3 Ninjas Knuckle Up

Now I will talk about the third in the “3 Ninjas” series that should have ended with the first film, “3 Ninjas Knuckle Up,” released in 1995.

Joe Leydon of Variety said it best in his review, “The third time isn’t the charm for this latest adventure of the pint-size chopsocky heroes. TriStar is going through the motions with token theatrical exposure but it won’t be long before this uninspired installment in the kidpic series hits the video shelves.” Believe it or not, this film was actually filmed before “3 Ninjas Kick Back, which would explain why Michael Treanor and Chad Power are in this sequel and not the last. This movie turned out to be an even bigger disappointment than the last one, but you could probably figure out very quickly why TriStar thought it would be a good idea to keep making sequels.

Leydon said in his review, ““Knuckle Up” (which bears a 1992 copyright date) is thoroughly second-rate in all regards, with slapdash production values, cartoonish performances, by-the-numbers scripting and ridiculous martial-arts fight scenes that won’t convince any youngster old enough to watch “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.””

Simon S. Sheen, who also directed the first “3 Ninjas,” tires to lighten up this movie with a handful of clowning that would be funnier if the Three Stooges were doing them.

Once again, Rocky (Treanor), Tum Tum (Power) and Colt (Max Elliot Shade), are spending their summer with their Grandpa Mori (Victor Wang), who also is their marital arts sensei. Sadly, the brothers have plenty of opportunities to roundhouse kick, karate chop and basically injure many of the adults, who play the villains.

Alex S. Kim’s standard script shows the three brothers defending a Native American tribe against a cruel businessman named Jack, played by the late Charles Napier, whose dumping toxic waste on the Native American’s land. Of course Jack has evil thugs and corrupt city officials, including the Sheriff (Don Stark) and even the Mayor (Vincent Schiavelli), to make sure the Native Americans are in line. Now you can predict the formula, because our three main heroes and Grandpa Mori (along with his stunt double) once again prove that they are too much for the villains. Even though this film is only 85 minutes long, is feels really padded. Levy was right on the money when he said, “There’s barely enough plot for a half-hour episode of a weekly TV series spinoff.” Also, there’s even less effort put in with the acting, writing and filmmaking methods to interest anyone who is over the age of 10.

Do yourself a favor and avoid this one at all cost. You might be thinking, “But it has a good moral message with the toxic waste being dumped on the land.” Well sure, but it works better in other films than this disgrace of a sequel. Look out next week when I finally finish this series off.