has got bad writing and semi bad acting.. 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 action flick.... I think the lead actor is pretty decent, but overlooking his work judged by IMDb, one can't be impressed. If you see it for what it is, it is a mindless no thinking action movie. It is the perfect movie for a hangover. A plus for the movie is seeing the legendary Pat Morita, even though only for a small part, but it is nice to see the old martial arts expert on film again.. the setting of the movie is really nice, it takes place in the Caribbean or something. It is always nice to see views like those.
- weiland_49
- Apr 5, 2007
- Permalink
I have no idea what to say about this movie.
It's clearly it's own idea just added the title just to lure American ninja fans to buy this razzie movie.
David Bradley is back but not as Sean but as Joe, and this Joe is not found in the jungle, he has miyagi as his teacher and he use to have a brother named jimmy witch was never mentioned in the other movies.
And to top it all, he has to take care of miyagis nephew who is a home alone wannabe, what is with the early 90s movies to make kids annoyed and better than adults. It's ok once but not many.
This movie is not an American ninja movie, the series ended with American ninja 4.
It's clearly it's own idea just added the title just to lure American ninja fans to buy this razzie movie.
David Bradley is back but not as Sean but as Joe, and this Joe is not found in the jungle, he has miyagi as his teacher and he use to have a brother named jimmy witch was never mentioned in the other movies.
And to top it all, he has to take care of miyagis nephew who is a home alone wannabe, what is with the early 90s movies to make kids annoyed and better than adults. It's ok once but not many.
This movie is not an American ninja movie, the series ended with American ninja 4.
- euroasiangenetic
- Nov 11, 2018
- Permalink
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.
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.
- revolvingdoordecapitation
- Aug 10, 2003
- Permalink
Hum... This movie is the worst in many categories... First of all, it has the worst music I have ever heard in a movie... It is a collection of cheap keyboard beats inspired by video games from the Nintendo game console... I think... It also has the most annoying character younger than 14 years old ever. Young Anakin Skywalker from Episode One teaming up with Jeff Goldblum's daughter in The Lost World: Jurassic Park are less annoying than the 12 years-old Hiro in this movie. And it has some of the worst action scenes 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 what is really bad, apart from all those revealing mistakes, is the action itself. Ninjas jump out of a bush and get a kick in the face before going on the ground and never coming up. These scenes look likes they are coming straight out of an old karate video game. The script is more than poor, it is pathetic. Oh! Did I mention the acting? Really bad... really really bad... Probably the worst I have seen since Revenge of The Radioactive Reporter. The actors are absolutely ridiculous, and not one single line in the movie is convincing... One of those "so bad it's funny" movies...
6%
6%
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 zingers which had me laughing non stop. American Ninja V is an instant classic that I had hoped would go down in history as one of the great action-comedies. The expertly choreographed fight scenes keep your heart pumping and your mind at all times completely at a loss for who is fighting who and why. This unique style is both ground breaking and a pleasure to watch. The dialogue is very witty and surprisingly full of rich subtext. For example, when the male and female leads are escaping from an army of ninjas, the female comically remarks, "Ladies first!" (Ba-Zing!). This seemingly one-dimensional and inane one liner actually reveals the film's deeper message of female empowerment and social equality. Another example of this emotionally layered narrative is the small Asian child's swift transformation into a fat white man during the stellar chase sequences. I recommend American Ninja V to everyone I meet. It is one of the classics that redefined the way I watch films.
- ravesandmovies
- Nov 16, 2012
- Permalink
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.
Remember how awesome the 90's were? This movie encapsulates the 90's completely in an all out ninja assault. What can I say about this cinematic masterpiece? The way David Bradley swiftly knock out any ninja without even being hit once shows that he is truly a master of martial arts to be rivaled by none. And the bond forged between his character Joe Kastle and his tiny sidekick companion Hiro is breathtaking and emotional. Each character uses their own abilities separately at the start of the movie to help each other out but then bond as one ninja super force when Joe teaches Hiro the way of the ninja in under a day. Forget Joe Armstrong and Sean Davidson! They have nothing to do with this movie because David Bradley uses his amazing skills as a thespian to switch between roles in a series where hes already played as a prominent character. Joe Kastle is the best thing to happen to this series, if you don't own this movie you'll get cancer and die in your own feces.
