Shortly thereafter, Jackson discovers that Joe is an amnesiac; he remembers very little of his past, other than running with various street gangs and mastering several exotic martial arts.

He is brought to the heart of Ortega's operation, which encompasses the Black Star ninja training camp.

Ortega is paying the Black Star Order for weapons stolen from the Army, which he then resells to the highest bidder.

He then tries to kill Joe, but is thwarted by the sudden arrival of MP reinforcements, none of whom see the Black Star Master fleeing the scene.

Even as Hickock orders Rinaldo to finish off Joe, the Black Star Master kidnaps Patricia since her father is becoming a less-than-reliable partner.

It is revealed that Shinyuki, a former Japanese holdout soldier, adopted Joe at birth after the boy's parents died.

He trained Joe in the ways of ninjitsu until a bomb blast separated the two; each has believed the other to be dead for years.

Fight choreographer Mike Stone, who was an accomplished martial arts expert, assured the producers that he would pick up the moves.

It was also the first of three films pairing Michael Dudikoff and Steve James, the other two being Avenging Force (1986) and American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987).

[9] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 20 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".