American Ninja 2 - The Confrontation (1987)

So this is the sequel. I liked the first one, with its mystery, its character; personal approach... even with the overly flashy ending. But this one... well sometimes it just seems silly.

Joe Armstrong and his buddy Curtis Jackson have been reassigned, to some tropical island where Marines are mystically disappearing, there are ninjas involved (though they don't know this from the start) and these two have been sent as replacements to find out what's going on.

The first thing that bothers me with this movie are that none of the loose ends from the last one are cleared out, like what happened to his master, and what happened to that girl, and if he really regained his memory, and if he ever actually learned to become invisible.

The second thing that bothers me is the lousy choreography behind the fights. Maybe it's because everything is happening in broad daylight now, or because Jackson gets almost as much screen time as the main character (attempts at appealing to a broader audience?) but suddenly the martial art craze is just a fragment of what it used to be. There is too much hesitation, too many wild punches, too little fluency and variation compared to the last one. There's more fighting, it just suddenly looks like what it is: unrealistic. Just one more eighties action movie. The IMDB score, jumping from 3 dwn to 2 stars, seems to convey my own opinion... it's not getting better with this sequel either.

But the thing that bugs me the most, are the super ninjas. It's not like ninjas are 'grown'. Ninjas are trained... Ninjas could be cloned... but then there's the 'master' in this movie, fighting for show, killing plenty of these super ninjas even though he's apparently not one himself. What's so special about these super ninjas if he's making a display of how easy they are to kill? There are so many loose ends in this movie, they're tripping all over them.

When the lost marines are rescued, suddenly they're just as good as swinging swords as the other ninjas. And why do they take the door to the arena? Why wait with the kobudera/flashback until right before the grand fight finale? Why run away from the ninja master the first time he appears? So many whys.

As soon as the bad guy dies, the girl starts smiling... and what's up with the Samurai ending? This is supposed to be a Ninja movie! Argh, details... maybe it's just the lousy fighting choreography that pisses me off though, since it could've been so much better! It could've been, at least, as good as the previous one!

At least the end isn't as sudden as last time, but all the same... this one just didn't leave me with the same satisfaction as the last. Also, second time I'm watching it. It's not that bad, but it's worse. :/

 rated 2/5: decent