{"id":1350,"date":"2024-07-27T00:04:45","date_gmt":"2024-07-27T00:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1350"},"modified":"2024-10-14T00:43:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T04:43:04","slug":"american-ninja-3-blood-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/27\/american-ninja-3-blood-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt<\/strong> (1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cannon\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 89 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Cedric Sundstrom\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Cedric Sundstrom\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: George S. Clinton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: George Bartels\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 24, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: David Bradley, Steve James, Michele Chan, Marjoe Gortner, Yehuda Efroni, Calvin Jung, Ivan J. Klisser, Adrienne Pearce, Grant Preston, Mike Huff, Alan Swerdlow, Thapelo Mofokeng, Eckard Rabe, Stephen Webber.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $902,152 (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: * \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cannon was gasping for air when they unleashed American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt<\/strong> on the world. Despite the popularity of the franchise, it wasn\u2019t widely distributed. It definitely didn\u2019t open in Philadelphia; I\u2019d have been all over if it did. For me, Cannon films and Saturday afternoons go together like popcorn and Raisinets. Like so many titles that didn\u2019t make it to my local cinemas, I rented it when it came out on video. All in all, it wasn\u2019t an awful way to spend a late summer weekday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It would be inaccurate to say I was disappointed by American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt<\/strong> since I wasn\u2019t expecting much in the first place. That\u2019s mainly because Michael Dudikoff (the OG American Ninja!) isn\u2019t in it. Instead, it stars some guy named David Bradley making his acting debut. It would be pointless to criticize his acting abilities or lack thereof since he isn\u2019t the only martial artist whose fighting skills far outweigh his dramatic capabilities. Let\u2019s just say he makes Dudikoff look like an accomplished thespian. However, terrible acting is a Cannon trademark making the new guy a perfect fit.<\/p>\n

\u00a0He plays Sean Davidson, a young man who, as a child, saw his father murdered by criminals during a robbery. The dad was about to compete in a karate tournament when the creeps show up with guns in order to empty the till. Dad just gets in the way of their escape. A bereaved Sean is taken in by his father\u2019s trainer Izumo (Jung, RoboCop) who just happens to be a ninja. I mean, what are the odds? He spends the next ten years training the boy in the ways of the ninja.<\/p>\n

\u00a0After his training is complete and he\u2019s made a name for himself, Sean is invited to compete in a big martial arts tournament on some tropical island run by a villainous rich guy calling himself Cobra (Gortner, Starcrash). He\u2019s the head bad guy at a shady drug company and is up to no good. He\u2019s created a super-virus, one that will change the face of international terrorism forever. It keeps mutating meaning that finding a cure is virtually impossible. All that\u2019s needed is the perfect test subject, a \u201csuperhuman\u201d if you will. Hence, the tournament, which is really a ruse designed to lure the best of the best to Cobra\u2019s island. He immediately sets his sights on our hero, the new American Ninja.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sean has time to defeat only one opponent before getting distracted by the machinations of the plot. Specifically, he sees his old master being forced into a car by thugs in suits. When he gives chase, he runs right into a gang of ninjas. After a lengthy fight, he makes plans to rescue Izumo with a couple of friends, one of whom I know you know. It\u2019s none other than Steve James returning as sword master Curtis Jackson. Yeah, now we\u2019re talking!<\/p>\n

\u00a0The other friend is this annoying little twerp named Dex (Klisser, Platoon Leader) who might as well have a flashing neon sign reading \u201cEXPENDABLE NINJA BAIT HERE\u201d hanging over his head. This guy is no action hero. He\u2019s more like a character from a cheap teen T&A comedy. You know, one of those hormonal high schoolers who consistently try and fail to score with hot chicks. I think he\u2019s supposed to be comic relief, but isn\u2019t this character type rendered moot in a movie that\u2019s already unintentionally funny?<\/p>\n

\u00a0It shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise to anybody over the age of eight that Cobra was behind Sean\u2019s father\u2019s murder. He didn\u2019t pull the trigger himself, but he orchestrated the robbery. The actual killer is General Andreas (Efroni, The Delta Force), a terrorist and fugitive who now acts as governor of the island. His official title is just that, a title. Everybody knows who\u2019s really in charge. ANYWAY, you would think revenge would be a primary motivator for Sean, but it\u2019s not, at least not if you go by the screenplay. Writer-director Cedric Sundstrom (Captive Rage) doesn\u2019t make it a plot point. Sean doesn\u2019t even appear to realize who this fellow is until the very last minute. The general doesn\u2019t even have time to gloat before Sean cuts him down.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let\u2019s get right to it. American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt<\/strong> is a bad movie. It\u2019s bad by even the low, low standards of Cannon in its end days. It\u2019s flatly directed, poorly written, badly acted and clumsily choreographed. It lacks the energy brought to the first two American Ninjas by Sam Firstenberg. Don\u2019t forget, he was your go-to ninja movie director in the 80s (he also did Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja III: The Domination, both classics of the subgenre). Sundstrom just can\u2019t fill the void left by Sam\u2019s departure from the series.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Like a lot of movies from this era, its badness is what makes American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt<\/strong> so entertaining. This thing is absolutely laughable at times. Where should I start? Some of the dialogue Cedric forces on his actors is beyond dopey. Upon meeting a female ninja (Chan of TV\u2019s Danger Bay), Cobra\u2019s head of security (a team of ninjas, of course), Jackson comments, \u201cNow we got ninjettes.\u201d LOL, only in the pre-woke 80s. I almost died laughing when Cobra orders an underling to mobilize his security team by saying, \u201cAlert the ninja.\u201d In the role, Gortner hams it up a fair amount. He\u2019s a comic book villain all the way.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Acting isn\u2019t a priority in ANY movie involving ninjas. Is there anybody in the world who thinks Sho Kosugi is a great actor? Okay, it could be argued that he\u2019s the Olivier of ninja movies, but let\u2019s not get into it right now. Bradley doesn\u2019t quite cut it in the title role, that\u2019s already been established. The true MVP in American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt<\/strong> is Steve James. He\u2019s more about presence than performance, but that\u2019s an asset in the action genre. The man\u2019s a true and total bad ass. He\u2019s also cool; it oozes from every pore. It\u2019s sad to think he\u2019s no longer with us. SCREW YOU, CANCER!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Despite its many, MANY shortcomings, I had fun with American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt<\/strong>. The underwater karate fight alone is worth the price of a discount admission or a 99-cent rental; that and the bit where Sean meditates the deadly virus out of himself after being injected earlier by Cobra. It\u2019s both silly and stupid, but isn\u2019t that a big part of Cannon\u2019s appeal? Granted, it\u2019s on the lower end of their canon, but it\u2019s still fun to watch even if Dudikoff isn\u2019t around.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt (1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cannon\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 89 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Cedric Sundstrom\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Cedric Sundstrom\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: George S. Clinton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: George Bartels\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 24, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: David Bradley, Steve James, Michele Chan, Marjoe Gortner, Yehuda Efroni, Calvin Jung, Ivan J. Klisser, Adrienne Pearce, Grant Preston, Mike Huff, Alan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-b-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/American-Ninja-3-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1350"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2955,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350\/revisions\/2955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}