Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Lancoor A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Paul Magne Haakonsen 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.

Peter Grunbaum 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.

Wizard-8 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.

bronsonskull72 Michael Dudikoff returns as Joe Armstrong the original "American Ninja" who is the last hope to save the other "American Ninja" Sean Davidson (David Bradley) from an angry Arab who is developing a nuke that can fit in a suit case in this dull yet much improved sequel. American Ninja 4 has a few okay actionscenes and the overall quality is better this time out, but overall the movie is far too wooden to be much fun. Only a few inspired moments emerge to make this one rise above a "Turkey" rating. My only other observation has to deal with Dudikoff himself, he looks very bored and disinterested with the whole thing,while the other actors are just woeful. Strictly by the numbers.