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.

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.

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)

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!