Jonathan Horner

I remember watching the trailer of "The Fast and the Furious" in cinemas. After watching the trailer I decided it maybe a decent enough movie, with plenty of thrilling car chases through huge cities kind of like "The Italian Job" and "The Driver" style...

I was wrong.

The Fast and the Furious feels more like a two hour music video than a movie. What we have here is a load of loonies thinking their really cool in their powered-up Honda's with hi-fi systems so loud that they could probably wake the dead. Add in a load of muscle-bound punks, girls who try their up most to look sexy and tough and we have this dumb minded movie.

Confusion also reigned during this movie, whats with the fight at the start of the movie? Lame.

As for the car chases...they weren't what I was expecting, it's just drag racing in flashy cars. A lot of people have praised this movie for having fantastic stunts and yes there are a few decent one's towards the end but they aren't that mesmerising ...I've seen better.

The directer obviously thought he was creating some kind of "way cool" movie for the youth of today. With the likes of Limp Bizkit booming in the background, it's a shame this movie will seem old and out dated within a few years.

If your looking for a decent car chase movie watch either "The Driver" or "The Italian Job" the cars didn't look as good...but at least those movies had a plot and decent actors.

4/10

I'm 18 now, but back in the 80's I admit I was a Transformers nut. I watched Transformers: The Movie recently and the memories just flooded back.

Even today Transformers seems just as awesome as it was back in it's glory days. There was Optimus Prime (who was idiolised by millions of kids at the time) who was leader of the Autobots. Then there was Megatron (or Glavatron) who lead the evil Decepticons. My personal favourites were the sadistic Quentissons, who created the Transformers in the first place.

Transformers the movie is a golden classic. I usually get tired easily of cartoons which are turned into movies but not Transformers. Transformers: the movie takes itself very seriously, but still has some hilerious moments.

Certainly more than meets the eye.

8/10

I can't quite decide whether American Ninja is supposed to be a spoof or a movie trying to take itself seriously, either way it's just laughable.

I couldn't quite understand what I was watching when I saw this movie. What I saw was pathetic acting, pathetic special effects and above all absolutely appalling choreographed fights and where the hell did they get the stunt guys from? They loved their OTT stunts. The fight scene's between Dudikoff and the ninja's looked more like something out of Power Rangers. Some of the stunts that the ninja do are so OTT...it's outrageous.

But the best is yet to come. Bring on Steve James who plays Curtis "bad ass" Jackson. I don't know what kind of character James is supposed to be portraying, but he certainly loves (or should I say badly attempts) to show off to the camera by doing his amazing drop rolls and showing off his amazing martial art choreographing (hence the sarcasm). As much as we all love Steve James, when it comes to fight choreographing he tries too hard. Snails could probably pull off quicker moves than James. It would have Bruce Lee spinning in his grave.

As for Michael Dudikoff who plays Joe Armstrong. I admit he's not a bad martial artist, but it would be nice if he had more than one facial expression throughout the movie.

And the ninja's? Well what can I say? Absolutely top quality? breath-taking stunts? fantastic sword play? Amazing foot work? These are some of the comments I'd love to say about the ninja's in American Ninja, unfortunately...they come nowhere near the mark. What are these ninja's made of? cardboard? Each one looks like they have about as much training as I do in cross stitching. They constantly charge towards Dudikoff, sword above their heads, ready to strike, then instantly get cut down, this may sound ok, but it would be nice if they all didn't do the same move! You can easily tell they are just amateur stunt men in ninja outfits.

Overall, a badly choreographed, poorly acted action movie..if thats what you want to call it.

For more laughs check out it's sequel "American Ninja 2: The Confrontation" absolutely gripping stuff.

2/10 - simply for comic value.