''3 Ninjas Kick Back'' is a 1994 American

martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expression a ...

directed by Charles T. Kanganis. It is a sequel to the film ''

3 Ninjas ''3 Ninjas'' is a series of action comedy family films about the adventures of three young brothers who are trained by their Japanese grandfather in the art of ''ninjutsu''. Victor Wong is the only cast member to appear in all four films. C ...

''. Despite being released as the second installment of the franchise, ''Kick Back'' is chronologically the third installment of the ''

'' series. Originally the other sequel '' 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up'' was shot back-to-back with the first film and with the original cast, but due to distribution issues it was released in 1995.

Max Elliott Slade Max Elliott Slade (born July 4, 1980) is an American former child actor who starred in ''3 Ninjas'', '' 3 Ninjas Kick Back'', and '' 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up '' as the character named Jeffrey Douglas, later nicknamed Colt by his grandfather Mori Tanaka ...

is the only actor to reprise his role from the previous film as Jeffrey "Colt" Douglas, one of the three main characters. The film has a continuity error in which Mori's last name changes from Tanaka to Shintaro for no apparent reason. It is the only film in the series to receive a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

adaptation.

Plot

The three titular

ninjas A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

of the story, 13-year-old "Rocky", 12-year-old "Colt", and 7-year-old "Tum-Tum" are brothers experiencing the pressures of growing up. They frequently spend time training in the ninja arts with their grandfather, Mori Shintaro (Mori Tanaka in the previous film). Mori plans a trip for the four of them to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

to take them to a

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

tournament of which he was the champion fifty years ago. Only Tum-Tum seems interested in going, and even then, only out of interest in seeing

sumo wrestler A , or, more colloquially, , is a sumo wrestler. Although used to define all wrestlers participating in sumo wrestling matches, the term is more commonly used to refer to professional wrestlers, employed by the Japan Sumo Association, who part ...

s due to how much food they get to eat. Mori tells the boys he hopes to return a

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually one or two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a cutting or stabbing, thrusting weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or ...

awarded to him at the tournament when he defeated a boy named Koga, so that it may be presented to the new winner. In Japan, a man later revealed to be Koga breaks into a museum and steals a sword before escaping via

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

. At a baseball game, Rocky seems too focused on a cute girl to pitch properly, Tum-Tum causes constant breaks due to getting snacks, and Colt's temper causes a fight with the opposing team that causes the

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

to suspend the game for a week, driving a nail into the boys' plans to travel. Meanwhile, back at Mori's cabin, a trio of thugs led by Koga's nephew, Glam, try to break into the house to steal the dagger. The boys manage to drive them off and dismiss it as an ordinary robbery attempt. Mori leaves for Japan alone, but the boys' father, Sam, accidentally gives him Tum-Tum's bag. Once he arrives in Japan, Mori's taxi is rear-ended by Glam and his friends, who steal his bag. After hearing from Mori at the hospital, the boys discover the bag mix-up and realize that they have the dagger. They arrange a trip with Mori's credit card and meet him in Japan. He instructs the boys to give the dagger to the Grand Master of the tournament. Glam and his friends record the conversation and deliver it to Koga, who punishes them for not retrieving the dagger. At the tournament, Colt steals a gi from an injured competitor where he loses to his female opponent, a girl named Miyo Shikigawa. She helps them deliver the dagger to the Grand Master, and allows the boys to stay with her and her mother. She has a love of baseball where she is a good power hitter, but is not very good at catching. The boys offer to train her in baseball if she trains them in martial arts. Rocky becomes fond of Miyo. The two almost kiss but they are distracted by Colt and Tum-Tum. Koga attempts to trap the boys and retrieve the dagger himself by masquerading as the Grand Master, but the boys and Miyo catch onto his scheme and flee. They face several adversaries before they are finally captured. Meanwhile, Mori is kidnapped from the hospital by Ishikawa after fleeing Glam and the others. Koga forces Mori to tell him the location of the Cave of Gold, an

urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...

which the sword and dagger are the keys to open. Fearing the safety for his grandsons, Mori agrees to aid Koga. Soon after, the children come up with a plan and escape Koga's fortress on hang gliders, arriving at the cave shortly after the adults. Inside, Koga and Mori realize the legend is true after they encounter walls and monuments of gold within. While the two battle each other, the boys and Miyo drop in on them and Koga pulls a gun. Using Mori's lesson on focus, Colt throws a

ball bearing A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races. The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...

into the muzzle of the gun, causing it to backfire and start a

cave-in A cave-in is a collapse of a geologic formation, mine or structure which may occur during mining, tunneling, or steep-walled excavation such as trenching. Geologic structures prone to spontaneous cave-ins include alvar, tsingy and other ...

. The group flees the cave, and Koga, now realizing the price of his greed, apologizes and leaves the group unharmed. Rocky realizes that they are a day ahead of America and that they can still make it home by the championship game. At the game, the boys overcome their flaws. Down by two in the 9th inning, an opposing batter gets a hit off Rocky's pitch, until a new player, Miyo, catches the ball. In the bottom of the inning, Colt focuses and hits a home run, allowing all three boys to score and win the game. Members of the opposing team confront them after the game, and Darren, the team captain and the bicycle thief from the previous film, picks Miyo to fight for ruining his home run, which she politely agrees. Darren screams as she gets ready to attack him. The screen cuts to black as the fight begins.

Cast

Reception

The film had a mostly negative reaction. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an approval rating of 15% based on reviews from 13 critics. Scott Weinberg of eFilmCritic.com gave it 1 out of 5, saying it was "even worse than the original ... which was pretty dire to begin with". On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a score of 39 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.

Box office

The film opened in the #3 position on opening weekend with a total of

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

3,556,310. By the end of its 4-week run, the movie grossed $11,798,854 domestically.

Other media

In 1994,

NOW Comics NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comic bo ...

published a three-part comic book adaptation of the movie, which was written by

Clint McElroy Clinton Emil "Clint" McElroy Jr. ( , born August 10, 1955) is an American podcaster, comic book writer and former radio personality. He is known for his work on the podcast ''The Adventure Zone'', as well as for hosting several FM radio shows in ...

. In 1994,

Sony Imagesoft Sony Imagesoft Inc. was an American video game publisher that operated from 1989 to 1995 and was located in California. It was established in January 1989 in Los Angeles, California, as a subsidiary of the Japan-based CBS/Sony Group (CSG) and in ...

published a video game adaption for the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania an ...

, and

Sega CD The Sega CD, known as in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory and format for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. Originally released in November 1991, it ca ...

platforms.

References

External links

* {{3 Ninjas 1994 films 1994 action comedy films 1994 martial arts films 1994 children's films American sequel films TriStar Pictures films American action comedy films 1990s English-language films 1990s martial arts comedy films

Kick Back ''Kick Back'' is the third extended play by the Chinese boy band WayV with the lead single of the same name. It was released on March 10, 2021, by Label V and SM Entertainment, with Iriver Inc, Dreamus as the South Korean distributor and Owhat a ...

Films about brothers Films directed by Charles T. Kanganis Films set in Japan Films set in the United States American martial arts comedy films Films adapted into comics Ninja films Films shot in Japan Japan in non-Japanese culture 1990s American films Films scored by Richard Marvin English-language action comedy films