- dinobotbeforehewasgood
- Feb 8, 2009
- Permalink
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.
- kurciasbezdalas
- Aug 1, 2008
- Permalink
Many years ago I saw parts 1 and 2 of the series and they were average action movies without great plots going on, ok but they were fun to see. Out of casuality, I was looking for info on the sequels here and read the terrible comments on this one, and out of casuality again, they showed it on local tv a few days ago. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING in this movie is good except for the landscapes of my country, which made me wonder how much did they spend travelling here to film such a piece of garbage. Terrible acting, laughable absurd fighting, predictable crappy plot, and it doesn't connect to the series at all. Oh boy, if any of you is reading this whithout having seen the movie, please don't see it EVER.
Readers of my user comments will see that I reviewed the first four "American Ninja" movies years ago, but I only got around to reviewing the last entry just now. Hope it was worth the wait. Speaking of waiting, it wasn't worth the wait for me to track down and watch a copy of this movie.
The action, the main attraction of a movie like this, is very lame. There is only one real martial arts battle in the first 30 minutes of the movie. When the action does start coming, there is nothing exciting or special about the martial arts sequences. The movie is also not very well made. There are signs that footage is missing from the movie - either it was lost or never filmed, leaving to some question marks such as how Bradley's character severs the chain on his handcuffs. But even if the missing footage was here, the movie would still suffer from a badly written screenplay - there's barely a plot here, and it crawls at a snail's pace, with plenty of scenes seemingly only there to pad out the running time.
I suppose Bradley gives one of his better performances, though he's still not a very compelling actor. And it's always good to see Pat Morita, though he only gets three short scenes. But even with that stuff, the movie will still have even dedicated martial arts movie fans squirming in their seats.
The action, the main attraction of a movie like this, is very lame. There is only one real martial arts battle in the first 30 minutes of the movie. When the action does start coming, there is nothing exciting or special about the martial arts sequences. The movie is also not very well made. There are signs that footage is missing from the movie - either it was lost or never filmed, leaving to some question marks such as how Bradley's character severs the chain on his handcuffs. But even if the missing footage was here, the movie would still suffer from a badly written screenplay - there's barely a plot here, and it crawls at a snail's pace, with plenty of scenes seemingly only there to pad out the running time.
I suppose Bradley gives one of his better performances, though he's still not a very compelling actor. And it's always good to see Pat Morita, though he only gets three short scenes. But even with that stuff, the movie will still have even dedicated martial arts movie fans squirming in their seats.
While this film isn't part of the actual 'American Ninja' cannon since it has nothing to do with the previous four films in the supposed series, I really didn't care. After all, NONE of these film have decent ratings (the highest current on has a score of 4.8) and they are all apparently sub-par. However, the most incredibly sub-par of them all is this film, "American Ninja V", which has the distinction of being so universally hated that it made the IMDb Bottom 100 list--and that is why I chose to watch it. You see, I occasionally like a really bad film--it gives you a good laugh at the filmmakers' expense! This film has one cliché that makes it hard to like. No, it's not ninjas--it's insufferable kids who come along to help the hero. Not only is this kid an annoying brat, but he also is a bad actor...like most of the folks in the film. This is a problem, as most folks coming to see the film probably ended up rooting for him to get killed! A modern ninja (David Bradley) is asked to watch some brat (Hiro--Lee Reyes). Almost immediately, they get sucked into an international conspiracy involving a crazed general, weapons of mass destruction, purple ninjas and some cartoon-like baddie in a black and red outfit with a cape! They end up in Venezuela (which might well explain the current state of poor relations between this country and the US) and get their butts kicked. Then, the mysterious Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita--and yes, I know he is not really playing Miyagi here) shows up an announces that the talentless kid is really the son of a great ninja master and that he has powers that have not yet been tapped--secret ninja training his dead