Search - American Ninja 5 on DVD

Is this American Ninja or is this Disney?

Lunar Strain | United States | 09/18/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I will state right off the bat that I have always been a fan of the American Ninja series. Yes I know they aren't art but I enjoy the cheesball action and performances. After viewing American Ninja 4, which was rather entertaining in its own B-grade way, I was looking forward to viewing American Ninja 5.

The hookey cover art through me for a loop at first. It's just a lame picture of the characters in the film in stupid poses and mist added in to make it look "mystic". I was hoping the movie would be more entertaining than the cover art led on. Sadly it wasn't.

Here we get the "PG-13/Karate Kid wanna-be" version of American Ninja. David Bradley (American Ninja 3 & 4) returns but this time he plays a different character. He plays Joe Castle and not Sean Davidson from American Ninja 3 & 4. I found that to be a little strange, but oh well. One of his friends (the guy from the Karate Kid series no less) drops off his grandson (named Hiro) for Bradley to look after. Bradley reluntantly agrees and even takes the kid on a date he has that night. His date gets kidnapped by, take a wild guess, a bunch of ninja and he and the annoying Hiro kid go off to South America to rescue her. This is where the story rips-off American Ninja 2. The Ninja are using Bradley's 'girlfriend' (even though he only new her for a day) as blackmail so her father will create a deadly gas. Snore, been there, done that, and better.

Another bummer is that now the great fight sequences are gone. The fights from the previous Ninja enstallments are more tamed down, kid friendly battle scenes with Hiro making stupid comments every now and then. It's as if the filmmakers were targeting fans of the Karate Kid series instead of fans the violent R-Rated American Ninja franchise. Mistake.

To top it off, the music is some of the worst I have ever heard and belongs more to a made for cable Disney movie than a martial arts film.

If you can't tell, this is the Disney version of an American Ninja film. Hell I thought any minute I would see Herbie the Love Bug driving down the street to great our heros. Only buy this DVD if your a completest. Otherwise your better off buying American Samurai, which would have been a far better American Ninja sequel than this tame junk."

Don't be fooled by the title, American Ninja 5 does not exis

Erbac | 05/01/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"When I heard of American Ninja 5 for the first time a few years ago, I thought to myself, I loved the first 4, I got to find this one. Well it's a good thing I didn't since I saw it one late night on Spike TV. Apparently it's a kiddie martial arts movie much more similar to 3 Ninjas than American Ninja. What made the people who made this movie decide to deceive people into thinking that this kid friendly ninja movie is a sequel to the rated R action of American Ninja 1-4? I suppose they wanted to capatalize on the success on 3 Ninjas and slap on the title of American Ninja at the same time actually thinking they would make more money or something.

It's not rated R, and David Bradley doesn't even play Sean Davidson this time. Maybe Michael Dudikoff wasn't available this time again like in part 3 and they thought, everyone wants to see a kid friendly movie instead of the 2 American ninjas teaming up again. What a joke. Instead they team up Bradley as a new character with a 10 year old who, although good at martial arts, but c'mon, he's 10. And if I remember correctly, there was actually ninja on rollerskates in this movie. Oh yeah, and the leader ninja actually wears a cape. Ninja don't wear capes. He looked more like an Asian Dr. Strange then a ninja.

I had heard the original title for this was actually American Dragons. It even had that title when it was on Spike TV. It must have done so bad that before they shipped it to stores they probably changed the title to grab fans of the American Ninja films. Luckily, I was not sucked in, I didn't buy this dvd, I wouldn't even buy it for a dollar. I might take it for free just to sell it to someone I hate. Actually, I wouldn't subject anybody to see this and would use it as a coaster instead.

I wish I could give this 0 stars because it makes me so upset. Please, I do recommend the first 4 American Ninjas which I have on dvd, but don't get this. Just look at the ridiculous cover and know it's terrible. There's a reason I only mention American Ninja 1-4 to anybody and never mention this. Because this is not a sequel! This has nothing to do with the first 4 films! Remember that! Actually don't! Pretend this doesn't exist like I do."

A far fetched sequel

Fernando Perez Iglesias | 08/26/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Too right, American Ninja 5 is clearly aimed at kids, with scarce violence, hiperactive martial moves and "mystical" ninjas flying around. Special effects are terrible, martial arts coreography is quite good (for a person who enjoys martial arts) and acting is very B, even Z, I'd say. Not a bad movie if you're 12 years old or really into martial arts. David Bradley is not that bad acting, I've seen worse martial arts actors, and I wreckon the kid who played Hiro sucked a little more. Ninjitsu aspect of the movie just goes to far fetched: ninjas of all colours, bad special effects, an invincible David Bradley, who finds all weapons effective and little-realistic blows. Lacks the magic of the first movies but still good for kick and punch fans."

Worth a look if you're a martial arts fan

Fernando Perez Iglesias | 04/26/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The fifth part of this saga may not be the best one (the carisma of Michael Dudikoff was unique) but in my opinion, it's definately worth a look if you are a martial arts fan. To start off with, Michael Dudikoff was not a martial artist. David Bradley is, so the fighting sequences and coreography are a lot better than the first two movies. On the other hand, I have to agree with the other reviewers as it being a cheesey movie with a story that just wastes the cliché and certainly aimed at kids. In a nutshell, the perfect movie to watch on a Saturday after lunch. Very inoffensive but with good martial arts moves and in my opinion, except American Ninja 3, 4 and 5 are two very good martial arts films with an actor who is not so bad in front of the cameras."