“American Ninja” is a very cheesy action flick that will bring a smile to your face even if it does fail to thrill you. It’s a very clichéd film that feels very much like other action films of the era such as “Missing In Action” and “Commando” but with ninjas thrown into the mix.

Set in the Philippines, the movie follows Joe (Michael Dudikoff “Platoon Leader”), a martial artist American soldier with amnesia. When local rebels start stealing the U.S. military’s vehicles and equipment, Joe is forced to use all his fighting abilities to stop them. He will also have to do battle with a small army of ninjas.

Michael Dudikoff was apparently cast solely because he looked like James Dean (“Rebel Without A Cause”). The man had no martial arts training and he cannot act to save his life. Unsurprisingly, he gets very few lines considering he’s the star. He’s a terrible choice for the protagonist in a martial arts film and as a result, a lot of the fight sequences are underwhelming. Regardless of what you think of their acting skills, at least Jean-Claude Van Damme (“Universal Soldier”) and Chuck Norris (“The Delta Force”) are good at kicking people. The other characters are pretty bland too but I never get tired of seeing all the people in ninja costumes flipping around.

“American Ninja” delivers some amusingly bad action sequences so it has that going for it. However, I doubt many people are going to be particularly impressed by it. The era that brought us “Lethal Weapon”, “Police Story”, “Cobra” and “Bloodsport” means that there is some tough competition to face and there’s no denying that films such as “America Ninja” get overshadowed. If you are desperate to see some crazy action from the ninja subgenre then you might want to check this out but everybody else should look elsewhere.