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Customer Reviews of American Samurai

Derivative But Still Effective
AMERICAN SAMURAI is one of those martial arts films that follow the formula of two brothers raised amidst jealousy and disharmony with one telling the other: 'Someday,I must kill you.' This plot has been done a tiresome number of times and is further muddied by odious comparisons to death duels announced by a slimy emcee, most recently in BEST OF THE BEST 2. Directer Sam Firstenberg updates this tale of sibling rivalry with David Bradley and Mark Dacascos as the two brothers who spend most of the movie preparing for their climactic meeting in the Arena of Death. The most pressing problem was the choice of Dacascos as the Japanese brother. Dacascos is not Japanese, yet he is supposed to be a full-blooded Japanese. Dacascos, as Kenjiro, has the requisite fighting skills, but his motivation to kill his brother based solely on jealousy has only the flimsiest basis for justification. One would think that a lifetime of illwill ought to be more clearly defined other than from not receiving the family sword. David Bradley as the adopted American son can fight but can't act. His ability to radiate emotion exceeds only that of Steven Seagal's. Another weak point is Bradley's relation with a female American photographer who accompanies him to Turkey to investigate the sword murder of a Saudi prince. They balk at each other's presence but predictably wind up in bed quickly enough. The real selling point of this movie is the fight sequences. Imagine the Ultimate Fighting Championship with bladed weapons and no referees. Very few viewers probably have seen or have participated in such edged encounters but it seems likely that such duels can not possibly be the ballet-like pirouetted gymnastic slug fests that marked each performance. Still, they are remarkable for their visual audacity. Rex Bryon, as the hulking bearded American competitor, is the good old country boy entrant with a Bowie knife. The movie points toward the final meeting between Bradley and Dacascos, which exits as overly brief and far less interesting than the preliminaries. As a martial arts sword movie, AMERICAN SAMURAI is interesting enough to hold your attention even if you withhold that willing suspension of disbelief at the cutting up of an otherwise honorable history of blade edged fighting.

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American Samurai
I brought this movie hoping to see more of Melissa Hellman. I was so disappointed only three scenes. She did not speak english and I do not understand any French ?????? The best part of the movie for me was when she got to slap around the assistant-the photographer. She should have grab her by her hair and slammed her head into the wall or at least kicked her in the guts.... The writing for this movie was very bad - the dialogue was dry. Even better quality of actors would not have helped make this movie a success. The lighting was very bad. There was so much more that could have been done with this movie that would have made it so much better. The director should have had villians that were villians. Villians that wanted to cause great bodily harm. Even the final fight scene between the two brothers was weak - should have had more fencing scenes. That would have been a great climax to the movie. I did like all the different fighting styles even if the american cowboy should have stay in American with his Bowie knife. If you are a martial arts fan you will like this movie

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In its sort an excellent movie.
This sort of movie is always a bit difficult to review. I mean, the acting is hardly worthy of the word, the story is threadbare, and it is still very enjoyable. As martial arts movies go, this one is top of the bill. The fighting is spectacular, especially the way different fighting styles got mixed. There is even a bit of a plot even if the usual stepbrothers competing for championship has become a little rusty by now and the score is just great. Mark Dacascos as the villainous brother does quite a good job being evil. Fortunately his rediculous overacting doesn't really matter in this sort of movie. David Bradley as the good guy is less convincing, but once the fighting starts he is quite in his element. All in all this is a treat for fans of martial arts. Anybody else will probably wonder if he isn't accidentally watching some sort of Manga.