User Reviews

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 .

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

OK. "American Ninja 3 - Blood Hunt". Starring David Bradley as the lead. I don't know why Dudikoff quit, but I wish that it hadn't happened. Not that I dislike David Bradley, but Dudikoff is just a better actor, without doubt. On the contrary, Bradley is better in the fighting scenes, which (as always) makes up an important part in the movie. The problem is that Michael Dudikoff and Steve James had a special chemistry between themselves that now is gone. But it was a relief finding out that James was in this movie. Without him, it had been much worse. "American Ninja 3" has much of the same as in the two first movies, but with lower quality.

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!

David Bradley replaces Michael Dudikoff as the main star . Cedric Sundsrom replaces Sam Firstenberg as the director. Those are the only really important changes here . The plot here borrows heavily from part 1 and part 2 . Once again our hero is a mysterious young American trained by Japanese master of martial arts . And once again he has to stop bad guy from taking over the world . Once again (for the last time in series)Steve James will help him.

Bradley is awful actor . Dudikoff had some sort of charisma and mysterious aura around him . I liked him . Bradley has nothing . No acting skills or charisma. I didn't like him and many fans of the original also. Well , at least Dudikoff appeared in forth movie of the series , even if it was a fruitless effort to reanimate the franchise.

The fighting scenes are weak and the whole movie feels tired . Maybe because they changed director too ? Anyway there is nothing here worth watching . It's trash , but not in enjoyable way as the part 1 . Part 2 was already forced nonstop action flick . Here we have boredom.

I give it 1/10 .It's better than "American ninja 5" (considered to be one of the worst movies ever) and it has Steve James in it.

I agree that they should have made this movie with Michael Dudikoff as the American Ninja. Not that David Bradly was bad, but it killed the momentum that was going for the series. It's like bringing in another actor in place of Chuck Norris in the Missing in Action series.

The movie actually has few good things going for it. The story, the actors (asides from the above mentioned fail), and the overall quality was on par or better than the first two installment of the American Ninja series.

This is a seriously well crafted movie considering the budget restriction they've made it under. It's probably under 1M USD in today's money to make this movie (maybe that's why Michael Dudikoff is not in this movie).

This was a pretty good series that they could have grown as it progressed, but I believe the producers saw it to be too risky to put more production effort into it.

The two female action stars were good. If all the actor's talents were put to use in the story, this movie could have been a real blast.

David Bradley takes over for Michael Dudikoff as Sean Davidson a martial artist who must take on bionic ninjas who are developing a chemical virus to sell to terrorists in this incompetent sequel. Michael Dudikoff is a poor actor, but when compared to David Bradley he almost seems like the next Laurence Olivier, Steve James returns but ultimately this sequel is far too awful to dig up any entertainment value in this garbage.

I don't think any action movies they make are Oscar material. But,for the insomniac in all of us thank god they do make them. If you did watch the movie BLOOD HUNT, retribution was not on the agenda.!!!! Sean saving his master Izumo was the plot of the movie. It just so happens that he became the guinea pig and that the murderer of his father happened to be one of the bad guys. The movie sidekick Dex was utterly the worst even smegal would have been better. More of David's martial arts would have been better I do agree. And considering he was a martial artist who became an actor instead of an actor trying to martial arts like Michael Dudikoff..Hey don't get me wrong I like Micheal too. My favorite movie of his was AVENGING FORCE with our fav sidekick Jackson.

You could say that the film is built on a firm base, but it's also one big pile of self-obsession. Jackson is back, and now he has a new partner, karate champion Sean, as they must face a deadly terrorist known as "The Cobra", who has infected Sean with a virus. Sean and Jackson have no choice but to fight the Cobra and his bands of ninjas. If you end up watching this, you will probably be like me in saying that it starts off great then gradually begins to suck. It holds the attention but demands complete suspension of logic. I could've cared less what happened to these characters because there was no depth to them and I didn't feel attached to them at all. Ninja fans will like it. We've seen these clichéd characters a million times.

American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt isn't half bad it just was as good as the previous two. David Bradley is an ok fighter but Mike Dudkoff is much better and the late great Steve James is back as Jackson and always he's a smooth pimp. The film does have some fight scenes but that's it.

American Ninja, yet another series of movies which failed from the word "go" brings us yet another sequel; American Ninja 3: Bloodhunt.

Chop socky is not the word for the American Ninja movies...boring comes more to mind. I've seen American Ninja 1, 2 and now 3 and each one is just so boring. I think the 3rd installment tops it off.

