American Fighter III

When I found out that Dudikoff was not going to feature in this sequel, my heart sank immediately but still, I decided to give this one a chance. Sadly, it didn't live up the expectations that I had hoped for

First off, I thought that the character Sean Davidson written for newly American Ninja star David Bradley here was kind of out of place. Hands down to David for an impressive performance here but I felt that he was portrayed more of like of the grown up version of Daniel from karate kid and has no Ninja background within him whatsoever which for me seemed out of place

Apart from that, I felt that the script for film was quickly rewritten after Dudikoff's exit. Rumors had it that he and the director (and probably Steve James) had some kind of argument backstage which led to Michael's departure from the franchise. James did a decent job in trying to make the film entertaining but in the end the film failed to impress me due to the fact that the title itself didn't really connect to the film

I think that if the crew took time in developing Bradley's character better (by giving him a more convincing ninja background), then it would have made the film better than what was given here

New installment in which the American Ninja encounters ample reasons and opportunity to use his deadly skills . Lots of action , thrills , shoot-outs and non-sense fighting and plenty of silly intrigue . Jackson (the late Steve James who early died of pancreatic cancer) is back, and now he has a new partner, a karate champion , the tough Joe (or Sean Davidson) , 'The American Ninja' (David Bradley) , as they travel to a far island to compete in a martial arts tournament, there the two-fisted duo must face a deadly terrorist known as "The Cobra", who has infected Sean with a virus , while manufacturing mass-produced an army of violent Ninjas by means of genetic engineering . Some people are disappearing and they must investigate their location. The prime suspect is a villain , drugs dealer , The Cobra (Marjoe Gortner) and mastermind Gen. Andreas (Yehuda Efroni) boasting his badness with hammy panache . Sean and Jackson have no choice but to fight the nasty ruler who has imposed a dictatorship at a country supported by the Cobra and his bands of ninjas . But Sean is kidnapped and Jackson goes into action, as he must save his friend from experimentation , while the Cobra threatening with his horrifying biological weapon. The super-Nijas dressed in black, hooded, a blade on the back and using Shinkaisen, a metallized star they throw . Now his most deadly enemy ... is time. Evil with no cure. A warrior with no fear.

This is plenty of action , adventures , fights , suspense in a comic book style . It's a gripping story of one man's revenge , as Sean Davison carries out a merciless vendetta against the villain who killed his father , including graphic violent scenes . The film displays a Norris' style but Chuck does it much better . This violent art-martial film is the third entry about our heroes , the brave Sean Davison : David Bradley along with his proficient sidekick , Jackson : Steve James who undertake a difficult mission at a island where takes place the Karate world Championship . At the beginning this movie was not originally intended to be part of the American Ninja series ; however , producers Avi Lerner , John Stodel and Harry Alan Towers changing their mind , this explains why star David Bradley plays Joe, a different role than the Sean Davidson character Michael Dudikoff played in American Ninja 1 and American Ninja 2 . Stars two expert fighters : David Bradley and Steve James , as they'll wipe out a passel of violent Ninjas , as the invincible pair running afoul while facing off evil criminals . David Bradley who is beefy as ever plays a two-fisted karate man utilizing efficiently his deadly skills . The movie is well co-starred by Steve James(1952-1993), a corpulent fighter , who's as sympathetic and charismatic as ever, he usually acted partner to tough stars, Michael Dudikoff (three times), Chuck Norris and David Carradine . Boring , embarrassing and pedestrian screnplay by actor/writer Gary Conway based on character created by Avi Kleinberger and Gideon Amir. Atmospheric musical score composed by synthesizer is musicalized by George S Clinton . The soundtrack for the movie is mainly just a sample from composer George S. Clinton's former score for Avenging Force (1986) by Sam Firstemberg . The film was lousily professionally directed by Cedric Sundstrom , he's a low-grade expert about art-martial and Ninjas sub-genre and in Delta Force rip-offs . ¨American Ninja¨ has various entries starred by Michael Dudikoff substituted by David Bradley and Steve James and mostly directed by Firstemberg and Cedric Sundstrom .

