3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (1995)

3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (1995)

 

Starring: Michael Treanor, Max Elliott Slade, Chad Power, Victor Wong, Charles Napier, Crystle Lightning, Patrick Kilpatrick, Don Shanks, Sheldon Peters Wolfchild
Director: Shin Sang-ok (as Simon Sheen)
Action Director: Lam Man-Cheung, Liu Han-Ching

 

I was ten years old when 3 Ninjas came out, although I don’t think I caught it until I was 11. I watched a few times at different friends’ houses, although by that time, I was already corrupted by the works of Jeff Speakman, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal. When Professor Toru Tanaka showed up in that movie, I was thinking of him killed people with single blows in The Perfect Weapon and wondering how those young upstarts could beat him without taking a hit. But the fact of the matter is, if you were into martial arts as a kid and had parents who actually enforced the Ratings System in your house, then stuff like TMNT and 3 Ninjas is what you had before Jackie Chan came along.

3 Ninjas Knuckle Up was the second sequel, even though it was filmed almost back-to-back with the first one. I’m not sure what the rights/distribution issues were, but the film’s release in the States was delayed by three years, coming out to little fanfare in 1995 (although I still remember seeing trailers for it on TV). The “real” second sequel, 3 Ninjas Kick Back, ended up coming out first. That film actually had new actors to play Rocky and Tum Tum, so it would definitely odd to watch that movie, see the new cast, and then see Knuckle Up and see the original cast members.

The movie starts out with Grandpa (Victor Wong, of Big Trouble in Little China and Year of the Dragon) and the three titular characters heading out to the countryside for some R&R. On their way to their cabin, they witness a fight between some Native American protestors and the Standard Evil Capitalist, Jack (Charles Napier, of Dinocroc and Rambo: First Blood, Part 2), over the latter dumping something into a landfill on their lands. The next day, the boys are getting some pizza when a young Native American girl (Crystle Lightning) shows up to harass some redneck goons working for Jack about her dad. Their leader, J.J. (Patrick Kilpatrick, of Showdown and Death Warrant), tries to manhandle her in front of everyone, but Colt (Max Elliott Slade) and Tum Tum (Chad Power) step up to plate and beat the goons up something fierce.

Although Grandpa admonishes them for fighting in public, they resolve to help the girl, Jo. Jo’s father, Charlie (Don Shanks, of Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Meyers and Urban Legends: Bloody Mary), has disappeared and she’s sure that Jack has kidnapped him. The boys hide out in the bed of J.J.’s pick-up truck, who unwittingly takes them to Jack’s landfill, where they’re hiding Jack. The boys return to town and start preparing for a ninja raid on the landfill. One big fight scene later, Jack has been rescued and he reveals that he has disk with proof that Jack is contaminating the landfill with non-EPA-approved chemical waste.  However, on the day of the public hearing with an EPA analyst, Jack hires a bunch of mercenaries and a biker gang to kidnap Jo and force Jack into not presenting the disk. Only the 3 Ninjas can save the day.

Does 3 Ninjas have a story? Yes, with topical issues like environmental pollution and Native American land rights. You’d expect a kids’ movie like this to try to address something on the level that children could get. It certainly beats the thrice-damned “Believe in Yourself” theme that most kids’ movies try to present. Is there anything resembling character development? No, not really. Colt and Rocky (Michael Treanor) are almost interchangeable, with the only difference between them being that Colt visibly has a crush on Jo. Tum Tum sticks out because of all the running gags about the bottomless pit that is the child’s stomach. And being a kids’ film (as opposed to a family film), there are lots of dumb one-liners and goofy sound effects that would entertain the under-10 crowd.

There is a lot of action, staged by Taiwanese legend Lam Man-Cheung (billed by his Mandarin name, Lin Wan-Chang). Lam is best known for the Kung Fu Kids films and I assume he was hired on account of his involvement in that series, that was popular in many parts of the world (in addition to its native Taiwan). The action here falls somewhere between your typical Hollywood martial arts movie and his work in Taiwan. It’s a far cry from the superlative Kung Fu Kids VI, but it certainly has more energy than your average Don “the Dragon” Wilson opus. If I have a complaint about the action, it’s that the 3 Ninjas never go “complete ninja” in the movie. No hoods, masks, shuriken or katana. The most we get are a pair of make-shift nunchaku and some tetsubishi made of barbed wire. I also saw references to Enter the Dragon; Operation Condor; and Project A in the fights.

Children and martial arts fans can expect a respectable number of fights, which are played for laughs, but are filled with genuine skill. The first fight at the pizza parlor mainly focuses on Colt and Tum Tum. The second big fight occurs at the landfill, where the 3 Ninjas fight against Jack’s goons on and around a trash compactor conveyor belt. It certainly has the feel of a Jackie Chan fight—choreographer Lam had worked with JC himself on Fantasy Mission Force and Island of Fire. This features more work from Rocky, who fights with the nunchaku at one point.

The third fight is more of all-out brawl between our heroes and Jack’s goons at the Indian Reservation. This is notable because Grandpa shows up to fight, too. Victor was 65 at the time and as far as I know, he never had any actual martial arts knowledge. He’s doubled the entire time—any move her performs is with his back to the camera. Veteran Hollywood stuntman Al Goto, who has amassed almost 300 credits as a stuntman and/or stunt coordinator, is Victor’s stunt double. The finale runs about ten minutes long, with the three kids fighting an endless army of mercenaries at an Old West ghost town. Although the scene is pure martial arts, there are some comic moments, like a gag involving a juke box and Rocky and Tum Tum fighting to the tune of Mariachi music and tango music.

Michael Treanor, who plays Rocky, was a black belt in both Taekwondo and karate by the time he made this, so he has the skills for this and gets more than a good showcase for them. Treanor retired from acting shortly after this film. According to an MTV article dated 2013, Michael remained active in the martial arts, but was working in the financial sector in Washington D.C. as of the writing of the article. Max Elliot Slade, who plays Colt, trained in Gosuku-Ryu karate, which is a composite of Shotokan and Goju-Ryu karate. He arguably gets the best showcase throughout the entire movie. He retired after a small role in Apollo 13 and got a degree in Anthropology and was teaching Yoga in Southern California at one point. Much like Chen Chung-Jung in the Kung Fu Kids movies, Tum Tum in mainly a comic foil and not the character you expect actual martial arts from. Chad Power also stopped acting in the mid-90s, going on to play football in college and become an assistant high school football coach.

As nostalgia functions on a 30-year loop, it is time for 3 Ninjas to be remade. Now that you can get away with a lot more in a PG-13 film than ever before, you can have some great fight action without all those unnecessary Boing! sound effects to keep the MPAA happy. And since the mainstream Martial Arts film hasn’t been in the best condition over the past few years, something to get more kids into the genre is what we need.