No Dudikoff this time, maybe he's seen sense and got the hell out of the American Ninja movies before it completely wrecks his constant down hill career. Although Mr badass himself, Steve James (Jackson) returns, who looks so out of place. There's also a new guy in town, David Bradley, who in my opinion is just a beefier version of Dudikoff, but with less acting abilities and more facial expressions.

As usual the countless number of "ninja's" if that's what you want to call them (I personally think they are the local thugs dressed in pj's) are back. These ninja are possibly the biggest pushovers in movie history, they can't fight for toffee. James and Bradley have to wade through them all, displaying awful choreographed fight scenes (which is the highlight of the movie, as it's so pathetically funny) and kill the usual bad guy...whose also a pushover.

American Ninja is bad, I mean really bad. Don't watch these movies if your like me, a big martial arts fan. The fight sequences are so badly choreographed it's an insult to every decent martial arts movie out there.

You'll see what I'm talking about when Steve James attempts to "display" his wonderful martial arts skills. I'm sorry but the guy just hasn't a clue, it's obvious that he's clueless...just watch the double broadsword scene towards the end of the movie and you'll know what I'm talking about. Wooden isn't the word for him.

2/10 - boring but hilariously crap in parts

This movie has warped my fragile little mind! Seriously besides Lawnmower Man II and I assume American Ninja 4 this has to be one of the worst movies ever to appear out of Hollywood. The stunts are more than poor, the plot is horrid, the acting worse and the cinematography of it is a joke. Spare yourself: Don't watch it. If you're a movie-lover this production will make you sad.

Never in my life have I just for one second think, seeing such crap is possible. It's important to stay cool right after killing fifty weird-funny looking men in pidzamas. Of course one cannot abide the fact that movie is nothing more than the lecture for kids that studying in school is more important than training for NINJA status. That lesson comes in as the last quote of the film: 'you can find me in the school any time.' Putting grade on such disaster-piece would be degrading, so my opinion of it is none other than awful. Cedric has really outdone himself this time and only one thing comes to my mind in time of writing this review, SOMEBODY STOP HIM! PS: Three days after seeing it, I still couldn't stop laughing...

This time we are introduced to a new hero, who was trained as a ninja when his father was killed by an armed robber. Through learning the ways of the ninja he uses it to make the inside cover of karate and compete in championships. However the tournament is a cover for "The cobra" to find the strongest man to use his virus on. Suffice to say our new hero ninja is the man. David Bradley took over for Michael Dudikoff for reasons unknown, however American Ninja 3 is a lifeless bore which features a hero so blank that it's almost quite humorous. If it wasn't so boring. Bradley really registers utterly zero rapport with the audience and it's really only Steve James and the campy antics of televangelist turned actor Marjoe Gortner. Also a big let down was that Dudikoff actually fought a ninja master but here Bradley's one on one is with Marjoe Gortner. Talk about a cheat. The action sequences are badly staged and it's fairly easy to see why people noticed Dudikoff's absence.

* out of 4-(Bad)

The American Ninja series has a limited appeal to begin with. But I think it's safe to say most fans of the movies like them because of the special brand of weird charisma Michael Dudikoff brought to the table. You take Dudikoff and his "blue steel" gaze away and you're left with this: a generic martial arts action movie. Even the inclusion of Dudikoff's sidekick Steve James is no help. David Bradley is Dudikoff's replacement and he's just awful. You have to be bad when you're in a movie with Marjoe Gortner and he outclasses you. The whole thing is lifeless and unenjoyable. That there were two more American Ninja sequels after this boggles the mind.

I remember buying American Ninja 2/3 on the same DVD and I heard bad reviews about 3 so I looked at the box and decided for a second. Do I dare attempt to see this bad movie. So as time went on I finally decided to see it. And I gotta tell. I was let down. I saw the first 2 films and compared to this one, 1 and 2 blow this movie out of the water.

David Bradley looked really lost during this movie. Steven James did OK as Curtis Jackson but if you look very carfully he looked really reluctant to be in this movie and he looked very pale at times from his cancer. And what can you say about the ninjas. Geez. These guys have gotta be the stupid ninjas around. The ninjas in the first 2 films put up more of a fight. For example. In the scene where Bradley is watching the female fight the ninjas from the top of the building. And these guys just walked right into it. The women just lightly swung the sords and these guys went flying. I mean come on.

