I havn't seen the other four films, but judging from the nature of this one, I assume the other four were something like it. The worst part of this horrible film are the ninja thugs that the hero beats up like it is an everyday hobby. In the first place, the "ninja" thugs do NOT behave like real ninjas. Come to think of it, neither does the hero. Ninjas are supposed to be ASSASSINS who work in the night and kill with STEALTH and SILENCE. The thugs here dress up in the most cheesy and plain costumes and come out screaming loud and waving their swords and nunchakus like they think they know how to use them, only to be clobbered by the hero within a second or two. This film is good if you are under 10 years old and like movies where none of the good guys die and all of the bad guys die. True Lies may have been like that too but it does it with STYLE. Another dumb aspect of American "Ninja" 5 is most of the lines are retarded. Example: After the boy Hiro manages to clobber a couple of ninja thugs(as if a twelve year old could beat up a "ninja"), and rides on top of a wheeled table which the hero uses as a battering ram through the thugs, one of them reports to his boss:"the boy was this big, but he had the strength of ten men" as if he was describing an encounter with a deadly alien. So in conclusion, for mindless hokey fun, this is a good movie. For good quality action flick, this is pure dumbness at its best.