American Ninja 2: The Confrontation
Starring: Michael Dudikoff
Director: Sam Firstenberg
Year: 1987
Studio: Cannon
THE BACKGROUND
The 1980s were a high watermark for the action genre. Films
such as First Blood, The Terminator and Bloodsport were setting box offices alight the world over, making
stars of their leading men and setting standards for film that many would argue
have never been bettered. Well, some
of us might argue that, anway…
But for every Predator,
there were plenty of others that didn’t quite live up to the same grade. Some
of these were financial hits in their time, but never made it out of the 80s. Every
era of film suffers this in some respect, and I think it can generally be put
down to a similar variety of reasons – poor critical reception, poor handling
of the franchise, studios shutting down, disputes over copyright and as a
result films getting lost during changing media formats (e.g. Betamax to VHS,
VHS to DVD, etc).
Sometimes, it’s because the film was just the product of a
short-lived craze. In the 1980s, ninja films were seemingly everywhere, but
very few are readily available today. The
American Ninja series are one such
example of this fad. They obviously made their studio money – one can only
assume that they wouldn’t have made four of them otherwise – but they have not
entered the canon of classic action films in the same way that many of their
contemporaries have. So, how has time treated the second instalment? The short
answer is “not well”, but read on for a more detailed synopsis if you’re so
inclined.
THE FILM
On a remote Caribbean island, US Marines are going missing
from their base. But they’re not being murdered or anything so mundane. They’ve
been kidnapped, but why? Michael Dudikoff (the titular American Ninja) and his
companion (Steve James) are sent in to investigate.
It quickly becomes apparent that one of the Marines is
selling his companions out to this ninja organisation. The reasons behind his
betrayal are fairly straightforward – they have his wife and are threatening to
kill her – but things quickly become unnecessarily complicated.
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| Ninja "Magic" Part 1 |
It seems that on a nearby private island, a drug lord
calling himself “The Lion” has established his base. He is kidnapping soldiers
to turn them into genetically engineered ninjas to serve as enforcers for his
drug empire. Naturally, there’s a little more to complicate matters than this;
the main love interest’s father is working for the criminal organisation
against his will, for instance. All the individual elements are pretty standard,
but when viewed as a whole, they don’t make a lot of sense from a plot
perspective.
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| Ninja "Magic" Part 2 |
Rarely is this more evident than the scene in which The Lion
showcases his army of ninja warriors to a group of prospective buyers.
Bizarrely, he summons in his ninja commander – a guy who is presented as pretty
badass earlier in the film – who then proceeds to cut his way through the
entire room of genetically enhanced ninjas. Maybe I’ve missed something here, but
somehow that seems like The Lion just threw away millions of dollars to
demonstrate the inefficiency of his
ninja army. Yet the buyers are impressed to a man.
On the more positive side, Michael Dudikoff was presumably
cast for his martial arts skills rather than his acting ability, but I think he
actually has a reasonable amount of charisma, particularly once he’s donned the
ninja suit. Steve James, his sidekick, is also quite entertaining. And there are a few good stunts – such as the ninja who cops a
shuriken to the head, and the ninja who gets set on fire. Additionally, the
scene with a ninja being dragged along behind the car is quite impressive,
particularly given the budgetary limitations they seem to have been working
with.
There are many good and entertaining elements in American
Ninja 2, fighting to get out – namely, some potentially memorable villains and
some good martial arts scenes (you can view the final swordfight here – it’s kind of cool). But they’re hampered
by questionable dialogue, poor direction, average pacing and a general lack of
focus. Bad humour, impenetrable scenes that drag on for too long and an overall
lack of money all bring it down.
AVAILABILITY
Although many films do get “lost” through the decades for
whatever reasons, the good news is that many of them do eventually resurface in
some form. Granted, it’s often in obscure bargain bins that are not easy to
find, but sometimes that’s part of the fun. I still remember stumbling across
the legendary Mazes and Monsters as a
two-in-one feature, packaged with Loose
Shoes, an early and obscure Bill Murray film – all for the extravagant
price of $2! Mazes and Monsters paid for itself many
times over in the following years.
I found this DVD in the bargain bin in a service station for
$6. Who visits a service station looking for a movie at all, let alone American Ninja 2? But, as I’ve said
before, God will sometimes send you a pick-me-up in the most obscure form.
THE VERDICT
I first came across the first American Ninja in 2008, at a local video store (remember them?). It
had been a bad few months for me. I had been through a bad break-up, work was a
bit of a mess and I was drinking heavily at any chance I got. So a friend suggested
that we have a movie night to cheer me up and I took him up on the offer.
Likely already half-tanked for the evening, I picked American Ninja, fully aware that I would probably enjoy it (or at
least find it hilarious) and he would hate it. Surely enough, it didn’t
disappoint. It’s an entertaining film, but quite a bizarre one – a product of
1980s fads and low budget. We shall hopefully see its like again.
While the first was nothing to write home about from a truly
objective perspective, even if entertaining, American Ninja 2 failed to meet those expectations. As a result, I
don’t recommend this film – even taken on a “for laughs” basis, it’s pretty
lacklustre. But would I support a remake that was going to be done properly?
Absolutely!
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