#AmericanNinja (1985)

I overlooked this one for many years, but I've been on a martial arts kick and decided to finally give it a go. It's pretty good in a mid-80s sense with a hint of cheese, but it takes itself relatively seriously.

Michael Dudikoff plays Joe Armstrong, a quiet army guy who isn't looking for trouble, but trouble hones in on him. After thwarting some jerkoffs' attempt to steal a military truck, he gets put on his commanding officer's shit-list. Yeah, fuck him for defending himself, right? He even saved the guy's daughter from evil ninjas, but that means nothing to some people.

The daughter is played by Judie Aronson who played Samantha in Friday the 13th: The FInal Chapter (she's the one who got it on the raft). She's a stuck up brat who cares more about her clothes than her life, but she soon falls head over heels for Joe.

So, Joe goes on trying to mind his own business and Curtis Jackson (no, not 50 Cent) decides to pick a fight with him. Joe casually dodges all of Curtis's attacks and makes him look like a total fool, so Curtis gives in and becomes Joe's BFF. He'll need all the help he can get, because the military bosses just don't like him one bit.

Some of them are in cahoots with bad guys and ninja villains, and they try to get Joe killed. When Joe proves too resourceful for them, they get even more mad that he's not dying and it kinda snowballs from there. How dare he try to mind his own business when he ought to be dead!

I'm not gonna lie. I was pretty entertained throughout the whole thing. Fortunately, I got 4 more of these moves to go.