father taught him when he was very, very young(???). And, there is a short montage with Bradley and Reyes training and BAM, the kid is a super-ninja! Well, at least that's what they want us to believe--neither appear particularly skilled in martial arts. And the two 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. The story and acting are dumb. And, the martial arts action is lousy. In fact, I could easily see Asians watching this and becoming angry that the US could produce a film with absolutely no one with good martial arts skills. Well, perhaps not--as I have seen a lot of martial arts films and bad martial arts films are unfortunately relatively common. And this brings me to a problem with ranking this bad film among the horrid Bottom 100 list. The Asians have made a lot of martial arts films and have produced a few that are FAR WORSE than this film. For every Sonny Chiba or Bruce Lee film, there are others that simply are terrible. My favorite of these horrid films featured guys using 3 foot tongues to fight AND they had gorillas (guys in cheap gorilla suits) who also did wretched kung fu! So, no matter how stupid "American Ninja V" is, it isn't even close to the worst the Far East has to offer. The big difference is that "American Ninja V" has a much wider audience and therefore is easier to notice and hate! For the life of me, I sure wish I could remember the name of the film with kung fu gorillas and the guys with the huge tongues--I'd love to see it again! I remember how the punches and kicks often weren't even within a foot of the intended victim! It made "American Ninja V" look like "Gone With the Wind" in comparison!! If you can place the title, drop me a line. I am SURE it's a real film and I am not hallucinating about it! Cartoon-like villains and special effects
This film has neither element needed in a good martial arts film. The story and acting are dumb. And, the martial arts action is lousy. In fact, I could easily see Asians watching this and becoming angry that the US could produce a film with absolutely no one with good martial arts skills. Well, perhaps not--as I have seen a lot of martial arts films and bad martial arts films are unfortunately relatively common. And this brings me to a problem with ranking this bad film among the horrid Bottom 100 list. The Asians have made a lot of martial arts films and have produced a few that are FAR WORSE than this film. For every Sonny Chiba or Bruce Lee film, there are others that simply are terrible. My favorite of these horrid films featured guys using 3 foot tongues to fight AND they had gorillas (guys in cheap gorilla suits) who also did wretched kung fu! So, no matter how stupid "American Ninja V" is, it isn't even close to the worst the Far East has to offer. The big difference is that "American Ninja V" has a much wider audience and therefore is easier to notice and hate! For the life of me, I sure wish I could remember the name of the film with kung fu gorillas and the guys with the huge tongues--I'd love to see it again! I remember how the punches and kicks often weren't even within a foot of the intended victim! It made "American Ninja V" look like "Gone With the Wind" in comparison!! If you can place the title, drop me a line. I am SURE it's a real film and I am not hallucinating about it! Cartoon-like villains and special effects
- planktonrules
- Oct 30, 2011
- Permalink
- tarbosh22000
- Jan 5, 2012
- Permalink
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.
1/5 Matt Bronson Review brought to you courtesy of Spike TV and their midnight airing.
- bronsonskull72
- Mar 15, 2006
- Permalink
What is there to say. Without Mike, there can't be an American Ninja? The whole A.N. series slumped after part one but 5 was a major disaster. It had no story, no substance, no central idea and a lot of fake action.
Movies like this give movies a bad name.
Movies like this give movies a bad name.
- LastWord-2
- Aug 26, 1999
- Permalink
This movie has a PG-13 rating in America. Why? I don't know...
It should have been just PG for it's time and not the rating is TV-14. You can show this movie on any of the local stations without editing.
Of course it would be late night. I had no problems letting my kids watch this show. In fact it has less violence than today's cop shows and less adult situations than some stupid comedy on evening TV.
In fact I think the movie is up there with the Ninja Turtles. However, Ninja Turtles had better acting.
Yes you can watch this if there is nothing else on TV. However, I would rather take a nap.
It should have been just PG for it's time and not the rating is TV-14. You can show this movie on any of the local stations without editing.
Of course it would be late night. I had no problems letting my kids watch this show. In fact it has less violence than today's cop shows and less adult situations than some stupid comedy on evening TV.
