American Ninja 5 (1993)

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This movie has no connections with any of the previous four American Ninja movies. David Bradley plays a new character here. As bad as this sequel is, it's not even the worst sequel in the series. That dubious honor goes to American Ninja IV. Everything is just shoddily thrown together here, but what do you expect with something that is done by the now obsolete production company, Cannon? Everything just screams cheap here, from the tacky villains, the setting, it's all truly terrible. James Lew (The main henchman for the big villain Clement Von Franckenstein ) looked like a Power Ranger villain, with his ridiculous red & black silk cape, and a pendant hanging around his neck, and retractable spikes coming out of his hand like Wolverine. It was extremely cartoonish. He also conjures up ninjas out of nowhere to fight David Bradley. Sound familiar? The fight scenes themselves are rather bland. David Bradley is obviously a skilled martial artist, but there is nothing out of the ordinary, move wise with him. He's also an extremely wooden actor, despite a little bit of natural charisma. He's more in the Chuck Norris School of acting in my opinion. Adding a kid in this movie, was a terrible choice. Lee Reyes (Hiro the kid) was a complete and utter nuisance. He is given far too much screen time, and never shuts up. He seems to be skilled in martial arts, and knows how to cry on cue. That's about the only compliments I can give him. Anne DuPont (Lisa) couldn't act her way out of a paper bag as the love interest. Stars like Norman Burton & Pat Morita look embarrassed to be here. Morita's role is a glorified cameo, and it's weird to see him speak almost perfect English. The film shoddily tries to add emotional impact by revealing family issues at the end to fuel the good guys, but it failed miserably. Final Thoughts: This is a bad movie. I cannot recommend this to anybody, but at least it's not as bad as American Ninja IV. This movie is obscure for a reason, despite a DVD release. Don't waste any money on it!3/10

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.

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.

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)