Ass Whoopin Wednesdays:AmericanNinja 2: The Confrontation (1987)

Ever since I was a kid I have always wanted to be a ninja, but unfortunately that never happened. So, I know I can always turn to Netflix to live out that dream. That is why I chose to watch American Ninja 2: The Confrontation which once again stars Michael Dudikoff as Joe Armstrong and Steve James (Delta Force) as Curtis Jackson for Ass Whoopin Wednesdays.  In this film, the guys are called to a Caribbean island when Marines are mysteriously starting to disappear without a trace. What the two find on the island is very strange as Ninjas begin to show up thanks to a man known as The Lion (Gary Conway). So, Joe with the help of a scientists daughter (Michelle Botes), will use his special set of skills to get to the very bottom of the problem which he discovers is that The Lion is producing mutant ninjas. The film also stars Larry Poindexter (S.W.A.T) as Charlie, Jeff Celentano (The Player) as Wild Bill, Mike Stone (Enter The Ninja) as Tojo Ken, Jonathan Pienaar (Blood Diamond) as Taylor, Bill Curry (Guiding Light) as Inspector Singh, Dennis Folbigge (Zulu) as Sir Cloudsly Smith, Elmo Fillis (Young Survivors) as Toto, Ralph Draper (Howling IV: The Original Nightmare) as Professor Sanborne, Gary Ford (Thieves Of Fortune) as Ambassador Scruggs, and the film was directed by Sam Firstenberg (Revenge Of The Ninja). Before we get into the review of the film, let’s check out some stats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Dudikoff is a true bad ass as he returned for this film and some of the sequels afterwards. He goes on an absolute rampage sometimes beating up the same guys on different occasions in this film. There’s this weird looking blonde haired guy in this bar that just gets his ass handed to him every single time. So as far as the stats are concerned, Dudikoff has about 52 kills while his sidekick Curtis Jackson 19. As far as his origin story is concerned, you see him in one flashback scene from childhood to adulthood as his master teaches him important lessons in Ninjitsu. When it ame to the Love Interest category, I wrote sort of only because he wins the girl at the end of the film and as far as anyone getting hurt, Marines are getting kidnapped and killed which is why he is a man on a mission. Now the big boss is defeated, but he defeats the boss ninja as you’l see in a showdown in the arena. There isn’t much to say bad about this film because after all it is a ninja martial arts film, but some of the acting is a little cheesy from certain people in this film. The martial arts/fight choreography is pretty legit and some of the cinematography is good as well. There are a lot of great scenic scenes in this film tat everyone will enjoy. The film is available on Netflix as we speak and if you are a fan of films like this, then check it out. I am going to give the film 3.9 fists out of five for a final grade.

 

Ass Whoopin Wednesdays: American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt (1989)

I don’t want you to mix up today’s Ass Whoopin Wednesday movie American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt with that reality game show American Ninja Warrior which is pretty bad ass as well. American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt  was the first film to not feature Michael Dudikoff in it, but Steve James (The Delta Force) came back to reprise his role as Curtis Jackson and he has a couple of new partners in this film. The film is about karate champion Sean Davidson (David Bradley) who travels to an island to compete in what he believes is a karate tournament where he meets Jackson (James) and a hot shot named Dexter (Evan J. Klisser). During their time on the island they discover that something fishy is going on when a bunch of Ninjas show up and they start to attack them. Upon investigating what is going on, Sean gets infected with a virus and now they have to go after a man named Cobra (Marjoe Gortner) to get the antidote before it’s too late. The film also stars Michele B. Chan (Danger Bay) as Chan Lee, Yehuda Efroni (The Delta Force) as General Andreas, Calvin Jung (Robocop) as Izumo, Mike Huff (Project Shadowchaser II) as Dr. Holger, and a crap ton of people as Ninjas and martial artists and the film was directed by Cedric Sundstrom (American Ninja 4). Now let’s look at some of the stats before we review this bad boy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was definitely a film that was full of that martial arts ass kicking action, but is it the best of the series? The answer to that question is probably not, but it had every intention on being that. It had the making of your typical martial arts film except for the love interest part. Sean witnesses his father get killed in the beginning of the film and he gets to extract revenge on the man responsible later on. As a group, they kill or knockout a whopping total of 65 people which is the most so far that I have seen on Ass Whoopin Wednesdays. The film has some real cheesy lines and some parts of the acting is a little much from some of the b+ players in the film, but while Bradley is obviously no Dudikoff he does a decent job filling in. Steve James’s character of Jackson is actually kind of cool, but a little over the top to today’s standards, but he is one cool brother. I really enjoyed watching the film even though some of the sequences made no sense, but maybe only a true ninja will know the answer to those questions that I have. The film is on Youtube for free, so If you want to watch it then just type in the name, but I definitely want to cover the first film for this post. I am going to give this 3.5 fists out of five for a final grade.