There’s something to be said that the making-of featurette was the best thing about this release as American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt, unlike its predecessors, lacked charm and all around fun; it’s doubtful Michael Dudikoff could’ve helped though Steve James, bored as he looked, was perhaps the only bright spot.
American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt
(1989)
Genre(s): Martial Arts, Action, Adventure
Olive Films | R – 90 min. – $29.95 | August 17, 2016
Date Published: 08/19/2016 | Author: The Movieman
  |
|
THE MOVIE — 1.25/5 |
|
Plot Synopsis: Martial arts champ Sean Davidson (DAVID BRADLEY), with the aid of Curtis Jackson (STEVE JAMES), battles “The Cobra” (MARJOE GARTNER), a maniacal terrorist experimenting with biological warfare and an army of genetically cloned ninjas led by Chan Lee (MICHELE B. CHAN). Quick Hit Review: American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt is kind of like a joke someone tells one too many times and with less effectiveness each time. Although it didn’t help Michael Dudikoff didn’t want to return, thus the script was tweaked to give us a new lead in the form of David Bradley doing his best to looking like Eric Roberts, who had zero charisma, not that it would’ve helped much. Even Steve James, who was great in the last two installments, looked utterly bored and didn’t have many standout moments. Of course, it doesn’t help it has a weak plot but the fight scenes were poorly choreographed but where I laughed the first two times, this entry I was more bored than entertained. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5 |
|
Strike Me Deadly: The Making of American Ninja 3 (13:49; HD) is a new featurette with interviews by Director Cedric Sundstrom, Executive Producer Avi Lerner and Writer/Actor Gary Conway. While not as interesting compared with the previous two ‘making-ofs’, there’s still some interesting stuff, though strange they couldn’t even get David Bradley to give an interview (and yes, he’s still alive, though seems like he’s retired from the business). Oh, and David Dudikoff makes an appearance… David Bradley Audition Tape (6:45; SD) Theatrical Trailer (1:40; SD) |
VIDEO – 3.0/5 |
| American Ninja 3 makes its debut on Blu-ray presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and given a unremarkable 1080p high-definition transfer. It would seem as the quality of each installment got worse, so did these transfers. Although detail wasn’t terrible, there were numerous instances of dirt marks and dust specs strewn throughout, so it’s not exactly clean looking, though not entirely egregious either. |
AUDIO – 3.0/5 |
| The movie is given a basic but effective enough DTS-HD MA 2.0 track which provides for clear and clean dialogue levels while the more action-oriented sequences give off some OK depth though it’s nothing profound or noteworthy, but given what was probably a low budget and perhaps not the best sound design to begin with, it’s not half bad. |
OVERALL – 2.5/5 |
|
Overall, there’s something to be said that the making-of featurette was the best thing about this release as American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt, unlike its predecessors, lacked charm and all around fun; it’s doubtful Michael Dudikoff could’ve helped though Steve James, bored as he looked, was perhaps the only bright spot. The Blu-ray offers average video and audio transfers but the new featurette is worth watching… unlike the movie itself. |