American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt

An obvious low point for the American Ninja movies, American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt follows David Bradley’s Sean Davidson as he teams up with Steve James’ Jackson and Evan J. Klisser’s Dexter to take down a deadly terrorist and his army of genetically-engineered ninja clones. It’s an unabashedly absurd setup that’s employed to surprisingly (and consistently) underwhelming effect by Cedric Sundstrom, as the filmmaker, working from Gary Conway’s script, delivers a sluggish and perpetually low-rent actioner that contains little in the way of compelling attributes – with Bradley’s less-than-captivating turn as the flat protagonist certainly ranking high on the picture’s list of deficiencies. (As tends to be the case with this franchise, James delivers a larger-than-life performance that remains an obvious highlight.) The bizarrely convoluted narrative is exacerbated by a distressing absence of engaging action sequences, and it’s clear, too, that the narrative’s been bogged down with several interludes that can’t help but come off as entirely needless. (This is especially true of a seriously dull chase sequence involving hang gliders.) By the time the oddly muted finale rolls around, American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt has cemented its place as a fairly worthless entry within a decidedly erratic series.

*1/2 out of ****