3/10
Below average fifth installment in American Ninja series in which David Bradley returns into action against nefarious villains
25 December 2021
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 .
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