- Movie Rating -

American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987)

| May 1, 1987

I enter into my review of American Ninja 2: The Confrontation with a shameful confession – I never saw American Ninja.  Although realizing that I began the sequel at a disadvantage, I quickly got the feeling that although the tightly-written, complex storyline that I am sure was present in the original, I don’t think that it put me at a disadvantage.  I mean, I like to think that when two combatants face each other with the intention of kicking each other to death I’m already up to speed.

What is present in American Ninja 2: The Confrontation is a not really a story but a motivation to get the hero into a lot of death match scenarios because, I mean, that’s why we’re here.  He is Joe Armstrong who I understand in the first movie an orphaned drifter who had to take on a ninja force that was upset with him for spoiling their plans.  That’s important because in the sequel, Joe has a buddy Ernest Jackson, played by Steve James, and they have to take on a group of super-ninjas that have been mutated with bionic implants.  Oh GOOD!  Reality!  The duo is sent to track down some Marines that have gone missing.  There they face resistance (obviously!) at every turn and ultimately a showdown with bionic ninjas straight out of the factory.

Okay, so, bionic ninja might sound cool, but you have to wonder – what’s the point?  Ninjas are kind of cool on their own, and they’re just as threatening.  Why do they need cybernetic implants?  Doesn’t that seem like overkill?  I could say the same about the movie.  I could argue that this whole enterprise was overkill, but perhaps I don’t know what I’m talking about.  After all, I didn’t see the first movie.

About the Author:

Jerry Roberts is a film critic and operator of two websites, Armchair Cinema and Armchair Oscars.
(1987) View IMDB Filed in: Action
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