In fact I think the movie is up there with the Ninja Turtles. However, Ninja Turtles had better acting.
Yes you can watch this if there is nothing else on TV. However, I would rather take a nap.
- lucasj007-478-446262
- Jul 20, 2013
- Permalink
David Bradley returns for the (thankfully) final time (Probably because Dudikoff wanted no part of this downward spiral of a series) to train a new pupil (The irritating Lee Reyes) in Ninjitsu and defeat the viscous Viper (James Lew) in this inept and utterly awful sequel. American Ninja V offers somehow less than what you would expect and martial arts fans such as I don't expect anything but lots of action. (Indeed I gave the first two AN flicks pretty good ratings all things considered.) However where as I knew American Ninja 4 existed (Prior to when I picked it up on DVD for a whopping 2 dollars!) back in the day, I had never heard of this particular chapter. 90 minutes later I still wish I hadn't. David Bradley is of course a dull actor and he isn't helped by a lame script or for that matter an irritating kid who's whining never stops. Indeed this feels more like a rip off of 3 Ninjas than an American Ninja sequel. American Ninja 5 is of course brain dead but also lacks the simple structure that a stupid martial arts movie should have. So I for one was completely bored by the lame action sequences and horrid story that took up the time. Pat Morita shows up in a cameo but let's face it his career jumped the shark after the Karate Kid films. The worst movie of the series and i'm a fan of the first two.
1/2* out of 4-(Awful)
1/2* out of 4-(Awful)
- fmarkland32
- Aug 15, 2007
- Permalink
Damn IF YOU EVER SEE THIS MOVIE FOR SALE FOR LIKE A DOLLAR, DON'T EVEN BREATH ON IT...
This whole movie is about some scientist who is going to create something this world never seen before...I believe we already saw that in American ninja 2 and 3, he doesn't obey and his daughter is now being kidnapped which happens to be David Bradleys girlfriend WHAT A SMALL WORLD WE LIVE IN!
And what's even more funny David Bradley character in this movie is called JOE...what a???
Joe??? Isn't that name from Michael Dudikoffs character in American Ninja 1, 2 and 4. Damn couldn't they come up with another name or at least keep his own name from American Ninja 3 and 4 (Sean Davidson) ...what a hell happened with him?
So now "Joe" has to rescue his girlfriend and a little kid comes along who can't stop whining and who is not afraid of weapons and the whole situation.
And this kid later becomes "JOE'S" little brother somehow I don't know.
you see this kid beat up 3 buff guys at once and he himself never gets beat up...BUT THAT'S Alright I GUESS CUZ HE'S STILL A KID AFTER ALL.
then when they're on a plane trying to escape the evil you see this kid sit down calm and fly this plane...yes this kid is ACTUALLY FLYING A PLANE HE CAN DO ANYTHING HE PUTS HIS MIND TO. having fun as he flies it...what a joke...who does he think he is CJ from San Andreas?
and the ninjas are much more stupid they deserve Oscars...they fly 10 feet up in the air of one punch...and waste all their bullets as they miss "JOE" the little kid and his girlfriend.
real bad acting I don't know what they were thinking when they made this movie...letting the kid look up the American embassy to come and rescue them all...yes what does a little kid know about that...and this kid is so smart he even knows the way to the embassy knowing he is on the other side of the globe.
"JOE" and this kid beat up everybody that comes in their way and the funny thing is they not even bothered about the whole situation they beat up these ninjas like it was a joke. It's completely a rip-off Ninja Kids. And what was the old man from karate kid doing in this movie...I'm not even gonna leave a comment on that.
SO EVERYBODY OUT THERE IF YOU'RE A FAN OF American NINJA DON'T SEE THIS MOVIE, STOP WATCHING AFTER THE 3RD ONE CUZ THIS MOVIE IS AWFUL...
0,5 OUT OF 10
This whole movie is about some scientist who is going to create something this world never seen before...I believe we already saw that in American ninja 2 and 3, he doesn't obey and his daughter is now being kidnapped which happens to be David Bradleys girlfriend WHAT A SMALL WORLD WE LIVE IN!
