Review of American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1990) by Explodingboy1989 — 21 Feb 2009

After the disappointment of part 3, I was a little weary of this one. Fortunately, this one surpassed my expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. American Ninja 4 is EVERYTHING you'd want in an American Ninja movie: explosions, cheesy action set pieces, ninjas, exotic island locales, and finally- da man himself, Michael Dudikoff.

I almost thought this was two separate films, with the first 40 minutes being a David Bradley AN movie, and the last 40 being ALL OUT Dudikoff. Nonetheless, I liked this one a lot. Joe Armstrong comes out of retirement as a teacher for the Peace Corps to save the lame American Ninja (Bradley), who got himself captured- but not before annoying us American Ninja purists for 30 minutes beforehand with dumb one-liners and awful facial expressions.

When Dudikoff shows up on screen, you'll be jumping to your feet and cheering (at least, I was). Armstrong teams up with a bunch of rejects from Mad Max 2 and take out a couple of British and Islamic terrorist stereotypes.

This is pure Golan-Globus velveeta, and I love it! The complaints are few: David Bradley isn't too annoying, because he's captured after awhile; no Steve James, and no Michael Dudikoff until about 40 minutes in.

Thank the heavens that when he finally does show up, it's pure cheesy ninja goodness at its finest. And remember Joe Armstrong's lesson for today: the environment is all around us. Now go outside and find him an example.

And if you need him, he'll be at the school.