Scott LeBrun
"Blood Hunt" is a terminally dopey third entry in The Cannon Groups' "American Ninja" series. Replacing Michael Dudikoff as the hero is a charisma-free David Bradley, cast as Sean, a young white man trained in the ways of the ninja. Along with series regular Steve James (boosted to star status with this entry), he must battle the minions of a nefarious scientist (the inimitable Marjoe Gortner) dubbed "The Cobra". The Cobra has devised a biological weapon (a virus) and needs a superhuman such as Sean in order to carry it.Scripted by director Cedric Sundstrom, based on a story by Gary Conway (who played the bad guy in the previous sequel), "Blood Hunt" gets by basically because it's amusingly stupid. The action scenes are decent enough, but the script is truly insipid. And speaking of insipid, hero Bradley and annoying comedy relief performer Evan J. Klisser are the working definitions of that word. Perhaps the most ridiculous sequence has James, Bradley, and Klisser setting off to locate the bad guys' lair, with Bradley and Klisser appropriating some aircraft.Helping to make up for the less appealing performances is the coolness factor of James, and the brightest moments in the movie definitely belong to him. (They don't all involve action scenes, either.) Gortner is a hoot as the evildoer, although we have no doubt that Bradley will wipe the floor with him when it comes time for the inevitable showdown. Michele B. Chan is cute as female ninja Chan Lee, and she looks good while kicking ass.The absolute lowest point? Having to listen to that truly horrible theme song if one sits through the end credits.Five out of 10.
BrickNash
American Ninja 3 is almost universally hated by fans of the first two films, probably because Michael Dudikoff does not reprise his role as Joe Armstrong and 'new blood' was cast instead. Perhaps it failed because it dared to carry the American Ninja name instead of trying to be a stand alone film. Then again maybe people only watched it because of the name!In any case, American Ninja 3 is my favourite of the series, mainly because it drops the military fetish of the previous films in favour of pure martial arts action. The acting is neither above nor below the first two films and shouldn't be a factor in this genre anyway. Where American Ninja 3 excels is the action. The fight scenes are so much better choreographed than the clumsy action of the first two films. David Bradley is obviously a real martial artist and this casting makes a tremendous difference to the choreography. Gone are the simple throws and tight camera work tailored to mask Dudikoff's lack of martial skill and now we have lots of fast wide angle fights with flashy kicks and some meaty sound effects. The 80's style and fashions of the film only help to make me smile and of course the fantastic Steve James (the real star of the show) makes a welcome return.I guess it's all down to taste. I was brought up on Eastern Martial arts films with fine choreography from an early ages so when the American market started their attempts in the 80's the fights just weren't up to scratch for me and the first two films were a disappointment in that area as well as being more A-Team than Ninja. American Ninja 3 addresses these points and gets the focus of the film (the fights) right and that's all anyone can ask for in this genre, because if you are looking for moving acting or tremendous plots you are looking in the wrong genre.Not a patch on Hong Kong films but s solid martial arts film in it's own right!
Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW)
This sequel is slightly different from the other two movies. The star in this movie is David Bradley. What happened to Michael Dudikoff? Well that's not the problem there. The only person I know is Steve James; Curtis "Powerhouse" Jackson. Everyone including the young fighter who has some fire in him. I liked it when he deflects the ninja's action with an oar, and decks him with a crescent kick. Jackson grabs one of the ninjas and drops him on his knee and delivers an elbow strike to the chest. Kind of like a power-breaking feat. Sean(Bradley) was drugged at one point, and the lady ninja, teaches him mind of matter, which he uses at the end. The bad parts are which the ninja and the young guy was killed, the kid tried to catch the arrows, a little too late. The bright spots is when Jackson had the dual-bladed sword and slices one ninja, and orders him to "DIE!" on Jackson command. It was Steve James last AN movie, at least he'll be remembered as Curtis "Powerhouse" Jackson. RIP Steve James, you're the man!
sveknu
OK. "American Ninja 3 - Blood Hunt". Starring David Bradley as the lead. I don't know why Dudikoff quit, but I wish that it hadn't happened. Not that I dislike David Bradley, but Dudikoff is just a better actor, without doubt. On the contrary, Bradley is better in the fighting scenes, which (as always) makes up an important part in the movie. The problem is that Michael Dudikoff and Steve James had a special chemistry between themselves that now is gone. But it was a relief finding out that James was in this movie. Without him, it had been much worse. "American Ninja 3" has much of the same as in the two first movies, but with lower quality.
AD
