American Ninja 5 (1993)

How sad is this?

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Funnily enough, the first American NINJA movie I've watched is the fifth instalment and last of the series. I have no idea what it has to do with the other movies in this franchise, although judging by other user comments on here, it's not a lot.This is a straightforward, family friendly martial arts adventure film with added ninja action. I notice that it's a widely panned movie, but I find that somewhat odd given that there's nothing particularly wrong with it. Sure, it's cheap, and there are some laughable moments in it, but that's par for the course for this particular genre of film.I tend to enjoy action B-pictures from the 1990s because they have a certain fluidity of approach, combined with a refreshing simplicity that makes them easy to watch. American NINJA 5 is no exception. The viewer can simply sit back and watch as the protagonist and his annoying child sidekick go around and fight off various ninja attacks, gradually working their way up to the final boss.The action choreography is acceptable rather than striking, but there's a wealth of random ninja attacks to enjoy. David Bradley, who previously appeared in the last two films in the series, is an adequate leading man, pretty wooden in the acting stakes but good in his fights. There's a supporting role from Pat Morita, and a cheesy bad guy turn from the ever-entertaining Clement von Franckenstein (GABRIEL KNIGHT 2: THE BEAST WITHIN). You could do worse.

Its obvious these movies are only enjoyable for what they are. You have to go into these movies knowing they are low budget, weak plotted movies with weak dialog The movie has action, and fighting scenes. And a cute girl. And an annoying kid. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Mainly for the cute girl, and mindless action. I have seen far worse martial arts movies.There's some hilariously bad scenes. The villain is just damn funny, for example. Enjoy it for what it is, or if you can't don't watch it. It's funny how bad this is rated, when you consider the plot is no stupider than Bloodsport. Admittedly the fighting is not as good, but it's funnier. I also love all the differently colored "ninjas". Like there's special ninja types determined by the uniforms

When a scientist's daughter is kidnapped, American Ninja (David Bradley), attempts to find her, but this time he teams up with a youngster he has trained in the ways of the ninja. The characters in this film have a lot of depth, and that makes all the difference. In the end, the audience gets a casserole of film elements and little of the satisfaction that comes from watching these types of movies. The film is dark, brooding, intense and most of all violent. It's meant to be goofy, then there are fisticuffs back and forth with those who claim to work for justice. That said, the main plot of the film was constantly being interrupted!

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.