The first American Ninja is a legitimately good film. The action is actually pretty rad, the story outside of the shoed-in love subplot is interesting enough, and even the love subplot isn't as bad as it could be. The characters are stock 80's film fare, but the performances are actually pretty good. Michael Dudikoff in particular turns in the kind of understated acting that many a wooden actor trying for "stoic badass" has failed at, and Steve James elevates a part that could have just been the black best friend into something halfway interesting. And the musical score, with its trumpets and brass, enhances it all.
But! There's a asterisk next to all of that, and that's that the film makes a big ask of the viewer: to take ninjas seriously. To assume that the classic 80's ninja, in his black full-body suit and headdress, is actually a dangerous, relevant force in the modern world, and doesn't look at all ridiculous, and that his martial arts skills and ancient weapons are the equal of modern military weaponry, something that various characters must of needs take seriously as a threat.
Personally, I can make that leap, and enjoy the film in the spirit it's intended, but if you can't, this might not be for you, except perhaps in a cheesy camp sort of way. I don't know. I'm not a cheesy camp sorta viewer, as a rule.
Pretty Good, But Requires Some Buy-In
The first American Ninja is a legitimately good film. The action is actually pretty rad, the story outside of the shoed-in love subplot is interesting enough, and even the love subplot isn't as bad as it could be. The characters are stock 80's film fare, but the performances are actually pretty good. Michael Dudikoff in particular turns in the kind of understated acting that many a wooden actor trying for "stoic badass" has failed at, and Steve James elevates a part that could have just been the black best friend into something halfway interesting. And the musical score, with its trumpets and brass, enhances it all.
But! There's a asterisk next to all of that, and that's that the film makes a big ask of the viewer: to take ninjas seriously. To assume that the classic 80's ninja, in his black full-body suit and headdress, is actually a dangerous, relevant force in the modern world, and doesn't look at all ridiculous, and that his martial arts skills and ancient weapons are the equal of modern military weaponry, something that various characters must of needs take seriously as a threat.
Personally, I can make that leap, and enjoy the film in the spirit it's intended, but if you can't, this might not be for you, except perhaps in a cheesy camp sort of way. I don't know. I'm not a cheesy camp sorta viewer, as a rule.