Sean Davidson witnesses his father get murdered by an evil terrorist at a karate event as a child. He adopts Izumo as a mentor, learns the ways of the Ninja. After years of training, Izumo feels Sean is ready. Sean heads over to a remote island to compete in a karate tournament. He gets sidetracked by his master (Izumo) being kidnapped. He elects the help of friends, Curtis Jackson (Steve James) & Dexter (Evan J. Klisser) and a secret source to get to the bottom of it. What Sean doesn’t realize is that a ruthless individual known as The Cobra is concocting a deadly virus to experiment on people

This bears no resemblance to the first two movies, nor is it related. The only reference we get to the first two movies is when Jackson mentions leaving Joe Armstrong (Dudikoff) in the army. Let me get this out of the way. This doesn’t resemble anything close to a quality film. It’s poorly acted, the plot is ludicrous, and it is badly made. But if I said I didn’t have any fun while watching it, I’d be lying. There are plenty of fights to keep things lively, and lots of cheese for bad movie lovers. Those that are complaining about how awful this movie, should watch American Ninja IV & American Ninja V. It’ll make you appreciate this movie ever so slightly. I have a soft spot for the now defunct Cannon films production. It introduced me to one of the greatest martial arts movie ever made, Bloodsport. I can’t really explain it, but I enjoy how cheesy Cannon movies are, and this movie falls into that category somewhat. I was really impressed by some of the cinematography. Some shots are rather breathtaking if you give yourself a chance to look around. The acting is where we really run into problems. David Bradley has some natural charisma, but you wouldn’t know it by watching this movie. He looks uncomfortable at times, and is as wooden as can be. Michael Dudikoff was no great shakes himself, but at least he commanded your attention at times. Bradley is very skilled when it comes to martial arts, not so much acting wise. I found his recovery from the virus by using the ways of the ninja to be extremely far fetched. Steve James is absolutely awesome. Like the first two movies. He outshines the lead in a huge way, and steals every scene he’s in with his charisma. The man is obviously a skilled martial artist as well. He is so underrated. Evan J. Klisser plays the comedic relief. He’s amusing in small doses, highly annoying in others. Marjoe Gotner is very bland as the “Cobra” He tries to be all sinister, but he failed miserably. Michelle B. Chan is wooden as Chan Lee, but fun to watch in the action scenes. What was up with the ending? It’s one of the most anti-climatic things i’ve ever seen in my life. There is no real ending, no gratification. I don’t really know what they were going for, but it stunk. I couldn’t finish this review without mentioning the very good end credits song. Whether you enjoy the movie or not, stick around to listen to “Cobra Strikes” by George S. Clinton. You won’t regret it

Final Thoughts: This is a pretty crappy movie. I consider It to be fun cheese in a lowbrow way at times. I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it. It’s pretty bad, but it can be fun at times if you ignore all of the faults. If you can’t watch the first two, this is your best bet. It’s not pretty, but it beats sitting through parts 4 & 5!