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.

When the evil Mulgrew (Booth) and his Japanese "Red Faction Army" (actually a bunch of ninjas) plan to take over the world, Sean Davidson (Bradley) snaps into action to stop their nefarious plan. Even though he's working with compatriots Carl (Alexandre) and local doctor Sarah (Stille), Mulgrew still seems to have the upper hand. To get out of this jam, they call in the REAL American Ninja, Joe Armstrong (Dudikoff). He was off working in the peace corps (funny, that doesn't sound like the Joe Armstrong we know and love), but you know what they say, if you want something done right...call in the American Ninja. Now with the power of Armstrong on their side, they can't lose...or can they? At this point, the American Ninja franchise was on life support. Part 3 was a slog, so Cannon must have figured, let's get the same director and do it again. Bad idea. It feels more like a Nu-Image movie, and the fact that Avi Lerner and some other future Nu-Image people were working behind the camera shows this must have been their training ground, which is unfortunate, but explains a lot. One of the things they did right was get James Booth as the main baddie. Recall that this is none other than Limehouse Willie himself. But since Cannon recycles plots all the time, what they should have done is dispense with all the nonsense herein (like extra characters named Pongo and the pseudo-Mad Max trappings and all that) and do a remake of Pray For Death, but with Dudikoff in the Sho Kosugi role. Then we'd have something. But by now it was the 90's, and things were on the downswing. This movie feels like a cash-in with very little, if any heart behind it. Even Dudikoff doesn't show up until 44 minutes into the movie, and he was probably prodded into it.The connection between Davidson and Armstrong in the movie is done with the most slender thread imaginable, to the point of it being laughable: "they're friends", we're told. Okay. How come we never heard about this so-called "friendship" before? Just this one throwaway utterance is supposed to explain why Armstrong would come to Lesotho, Africa and save the day. We've heard of bad writing, but that's just childishly pathetic. And it's bad enough that Steve James isn't in this movie - the supposed main star is David Bradley, who has so little screen presence, he's more like a blank face than an actual actor. If he didn't have eyes, a nose and a mouth, and instead just had a big question mark on his face, no one would notice. Plus he makes a lot of silly noises when fighting, and he's almost certainly wearing "guyliner" in some scenes, which is not manly. Did Cannon REALLY THINK Bradley was better than Dudikoff? It shows that maybe this series deserved to go down the tubes, because of poor decision making.In the action department, there are some decent battles, a bit of jungle action in the beginning, and maybe a couple of exploding guard towers/falls and possibly a heli as well. Plus there's the Prerequisite Torture, but it's really hard to care about the characters, except for Dudikoff. There's the time-honored ninja training camp, featuring the al-Qaida monkey bars, and Mortal Kombat-style obstacles. But on the bright side, at one point, in order to change clothes from his street gear to full-blown ninja, Dudikoff jumps into what can only be described as a "Ninja Hole". When he jumps in, he's classic Dudikoff. A split second later when he jumps out, he's all Ninja'd out. We liked the Ninja Hole. Maybe it's near the Ninja Cave from Cannon's Ninja III: The Domination (1984). If there are spots on earth where people can instantaneously turn into ninjas, we want to know about them.As happened with American Ninja 3, not to mention a lot of other movies, the song here is better than the movie. Eddie Ray Wolfe's "Fight Fire With Fire" is great and should have featured in the movie itself, not just the credits. Chalk it up to another bad decision. In all truth, there is very little "Annihilation" in this movie. Despite the presence of Dudikoff, we're sorry to report this is a dud.For more action insanity, please visit: www.comeuppancereviews.com

Plenty of white stuntmen in colorful ninja uniforms get pulverized in this fourth film in the "American Ninja" franchise, THE ANNIHILATION. Michael Dudikoff returns to the franchise after skipping out in the previous entry, but David Bradley(..who was the star of "American Ninja III:Blood Hunt")also comes back providing fans of the series with two heroes to root for as they attempt to free captured Delta Force soldiers, held for ransom in the fortress of a mad sheik and sadistic colonel who plan to send a missile into New York. Sean Davidson(Bradley)and his partner, Brackston(Dwayne Alexandre), a linguist, are assigned the task of infiltrating the fortress of a cruel former British soldier Mulgrew(James Booth) and evil Arab dictator ally, featuring an army of training Ninja who obey the sheik's every command. The Arab dictator is always ranting and raving about Allah which drives Mulgrew bonkers, but that's what you put up with if you wish to be a fiendish global terrorist. Soon Sean and Brackston are temporarily rescued by a kind Peace Corps worker, Sarah(Robin Stille)who uses her morgue as a hiding place. Soon, though, despite Sean's impressive skills, the trio are taken into custody and held in a chamber, their executions, along with the remaining Delta Firce soldiers, are planned for the next day. Former agent, Joe Armstrong(Dudikoff)is called upon to rescue them all, despite the fact that he retired from duty to pursue a more peaceful lifestyle alternatively different than his days as a ninja killer. But, understanding that his best friend Sean was also kidnapped, he agrees to take the job, going into hostile territory to engage the enemy, in an attempt to subdue his foes and help his people break free from certain doom. He'll need help in this group of Mad Max rejects, desert dwellers who have formed a commune under their charismatic leader, Dr. Tamba(Ken Gampu). With Tamba's people raiding the fortress and combating the evil ninja army, Joe will use an old ammunition tunnel(..supposedly dynamited)as a method into the place.Ludicrous action flick, easily the worst of the series. Dudikoff looks like he'd rather be elsewhere instead of in this movie. He doesn't even show up until like 50 minutes into the film;it was Bradley's show until then. The story is as ridiculous as you could possibly imagine and there are mountainous plot holes. As you often notice in movies like this, instead of killing such a threat as Bradley when you have him at your mercy, the villains allow him to live...even twenty-four hours before an execution has one scratching your head because why would such loathsome people allow him to live even minutes? Ninjas shout when they are shot, and as always in these movies, before a villain swings a weapon at our heroes he has to make a loud noise letting the opposition know he's behind him. Gosh, is Steve James' missing presence a liability..even if the plot is crap, he adds a good deal of pop to the proceedings. Robin Stille is lovely and sweet as a constant source of abuse at the hands of Mulgrew. Booth is perfectly fiendish and despicable as Mulgrew, building a bastard you can't wait to see beaten to the inch of his life. My favorite sequence, as completely silly as it is, has Joe catching an arrow in his teeth, stabbing it in the neck of a ninja! Bradley does get a chance to show of his flexible skills, but this turns into the Dudikoff show once he's imprisoned. I personally like Bradley, although his skills as an actor are limited, he has a likability to him. He's certainly more animated than Dudikoff who seems to be on life-support. The Mad Max group who assist Dudikoff are laughable and seem really out of place in this movie. It's quite clear throughout that Dudikoff's stunt double had a great deal of work in this film.

Michael Dudikoff continues in this 4th American Ninja movie. That doesn't mean they kicked out David Bradley, he is still the lead. Maybe they thought bringing the two 'American Ninjas' together would bring an extra dimension to the film, but that didn't happen at all. For that, Dudikoff and Bradley were almost not fighting together at all. I consider that a missed opportunity. What's worse, is that Steve James now is gone from the series. He was a crucial element in these movies. Without him, it's much worse. It really doesn't help that the fighting scenes are worse than ever, either. The definitely should've stopped this series after the third movie. Surprisingly enough, the also made "American Ninja 5". Beats me.