Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

American Ninja Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 1, 2023

Sam Firstenberg's "American Ninja" (1985) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include two archival audio commentaries; recent program featuring cast and crew members; and vintage promotional materials for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Soon after the handsome Private Joe (Michael Dudikoff, Avenging Force) -- just Joe -- arrives at a military base in the Philippines, a group of ninjas attempts to kidnap the beautiful daughter of his colonel. After an uneven fight with the ninjas, Joe saves Patricia (Judie Aronson, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter) and they hide in the jungle.

Later on, when the couple return to the base, Patricia’s father confronts Joe and makes it clear to him that he does not like heroes -- and especially handsome heroes that could make his daughter dream unhealthy romantic dreams. Joe is then confronted by Curtis Jackson (the late Steve James, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka), a martial arts trainer, who quickly discovers that he is no longer the best fighter on the base. As time goes by, Joe and Curtis become best friends.

Meanwhile, Patricia’s father angers an ambitious businessman, Victor Ortega (Don Stewart), with an army of ninjas, who decides to teach him a lesson he won’t forget. When the ninjas go after the shady colonel, all hell breaks loose.

Sam Firstenberg’s American Ninja can make some sense only if seen very late at night. It is one of those Cannon Group films that feels too cheap and too ambitious, but looks seriously underdeveloped. In other words, it is a typical ‘80s B-action film.

The film’s roughness and unevenness, however, may well be the two key reasons why it is liked so much. Indeed, it is a lot of fun watching Joe acting like a superhero without superhero powers -- excluding only his ability to dodge bullets -- and his opponents collapsing around him while making odd noises. During the mass fights, one could also spot different ninjas that are trying so hard to impress that quite often the camera actually waits a few extra seconds just to make sure that they are done with their moves.

The dialog is equally rough. More often than not, it feels like the main characters are actually reciting their lines while thinking about something entirely different. As a result, there are some very odd facial expressions and emotional climaxes that are completely out of sync.

Conventional logic completely exits the film during the final act. There are some pretty awful special (but cheap) effects that are used to make the fights look more impressive, but all they accomplish is reveal that Firstenberg and his team had a pretty modest budget to work with. There are quite a few sequences that could have been edited a lot better.

Ultimately, however, no one should be surprised that American Ninja looks as rough as it does. After all, it is a Cannon Group film, and it delivers exactly what its producers, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, wanted -- a lot of mindless action delivered with a great deal of enthusiasm.

The film is complimented by a surprisingly good soundtrack which was created by composer Michael Linn (Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold).

American Ninja Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, American Ninja arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

In 2016, Olive Films produced this release of American Ninja, which was sourced from an older but solid organic master supplied by MGM. This release has been sourced from the same master.

I like how the film looks in high-definition. Generally speaking, delineation, clarity, and depth are very pleasing. Image stability is great, too. Color balance is very good, and while there are a few areas where certain nuances can be expanded, I do not think that there is substantial room for improvements. Darker areas and some highlights can be strengthened, but saturation levels and color temperature are convincing. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Now that I have the ability to upscale to 4K, I did a few quick tests and have to say that the results exceeded my expectations. Indeed, when upscaled to 4K, the entire film conveys a very attractive organic appearance. What can be improved? In some darker areas, grain becomes a tad noisy, so density levels and fluidity can be managed better. The entire film looks healthy. One last thing. I think that the encoding is slightly better on this release and as a result select darker visuals look a tad more convincing. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

American Ninja Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

All exchanges are easy to follow and there are no stability issues. Dynamic intensity is modest, but the film has a surprisingly complex soundtrack that creates a lot of very effective contrasts. I assume that if in the future the audio is remastered there won't be any dramatic improvements, but if any meaningful work is done it will have to be on the soundtrack.

American Ninja Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary One - this audio commentary was recorded by director Sam Firstenberg and stunt coordinator Steve Lambert. It is a very technical commentary that produces plenty of information about the shooting of American Ninja in the Philippines and how many of the big action sequences were choreographed and shot. Also, there are some interesting comments about ninja stereotypes and the ways in which they were either reintroduced or avoided in the film, as well as Michael Dudikoff's character transformation.

• Commentary Two - in this audio commentary, director Sam Firstenberg and producer Elijah Drenner (A Rumble in the Jungle: The Making of American Ninja) discuss in great detail the 'open' casting process that took place before the shooting of American Ninja started (apparently there were multiple phases and initially the role of Private Joe was reserved for Chuck Norris), the choreography of various actions sequences and Sho Kosugi's involvement, the violence in the film and why it is not as aggressive and disturbing as that witnessed in a lot of contemporary films, the on-location shooting in the Philippines, some myths and half-truths about the film's political message(s), a few quite interesting unscripted experiences the filming crew had, etc. The commentary was recorded exclusively for Olive Films.

• A Rumble in the Jungle: The Making of American Ninja - this featurette focuses on the production history of American Ninja. In it director Sam Firstenberg recalls his first encounter with producer Menahem Golan and discusses the environment in which American Ninja emerged. Also included in the featurette are new interviews with Judie Aronson (Patricia), Michael Dudikoff (Private Joe), stunt coordinator Steve Lambert, and screenwriter Paul De Mielche. The topics that are covered in the interviews are: stunts, filming locations, character qualities, and the film's reception and cult status. The featurette was produced exclusively for Olive Films. In English, not subtitled. (23 min).

• Trailer - original trailer for American Ninja. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• TV Spot - original trailer for American Ninja. In English, not subtitled. (1 min).

American Ninja Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

American Ninja is a product of its time. This could be a very good thing if you remember watching it during the '80s and liking it -- it will surely remind you of a time when you were a lot younger. But it could be a bad thing as well because now it looks very dated and uneven. This release is sourced from the same older but solid organic master that Olive Films worked with to produce their release of American Ninja in 2016. However, it has a bigger selection of bonus features. RECOMMENDED.