American Ninja 4: The Annihilation

The OG "American Ninja" himself, Michael Dudikoff returns to the series about 45 minutes into the fourth film after having to be begged to save David Bradley, and literally the series itself from the brink of death. The contingent result was a weird mishmash of two different ninjas' stories that somehow ends up with enough colorful caricatures, so bad-it's-good moments, and ninja schlock to warrant a watch from fans of the franchise despite the obvious severe lack of Steve James.

The bad guy from Pray for Death seems like he's slumming it here. That's right. The lead villain from a movie called Pray for Death might be wasting his time and our time even when he's required to walk into a room and slap around a tied female hostage for no reason whatsoever. Half the movie features David Bradley and all I could think was, "Michael Dudikoff, you got real ugly."

A lot more fun than the previous installment, but the lack of Steve James hurts it.

It suffers from all the same faults from the previous entries, but this one is hurt extra firstly by the absence of Steve James and secondly by severe pacing issue. While being only 10 min longer than the rest, it feels a half hour longer. For brainless cheap entertainment this drags too much.

Leans a bit too far into the Rambo 2 rip-off military action, though I did appreciate the ninjitsu-jihadi villainous union. What should be an Avengers-level crossover event with Michael Dudikoff & David Bradley’s American Ninjas teaming up is sadly marred by the absence of Steve James. Bonus points though for when Dudikoff goes to the rebel camp and it’s a full blown leather daddy convention with everyone in studded jackets and gimp masks and mesh tops; absolutely fucking hilarious.