American Ninja 2: The Confrontation

As great drama or even great action films the American Ninja series will never be up there with Rambo or Dirty Harry. Yet it's All American hero Michael Dudikoff was a popular favorite in the 80s and 90s and found a winning formula for quite a stretch. Just don't take this seriously folks.

The second of the American Ninja series has Dudikoff and Steve James sent as army rangers on a case to discover why some Marines are disappearing on a Caribbean tropic island country where these Marines are most informal. They don't even go around in uniform except on special occasions.

Who's behind all this villainy is the island's leading citizen Gary Conway best known in his salad days as Gene Barry's young lieutenant sidekick in Burke's Law. Conway who wrote the story and cast himself as villain is creating a new version of mutant Ninjas. Like Moose Malloy Conway is trying to burn the fear out of them. This in order to help with his drug smuggling enterprises, the source of his wealth. He looks like he's having a ball.

And raking in the money I'll bet.

Lots of martial arts for fans of same.

American Ninja 2: The Confrontation is more of the same as in the first film. The smooth pimps Armstrong and Jackson to do more ass whuppin in this ok sequel. This time around the fight scenes are better and so is the plot. All in all a decent film.

It's cheesy as all hell, but I actually prefer AMERICAN NINJA 2 to the original. The story moves quicker and there's more action. Dudikoff and Steve James return as karate-kicking Army soldiers, this time investigating a mysterious Caribbean island where soldiers have been disappearing. The bad guy there is creating genetically-enhanced super Ninjas or something like that, using the work of a kidnapped doctor, who's daughter informs Dudikoff about his abduction and imprisonment on the island. There's a wild truck chase and a fun bar fight, and an all-out action-packed climax on the island between an army of Ninja and the Army. Another typical "chop socky" flick, but a slight improvement over first, and my favorite of the series.

This violent art-martial film is the second entry about our heroes, the Rangers duo, Sergeant Armstrong(Michel Dudikoff)along with his proficient sidekick, Sergeant Jackson(Steve James) who are assigned a difficult mission at Caribbean Island( at the original film was Philipines). Five marines have disappeared and must investigate their location, being helped by marines captain(Jeff Weston). The prime suspect is a villain, drugs dealer named Lion(Gary Conway, also screenwriter), he has abducted a scientific who manufactures mass-produced an army of violent Ninjas by means of genetic engineering. The super-Nijas dressed in black, hooded, a blade on the back and using Shinkaisen, a metallized star they throw. Our protagonist go to Barbarroja island where take on the heinous nasty, the biggest heroin dealer of the planet. There they'll wipe out a passel of violent Ninjas.

This is plenty of action,adventures, fights,suspense in a comic book style. Dudikoff who is beefy as ever plays a two-fisted ranger utilizing efficiently his deadly skills. The movie is co-starred by Steve James(1952-1993), a corpulent fighter, he usually acted partner to tough stars, Michael Dudikoff(three times), Chuck Norris and David Carradine, but sadly he early deceased.Besides appear a flashbacks scenes with John Fujioka, the coach who trained Dudikoff on the art-martial world. Atmospheric musical score composed by synthesizer is made by George S Clinton. As always the film is produced in middling budget by Yoran Globus and Menahem Golan, Cannon Productions.The film is professionally directed by Sam Firstemberg, he's a low-grade expert about art-martial and Ninjas sub-genre and in Delta Force rip-offs. Followed by several sequels, starred by Dudikoff substituted by David Bradley and Steve James and mostly directed by Firstemberg and Cedric Sundstrom; such as ¨American Ninja 3 Blood Hunt¨, 'American Ninja: Annihilation¨ and American Ninja V.

Steve James originally didn't want to appear in this first sequel, since it was to be shot in South Africa (which was still under apartheid). He later admitted that he had a lot of fun making the movie, which is evident onscreen. Like the first movie, James steals the show from Dudikoff, both in his martial arts skills and with a bouncy performance that makes him a treat to watch. The best that can be said about Dudikoff's performance is that he seems to be a lot more comfortable in front of the camera than he was the first time around. He's still very unemotional, has almost no dialogue, and it's still clear he knows little to nothing about martial arts, seeing how he does pretty simple moves (when not being doubled.)

Despite the movie being weighed down by Dudikoff's presence, it's still a fun movie, certainly better than the first movie. The locations are eye-catching, giving the movie a nice backdrop. The pace is quicker, giving us little chance to be bored between the action sequences. And there's certainly plenty of action, with dozens of ninjas popping up everywhere at any time. Yes, there is a cheesiness to the entire enterprise, from George Clinton's synthesizer score to the ludicrous scheme of the villain... but hey, it's a *fun* kind of cheese, one that makes you smile instead of grit your teeth. Sometimes a little silliness is what the doctor ordered, and it's also a nostalgic blast for those into '80s actioners.