American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1990)

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 | Prison Camp | Blood | Male Rear Nudity

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 Bartlett	...	Segal
Deon Stewardson	...	Delta Force Team

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:R (Certificate #31545) | Finland:K-16 (1991) | Finland:K-18 (2008) | 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: When Joe fights the ninja in the boiler room (right before the from-below-shot of him climbing the stairs), he throws a punch at the ninja's head, and there is a loud punching sound effect accompanying it, but a close look reveals his fist stops a foot in front of the ninja's face.

Quotes:

Joe Armstrong: Sean... you can find me at the school.

Movie Connections:

Follows American Ninja (1985)

Soundtrack:

Fight Fire with Fire

Great Sequel, the end...Cya GUys

American Ninja 4: The Annihilation is a return to form in this great series.

Yes, we all know the movie is bad, so are the others but at the time of their release I found them absolutely amazing and I guess I still maintain a part of that admiration for them, maybe like gratitude for all the great moments in my childhood.

After an awful completely uninteresting third part, Annihilation goes back to the origins and brings with him, Michael Dudikoff, Joe Armstrong, the man.

So now we have not one, but two american ninjas since Sean, David Bradley is also back. Bradley was used as a cheap replacement for the fan favorite and the original near mute, no expression Joe Armstrong. The truth is while I too prefer Dudikoff I don't think Bradley did such a bad job. He had some acting ability, small but still it was there. And I still maintain that his fight scenes were much better that Dudikoff´s. In here he again gives us some nice scenes, kicking some ninja butt.

However his position is again ungrateful since the audience just wants to see Dudikoff and don't really appreciate his work. Dudikoff however only appears half way through the film and that's a huge flaw from the script.

They should have joined the two heroes on screen as much as possible. However that never happens until almost the last ten minutes. It's a shame and a let down for the viewer. Dudikoff seems more experienced a better actor than in the beginning of the saga but he has about five or six lines so it's hard to tell.

The other big problem is the absence of the great Steve James. Curtis Jackson was as important to the saga and its success as the lead guys. The movie sorely misses him and so do we. It's just not the same thing without him. RIP Steve James.

The story is not bad at all. Some Arab guy and an english terrorist have built a bomb that can fit in a suitcase and they want to blow up New York. The US sends the Delta Force but they're captured by the ninjas. Then they send Sean but he's also defeated. So, just like Rambo, Armstrong must come out of his work at the Peace Corps and save his friend and the rest of the prisoners.

The villains are pretty good. They're really nasty, sick guys and I couldn't wait for their painful demise. There's also a bad, powerful ninja Armstrong must defeat. There's even a fight between Armstrong and a fake Sean, in which we see Dudikoff and Bradley get it on. I thought there should have been more action but we still get lots of it, don't worry. There are even some intentionally funny moments.

Annihilation was a good sequel and for me I consider it the last of the series. A very entertaining film, with a nice story, fairly good action and the charisma of Dudikoff adding to the ability of Bradley. A good ending for these characters.

It was fun going back and watching these old glories. Felt almost like a kid again.

Thanks for the thrills.