American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1991)

After a fairly disappointing third movie, without Michael Dudikoff, the fourth movie brings together Michael Dudikoff (playing Joe from parts one and two) and Daving Bradley (playing Sean from part three). And you think that would blow the roof off of the series, but it was hardly so.When Sean is sent in to liberate a team of captured Delta Team soldiers and fail, former ranger Joe is sent in to bring everyone home.And that was basically the storyline summarized in a single sentence. It is a no-brainer all the way through, but it is up to par with the previous three movies. I must admit that it is the first time I have seen or heard about an Arab terrorist group keeping ninjas in their ranks, but sure, why not? You would also think by the fourth movie that the villain might have better trained ninja henchmen about, but you are sadly mistaken. They were still equally worthless.Michael Dudikoff doesn't even show up before into the last half of the movie. But still he is the main attraction for this fourth "American Ninja" movie.By this fourth movie it is starting to really show that there is a growing fatigue in the franchise, which started to show already in the third movie. So I am a little bit hesitant about watching part five.All in all, "American Ninja 4: The Annihilation" doesn't really revive the franchise after the disappointing third movie. But if you enjoy the first two movies then you will also find some enjoyment, at least, in part four.

After the abysmal American Ninja 3, it seemed all hope was lost for fans of low-budget martial arts movies starring white guys. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, this film would see the return of the one and ONLY American Ninja: Michael Dudikoff. Unfortunately, he doesn't return until about halfway through it. Still, it's Dudikoff's last hurrah as Joe Armstrong so it's worth seeing for that alone. Steve James is absent, which is unfortunate. The movie doesn't have the same feel as the first two. But that was generally true of most Cannon films of the time. The heyday of Golan/Globus was gone and Cannon by 1990 was just another cheap production company. Is this movie worth checking out for anybody who isn't an American Ninja or Dudikoff completist? Probably not.

I saw this on cable a few years after it came out-- and I was disappointed-- Steve James was gone! To me, he really made the first three films work, with his humor (and for what its worth, he was the better actor, all three times).the semi-wooden Michael Dudikoff comes back, paired with part 3's really wooden David Bradley.Part 3 was tolerable if only for James's presence-- I feel he should have been made the star after Dudikoff left, but of course that didn't happen.The plot involves some terrorist conspiracy, but of course in films like this it's incidental to the action scenes..I don't blame Steve James for not coming back for this last installment. Avoid this!

Realizing that nobody wants to see an AMERICAN NINJA film without Michael Dudikoff, the producers got him back for this entry in an attempt to make things right. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Headbashing Dudemeister doesn't even show up until nearly halfway through the film, after David Bradley (star of the previous film) and some friends are captured overseas during an important mission. Dudikoff's Joe Armstrong reluctantly agrees to come out of self-imposed retirement and save the day, rescuing the others and stopping James Booth's plot to detonate a nuclear weapon. There's a good bar fight with Bradley, and the climax (cutting between two fights, one with Dudikoff and one with Bradley) is pretty decent. They are no Jackie Chan moments, but then again, the AMERICAN NINJA films are more for "chop socky" fans.