American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt

This was my first, and most likely also the last, time to watch "American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt". It just wasn't an "American Ninja" movie without Michael Dudikoff. This third movie was more of a mutation between "Karate Kid" and "American Ninja", but it just never took hold on either account.

Sean, a boy who was orphaned and taken in by a Japanese and trained to be a ninja, is participating in a martial arts competition. But when he sees his sensei kidnapped, the martial arts competition become of no interest, and Sean sets out to find his kidnapped sensei and fight all the ninjas in his way.

Right... Seriously? Couldn't they have come up with something just a bit more original? Why boil soup on a formula already exhausted? The acting in this third installment to the "American Ninja" series was up to par with the previous movies, adequate but not particularly memorable.

As with the previous movies, you know exactly how the movie will unfold, as they used the same recipe three times by now.

And to top the icing on the cake, "American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt" had an overly annoying piano score playing throughout a large part of the movie. I am sure it was intended to compliment the movie, but it just added a level of idiotic spoof to the atmosphere of the movie.

And it was especially entertaining to see Sean throw to arrows, yes throw, and killing two ninjas with them.

Despite lacking originality and the original "American Ninja" star then this third movie is adequate, albeit slightly less mediocre, in entertainment value.

This is the pits. Absolutely the pits. If a picture says more than a thousand words, then writing "abysmal" 133,500,000 times should begin to touch the level that this movie is on. Brain death is a good place to start if you want to enjoy this pathetic dribble.

Stunts that would embarrass Matlock and a script that could frighten the writers of the Menthos commercials.

Apart from such elements as secret island ninja cults, the obligatory karate championship and the evil European-accent criminal mastermind, this manages to scrape the bottom of a barrel to a degree that even the original movie could not touch when it introduces such wonderfully realistic elements as genetically modified superninjas as a tool to terrorist generals and - here is something new and original - oil sheik arabs driving Mercedeses.

There is also a female ninja master who sees the light and is turned over to the "good side" and is wooed by the American ninja, as well as a comic relief sidekick, both of whom - and this is the only redeeming feature of the movie - die.

Apart from this, ninjas that are clearly made from alabaster, judging by how easy they snuff it, fighting sequences that lack any sort of power or punch (the female ninja is absolutely pathetic) and a piano "riff" that plays through every damn single fighting sequence to the point where you can feel it drilling through your ear drums.

Oh, and the credits song. "The Cobra Strikes". I am considering suing for aggravated assault.

I don't know exactly why Michael Dudikoff didn't return for part 3, but apparently some conflict did emerge between him and Cannon, seeing how his agent (when contacted by a Hollywood gossip column) refused to get into it and simply said, "He's appearing in no more ninja movies!" (Oddly, Dudikoff did return for part 4.) Upon examining the finished product (and remembering the details from the previous movies), it seems that part 3 *was* originally written for Dudikoff's return. Sure, the movie showcases Bradley's character, but as you are watching the movie, you can mentally do some minor rewrites in your mind and see Dudikoff in the role. The fact that there are a number of scenes that do absolutely nothing to advance the plot, as well as a third-wheel character who proves to be absolutely unnecessary, just further the suspicion that the movie was hastily reconstructed upon Dudikoff's exit.

Whether or not the movie was rewritten or not, the end results are pretty poor. Once again, Steve James proves the better actor (and martial artist), though this time around he barely gets a chance to show both of those talents. Bradley proves to be even more underwhelming than Dudikoff, if you can imagine that. The low budget is starting to become pretty evident, and the whole enterprise is poorly directed. Not just with the fight scenes being remarkably unexciting, but even simple scenes of dialogue are at times done with incredible incompetence. The story itself is pretty garbled at times - that is, when it *bothers* to try telling a story. But what do you expect from notorious schlock producer Harry Alan Towers? It's hard to believe, but he has you fondly remembering the days of Golan and Globus!

You could say that the film is built on a firm base, but it's also one big pile of self-obsession. Jackson is back, and now he has a new partner, karate champion Sean, as they must face a deadly terrorist known as "The Cobra", who has infected Sean with a virus. Sean and Jackson have no choice but to fight the Cobra and his bands of ninjas. If you end up watching this, you will probably be like me in saying that it starts off great then gradually begins to suck. It holds the attention but demands complete suspension of logic. I could've cared less what happened to these characters because there was no depth to them and I didn't feel attached to them at all. Ninja fans will like it. We've seen these clichéd characters a million times.

i didn't mind this movie all that much,although i don't think it measures up to the previous two in the series.Michael Dudikoff may not be the greatest actor,but in my opinion,he's much better than David Bradley,who plays the American Ninja in this movie.plus i also like Dudikoff's character more.the plot in this one is almost a carbon copy of the second one,save for the beginning sequence,which sets up the rest of the movie.Steve James appears in this one as well,and has some good lines.he's probably the best actor of the bunch.the fighting sequences are lacklustre to me and not that well executed compared to the previous movie.still,the movie is entertaining enough.for me,American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt is a 6/10