American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1990)

User Rating:

2.7/10   

Director:

Cedric Sundstrom

Writer:

David Geeves (writer)

Release Date:

8 March 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot:

The two American Ninjas, Joe Armstrong and Sean Davidson, team up to do battle against a terrorist and his band of Ninjas.

Plot Keywords:

Ninja | American Ninja | Martial Arts | Arms Tied Overhead | Blood

Cast

Michael Dudikoff	...	Joe Armstrong
David Bradley	...	Sean Davidson
James Booth	...	Mulgrew
Dwayne Alexandre	...	Brackston
Ken Gampu	...	Dr. Tamba
Robin Stille	...	Sarah
Franz Dobrowsky	...	O'Reilly
Ron Smerczak	...	Maksood
Kely McClung	...	Super Ninja / Delta Force Team
Jody Abrahams	...	Pango
Anthony Fridjohn	...	Freddie / Treddle
David Sherwood	...	Gavin
Sean Kelly	...	Norris
Jamie Batlett	...	Segal
Deon Stewardson	...	Delta Force Team

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:R (Certificate #31545) | Germany:18 | Norway:18 | UK:18 | Iceland:16 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Lesotho

Company:

Cannon Group

Trivia:

Robin Stille's last film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Obvious stunt double used for Dudikoff in most of his wide shots during his fight with the Super Ninja.

Quotes:

Sean Davidson: This isn't a game, Gavin, those were ninja!

Movie Connections:

Followed by American Ninja V (1993)

Soundtrack:

Fight Fire with Fire

A really good sequel to the series!

In American Ninja 4, we get two American Ninja's, David Bradley of Part 3 & Michael Dudikoff of Parts 1 & 2. The story has a Delta Force team abducted by ninja's on an island & tortured by a nasty Arab & his partner. In comes SEAN (BRADLEY) & his partner to try & rescue them but when their caught, the original American Ninja Joe (Dudikoff) flies into action to save his friends, whom will soon be facing death by burning at the stake, unless he can fight off hordes of ninja combatants to save them. Ameican Ninja 4 sounded to much like a good thing, two American Ninja's teaming up to take out the baddies, I mean with both of them together, you half expect them to at one point team up in the movie & fight the bad guys off, but if that's what you are expecting to see you'll be greatly disappointed, Dudikoff & Bradley don't fight together in this & the villains although better written & acted than the previous ones, don't put up much of a fight against our two hero's at the end of the film, once again we get another Super Ninja, that prepares for the final battle against Dudikoff's character as stated at the back of the box art, but the actual Super Ninja is not part of the main film, he only has a very small & non speaking part in the film & is really no tougher than the ninja's that Dudikoff & Bradley have to go through in the first half & the fight between the Super Ninja & Dudikoff lacks excitement & is nowhere near as good as the box art made it sound. That said American Ninja 4 is still a pretty exciting movie & I can't see why out of a lot of reviews by fans & critics & such that it was given such a poor rating, everything from GOLDEN TURKEY, BOMB one star etc. has been used in describing this movie, I mean sure it's not a masterpiece, but I thought it did the series justice, the acting & directing was good & the martial arts fight scenes were pretty good but suspenseless, I mean I admit they could have had the two ninja's fighting together & they could have made the ninja's, especially the Super Ninja a little bit tougher as to prompt our hero's to break a sweat, but it works well with what it has been given. Despite returning in American Ninja 5, David Bradley does not play the same hero as he did in this one & Part 3, despite a possible set up at the climax for another sequel with his & Dudikoff's chartecter.

***1/2 stars