American Ninja V (1993)

User Rating:

2.2/10   

Director:

Bobby Jean Leonard

Writers:

Greg Latter (story)
George Saunders (written by) ...

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

The Magic Power of the Ninja Is About to Reveal Itself...

Plot:

When a scientists 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. |

Plot Keywords:

Ninja | Scientist | American Ninja | Chase | Martial Arts

Cast

David Bradley	...	Joe
Lee Reyes	...	Hiro
Anne Dupont	...	Lisa
Pat Morita	...	Master Tetsu
James Lew	...	Viper
Clement von Franckenstein	...	Glock
Marc Fiorini	...	Flathead
Aharon Ipalé	...	Dr. Strobel (as Ron Ipale)
Norman Burton	...	Ambassador Halden
Tadashi Yamashita	...	Himself / Tadashi
Jose Guanchez	...	Ninja 1 (as José Guanchez)
Vincente Perez	...	Ninja 2
Jose Salvado	...	Ninja 3 (as José Salvado)
Carlos Ruiz	...	Ninja 4
Tommy Arias	...	Ninja 5

Also Known As:

American Dragons (USA) (cable TV title)
American Ninja 5 (USA)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | Germany:16 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | UK:18 (video premiere) | USA:PG (certificate #31879) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cannon Group

Trivia:

This film was not originally intended to be part of the American Ninja franchise. Cannon Pictures made it under the title American Dragons (it is even shown on many cable TV stations with this title) but the title was changed to American Ninja V before release. This explains why star David Bradley plays Joe, a different character than the Sean Davidson character he played in American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt and American Ninja 4: The Annihilation.

Quotes:

Viper: Who are you?
Hiro: You killed my father!
Viper: I kill many fathers.

Movie Connections:

Follows American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1990)

They took the name and an actor, but that's it.

I hate this movie. It has absolutely nothing to do with any of the other American Ninja movies. It still has the mindless, bumbling ninjas that attack the star in usually poorly choreographed fight scenes, except now everything has been toned down for PG-13, smarmy, Kodak moment/comedic schtick.

David Bradley should be ashamed of himself. He is not cast as "Joe Armstrong" of the other movies, but as "Joe Kastle." An entirely new character that had nothing to do with any of the other movies. Not as "Sean Davidson," his previously dopey character. Did the writers think that we wouldn't notice this?

Most of the young Reyes kid's stunts are done by a big fat white guy stuntman. The reason I know this is because the camera makes it painfully obvious every time. The dialogue is corny, and David Bradley's comedic lines are absolutely wretched. The plot almost exactly mirrors part 2's plot: Mean rich guy with an accent that deals with other evil rich guys with accents has a "brilliant" scientist (with an accent) working for him to make some super chemical that will allow him to rule the world. Scientist with accent cannot quit or runaway because mean rich boss with accent has kidnapped his daughter (who does NOT have an accent.) American Ninja gets wrapped up in this fiasco by incredible luck and circumstances.

The "Super Ninja" of this movie is a vampire looking guy (James Lew) that farts everytime he appears or disappears. Pat Morita rounds out the cast in three scenes where his presence is entirely useless to the plot.

Most importantly, this movie suffers the most from one very large flaw, just like part 3: Micheal Dudikoff's entirely unemotive acting and hilarious fight sequences are not present. Thank Goodness he had the smarts to end it with part 4.