And what's even more funny David Bradley character in this movie is called JOE...what a???
Joe??? Isn't that name from Michael Dudikoffs character in American Ninja 1, 2 and 4. Damn couldn't they come up with another name or at least keep his own name from American Ninja 3 and 4 (Sean Davidson) ...what a hell happened with him?
So now "Joe" has to rescue his girlfriend and a little kid comes along who can't stop whining and who is not afraid of weapons and the whole situation.
And this kid later becomes "JOE'S" little brother somehow I don't know.
you see this kid beat up 3 buff guys at once and he himself never gets beat up...BUT THAT'S Alright I GUESS CUZ HE'S STILL A KID AFTER ALL.
then when they're on a plane trying to escape the evil you see this kid sit down calm and fly this plane...yes this kid is ACTUALLY FLYING A PLANE HE CAN DO ANYTHING HE PUTS HIS MIND TO. having fun as he flies it...what a joke...who does he think he is CJ from San Andreas?
and the ninjas are much more stupid they deserve Oscars...they fly 10 feet up in the air of one punch...and waste all their bullets as they miss "JOE" the little kid and his girlfriend.
real bad acting I don't know what they were thinking when they made this movie...letting the kid look up the American embassy to come and rescue them all...yes what does a little kid know about that...and this kid is so smart he even knows the way to the embassy knowing he is on the other side of the globe.
"JOE" and this kid beat up everybody that comes in their way and the funny thing is they not even bothered about the whole situation they beat up these ninjas like it was a joke. It's completely a rip-off Ninja Kids. And what was the old man from karate kid doing in this movie...I'm not even gonna leave a comment on that.
SO EVERYBODY OUT THERE IF YOU'RE A FAN OF American NINJA DON'T SEE THIS MOVIE, STOP WATCHING AFTER THE 3RD ONE CUZ THIS MOVIE IS AWFUL...
0,5 OUT OF 10
- sarajevo_07
- Jan 1, 2008
- Permalink
so this movie isn't actually a part of the American Ninja series.so the people behind this movie are guilty of capitalizing on the name of and popularity of the American Ninja brand.so what.they're not the first.if you can look beyond that,there's actually a pretty good little movie here.it's rated PG, so it's fairly family friendly.i thought the fight scenes were actually pretty good.the acting was also decent enough.the story is a familiar one.there a bit of the Karate Kid thrown in the mix,and i think based based on what i've read,there may be elements of The 3 Ninjas movies in there as well,but don't quote me on that last one.if you can view this as a stand alone movie, you might like it.i did.and i really liked it,and i don't have any problem admitting it.for me,American Ninja V is an 8/10
- disdressed12
- Apr 8, 2010
- Permalink
First time watching it I was greatly disappointed as I was expecting something like AN 3. Its the worst of the 5 mainly because of the kid. That kid with little ninja experience could beat other adult ninjas with ease, come on! Perhaps it was made for 10-11 year old kids. Didn't like the cheap jokes either. This is a low budged B-movie, but I think it didn't require much to be become a good movie, like the first 4. The quality of acting and sites are good, action wise not bad, but its those childish jokes that makes it the worst. If they made it more serious without those dumb jokes and more realistic more heroic, those 10-11 year old kids would like it even more. There is much less violence in this movie than in first four, which is fine. Still better than nothing, enjoyed Bradley acting and another ninja movie. Actually I would take more like these if it were possible.
- Ninja-Bandit
- Jan 3, 2009
- Permalink
The American Ninja series was a screaming roller coaster, starting high and rocketing straight down into darkness. And just when you think you've hit rock bottom, someone puts dog poo down there to further insult the series. This is an abomination, even compared to American Ninja 4 and 3. Is it trying to be a kids movie, akin to the MUCH better Surf Ninjas or TMNT? Is it trying to be an action packed movie, featuring a good stunt actor James Lew? Is this the triumphant return of Pat Morita? I don't know, and I bet the crew didn't either. This is an embarrassment to ALL involved with horrible action, horrible dialogue, a horrible plot, and again... HORRIBLE ACTION. James Lew deserves better.