After a quite disappointing third sequel, the fourth one did bring back some grace into the franchise (eventhough it didn't work out as I hoped). Steve James resignation for the fourth sequel (and if I'm not mistaken, this film was made before he passed away) in my opinion was due to the fact that the director decided to bring Dudikoff back after a setback in the third installmentFor me, the most interesting but could have used a little bit of polishing up in the film was the plot itself. A group of soldiers gets captured by an Arab and English terrorist building a bomb. The American government then sends Sean Davidson (David Bradley) to try and handle the situation and when he fails as well, they finally the send in the back the original kickass ninja pro Joe Armstrong (Michael Dudikoff) into the action since it was sort of like when everything else fails, Joe Armstrong doesn'tThis was a pretty interesting sequel and probably the 2nd best of the entire series behind Annilation. To get to this film, I have no real idea why Dudikoff agreed to return back to this fourth installment (maybe he did it just for the sake of the fans of the franchise) but thankfully, he really brought the life back into the series (and for fans like myself) even though he didn't seemed like he was in the mood of acting in this sequel. David's character in this sequel in my opinion was far more respectable than in the third one. He might have done a decent if not good job on the 3rd sequel but in my opinion, his performance here as the 2nd leading actor was way better since he really looks more of a ninja expert in this one compared to the third installmentHowever, there were a few minor complaints that I have for the film. First off, I expected Dudikoff and Bradley to team up together and become buddies like almost immediately in the film but sadly this did not happen for until like the final 20 minutes of the film. The final fights from both sides (Dudikoff's and Bradley's) were not really that entertaining either since Bradley only had to fight a chicken whuss and Dudikoff once again made an Arabic ninja (whose even more quite in the film than Michael was throughout the film) look like a kindergarden amateurAnother complaint that I would like to bring up (although minor) is that I think that it felt like pointless having the scene where Joe was making his weapons (the sword and shurikens) and holding up the sword in front of his face like it was the most important possession that he ever had but in the end, he just fought the enemies with his own bare hands and never used them at all throughout the ending of the film. I think that maybe the director had accidentally forgotten about that part which was why we never got to see Dudikoff using his weapons in the end. Another part that I have to complain was that they never really told the story of how Joe (Michael) and Sean (David) became friends in the first place and all in all, I felt like maybe this was more of like shrink and squeeze in as much as possible kind of plot story than the one that they had originally intended to createHowever, these flaws did not ruin the film too much since I felt it really did make up for the rather disappointing third sequel. All in all, I would really recommend this to all American Ninja fans out there and anyone else who just wants to spend three hours of their time watching some mindless but still a rather fun action movie

I think, number four in this series is a bit too violent. Also, I mean, does the gang Joe hooks up with have to look so much like in "Mad Max"? And couldn't he, being like the greatest martial artist in the world, perhaps have applied his talents better at the peace movement? Though I like the series, I don't understand why they have cut down on the Ninjutsu and put so much emphasis on telling a complex story. Surely, we watch a movie like this to watch great techniques. Anyway, this series is very good when it comes to showing actual techniques, except that Ninjutsu does not have so many high-kicks that they perform. That looks more like kick-boxing, although, of course, high kicks can be effective in certain situations. Anyway, I think all of the five movies are worth seeing, but it is somewhat a pity that they are not even better.

this was pretty tedious in my opinion.it wasn't anything special.Michael DudiKoff returns(sort of)as does David Bradley.but Dudikoff and Bradley have very little screen time together together.the plot isn't much different than the third one.the fight sequences didn't really do all that much for me either,except when Dudikoff's character was fighting.he seems to have a natural graceful way of moving in his fighting motions.but mostly though,i was just waiting for it to finish.i wouldn't call it a horrible movie.and believe me,i may say with great certainty i have seen some of the worst movies ever made.and this is not one of those.it just wasn't great.for me,American Ninja 4: The Annihilation is a 5/10

If it wasn't bad enough in the previous entry where Steve James wasn't promoted to be the star when Dudikoff temporarily exited the series, the producers don't even call him back for this entry! Actually, upon carefully looking at the movie, it DOES seem that it was originally written for James to return; Bradley is given a sidekick character that you can easily picture James playing, and Dudikoff's character gets involved only when he's told that his "friend" Bradley is in trouble, even though there was previously no evidence they were friends - both being signs of a quick rewrite.I'm willing to bet that the reason James didn't return was his own decision instead of the producers - the movie didn't end up giving his role a whole lot to do. Also, the end results just aren't very good. Certainly, it's a notch up over the terrible part 3. For one thing, the production values are a significant step up. Also, the movie starts off very promising with a not-bad action sequence. But after that part of the movie ends, the movie quickly collapses. Bradley is again an uncharismatic lead (who fortunately is moved offscreen for much of the movie!), and Dudikoff (who finally appears halfway through the movie) seems alternately bored and annoyed to be there, though he is clearly more confident in his martial art sequences. There's also very little action, a very slow-moving plot, and some *unbelievably* bad editing. The climax does bring back some action, and also has a number of unintentionally funny moments, but it's too little too late.