And finally. I didn't like seeing a American movie with Michael Dudikoff. This guy was awesome in the first 2 films but he wss smart to turn down this movie. The Joe Armstrong character is more tougher and believable then Sean Davidson character played by Bradley.

Skip this movie.

This sequel is slightly different from the other two movies. The star in this movie is David Bradley. What happened to Michael Dudikoff? Well that's not the problem there. The only person I know is Steve James; Curtis "Powerhouse" Jackson. Everyone including the young fighter who has some fire in him. I liked it when he deflects the ninja's action with an oar, and decks him with a crescent kick. Jackson grabs one of the ninjas and drops him on his knee and delivers an elbow strike to the chest. Kind of like a power-breaking feat. Sean(Bradley) was drugged at one point, and the lady ninja, teaches him mind of matter, which he uses at the end. The bad parts are which the ninja and the young guy was killed, the kid tried to catch the arrows, a little too late. The bright spots is when Jackson had the dual-bladed sword and slices one ninja, and orders him to "DIE!" on Jackson command. It was Steve James last AN movie, at least he'll be remembered as Curtis "Powerhouse" Jackson. RIP Steve James, you're the man!

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

Look at that very cheap blue tarp.

So back in 1979 Uncle Leo was a gunman.

He wouldn't spend all that time flipping his knife AFTER he covered the guard's mouth.

Uncle Leo is a bad professional. He panicked for no reason. And he complains about a small hand cut?!

When ninja's graduate they get a gold chain around their neck? I assume it is a skeletal thing chain to choke their enemy.

I like Steve's Shalom Y'All shirt. At least they didn't waste any effort connecting Jackson.

Are they even going to mention Joe?

You can't have karate in the 80s without a cobra.

How are we 13 minutes and and no fights?

Sean is a health nut, turning down beer for coke.

This seems like a fake to draw him out.

Could they fit more denim on Sean?

Why waste your first round of combat tearing down the shade?

I'm sorry but Sean sucks until someone in the film calls him "the American Ninja".

His friend is throwing out a super casual "hey Sean help". More like "hey Sean can you grab me another can of Canola oil front the back".

Well, we wasted a full ten seconds on that guy falling and dying.

Double underwater power punch

"This comb has history"... I sure hope that was a terrible ad lip instead of terrible writing.

We have this shanty town set for another day so we better have a fight scene.

Finally a Joe mention.

How is Mr. Comb holding his own in any way vs even their worst ninja.

This is so bad that if you replace a couple scenes it could be porn.

Forget the bad guy being impatient. Sean and Jackson gave Mr. Comb zero time to open the bike lock.

This elongated glider scene is horribly painful to watch. No wonder they got the "award winning" team from American Ninja 1 and 2 back together for #4.

An eight year old could have written a better script... You know why? Because he'd have replace the painful talking scenes with more bad fight scenes.

That's a very small ring for so many ninjas.

The only redeeming quality to this film is the "progressive" for the time casting of a woman for the lead evil ninja.

"Shall we go" help Sean? No, let's leave him to die. At least the movie would have ended sooner.

The evil creators of this movie made a sequel to force me to complete viewing this garbage.

Another double punch?!

That is a creepy painting on his office wall.

It's only January 1 and I'm certain watching this film will be the worst thing I do all year.

How is "no news is good news" when your friend is infiltrating an enemy stronghold. He's probably dead.

I hope there are a lot of credits so I have less runtime to watch.

Maybe they did piece together this movie starting with porn shoot scraps.

When a ninja is driving that's a good indicator they're trying to kill you.

This movie has created a perpetual waste of time that will one day envelope all of humanity.

He laughing is out of place.

You developed this in your lab so you didn't have to pay for ropes to tie him up with.

How have I lasted through an hour of this without opting for self-inflicted pain.

This movie was paid for with a few cups of coffee.

Someone had to fall off the boat.

He shot all his extremities first. He's a terrible shot.

They could have saved on their budget if they turned the car headlights off.

The Cobra needs to iron his very wrinkled suit.

If this movie doesn't end soon I'm going to puke.

I am rolling my eyes at myself for watching this.

For a Blood Hunt there is no gore. Another reason to throw on the bonfire of disappointment.

We have seen absolutely no reason why he's called The Cobra. I can only hope he transforms into a giant snake soon.

Jackson punching Stretch in the back of the neck is the best thing in this movie.

This movie ended when they ran out of dumb ideas.

R.I.P. Steve James