The series is formed by the following ones : the first two "American Ninja" series entries produced in middling/low budget by Yoran Globus and Menahem Golan, Cannon Productions , ¨American Ninja I¨ (1985) by Sam Firstemberg with Michael Dudikoff , Steve James . ¨American Ninja¨2 (1987) by Sam Firstemberg with Dudikoff , James , Larry Poindexter , Gary Conway , Jeff Celentano . ¨American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt¨(1989) , but Michael Dudikoff turned down the lead role in this film for various reasons , among them being the fact that he didn't want to get burned out on martial-arts movies with Steve James , David Bradley , as David Bradley's character was originally offered to Kurt McKinney, who turned it down for fear of being typecast as a martial-arts actor. Michael Dudikoff returned for the fourth "American Ninja" : ¨American Ninja: Annihilation¨ by Cedric Sundstrom with David Bradley, James Booth , Ken Gampu. And ¨American Ninja V¨ by Bob Bralbel with David Bradley , Pat Morita , this film was not originally intended to be part of the American Ninja series. As Cannon Pictures made it under the title American Dragons but the title was changed to American Ninja V before release. This explains why star David Bradley plays Joe, a different character than the Sean Davidson character he played in American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt, and American Ninja 4: The Annihilation .

This was my first, and most likely also the last, time to watch "American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt". It just wasn't an "American Ninja" movie without Michael Dudikoff. This third movie was more of a mutation between "Karate Kid" and "American Ninja", but it just never took hold on either account.

Sean, a boy who was orphaned and taken in by a Japanese and trained to be a ninja, is participating in a martial arts competition. But when he sees his sensei kidnapped, the martial arts competition become of no interest, and Sean sets out to find his kidnapped sensei and fight all the ninjas in his way.

Right... Seriously? Couldn't they have come up with something just a bit more original? Why boil soup on a formula already exhausted? The acting in this third installment to the "American Ninja" series was up to par with the previous movies, adequate but not particularly memorable.

As with the previous movies, you know exactly how the movie will unfold, as they used the same recipe three times by now.

And to top the icing on the cake, "American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt" had an overly annoying piano score playing throughout a large part of the movie. I am sure it was intended to compliment the movie, but it just added a level of idiotic spoof to the atmosphere of the movie.

And it was especially entertaining to see Sean throw to arrows, yes throw, and killing two ninjas with them.

Despite lacking originality and the original "American Ninja" star then this third movie is adequate, albeit slightly less mediocre, in entertainment value.

I don't know exactly why Michael Dudikoff didn't return for part 3, but apparently some conflict did emerge between him and Cannon, seeing how his agent (when contacted by a Hollywood gossip column) refused to get into it and simply said, "He's appearing in no more ninja movies!" (Oddly, Dudikoff did return for part 4.) Upon examining the finished product (and remembering the details from the previous movies), it seems that part 3 *was* originally written for Dudikoff's return. Sure, the movie showcases Bradley's character, but as you are watching the movie, you can mentally do some minor rewrites in your mind and see Dudikoff in the role. The fact that there are a number of scenes that do absolutely nothing to advance the plot, as well as a third-wheel character who proves to be absolutely unnecessary, just further the suspicion that the movie was hastily reconstructed upon Dudikoff's exit.

Whether or not the movie was rewritten or not, the end results are pretty poor. Once again, Steve James proves the better actor (and martial artist), though this time around he barely gets a chance to show both of those talents. Bradley proves to be even more underwhelming than Dudikoff, if you can imagine that. The low budget is starting to become pretty evident, and the whole enterprise is poorly directed. Not just with the fight scenes being remarkably unexciting, but even simple scenes of dialogue are at times done with incredible incompetence. The story itself is pretty garbled at times - that is, when it *bothers* to try telling a story. But what do you expect from notorious schlock producer Harry Alan Towers? It's hard to believe, but he has you fondly remembering the days of Golan and Globus!

i didn't mind this movie all that much,although i don't think it measures up to the previous two in the series.Michael Dudikoff may not be the greatest actor,but in my opinion,he's much better than David Bradley,who plays the American Ninja in this movie.plus i also like Dudikoff's character more.the plot in this one is almost a carbon copy of the second one,save for the beginning sequence,which sets up the rest of the movie.Steve James appears in this one as well,and has some good lines.he's probably the best actor of the bunch.the fighting sequences are lacklustre to me and not that well executed compared to the previous movie.still,the movie is entertaining enough.for me,American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt is a 6/10