American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1991) Cannon/Action RT: 99 minutes Rated R (violence, language) Director: Cedric Sundstrom Screenplay: David Geeves Music: Nicolaas Tenbroek Cinematography: Joseph Wein Release date: March 8, 1991 (US) Cast: Michael Dudikoff, David Bradley, James Booth, Dwayne Alexandre, Ken Gampu, Robin Stille, Ron Smerczak, Franz Dobrowsky, Kely McClung, Jody Abrahams, Anthony Fridjohn, David Sherwood, Sean Kelly, Jamie Bartlett. Box Office: $358,047 (US)
Rating: *
Michael Dudikoff returns to play the role that made him famous in American Ninja 4: The Annihilation only this time he shares the spotlight with David Bradley who replaced him in the title role in American Ninja 3. Yes, both American Ninjas team up in this fourth installment of Cannon’s most popular series. Their job, as you might expect, is to take down yet another cartoonish megalomaniac, this one turned up to 111 by James Booth (Avenging Force). He’s the best thing in the movie.
The idea of a Dudikoff-Bradley team-up is a good one; alas, it’s misleading. Despite what’s promised by the poster art, the two leads barely appear in any scenes together. They share some screen time at the end, but it’s a moot point by then. I thought the idea was to see them fight side by side the whole time. That’s what the poster/video box implies. In the legal profession, this is what they call false advertising. That’s Cannon for you!
Speaking of dynamic duos, the production team of Golan-Globus split up around the time American Ninja 3 came out. Due to irreconcilable differences with the studio’s new financier Giancarlo Parretti, Menahem Golan resigned from Cannon and started his own company, 21st Century Film Corporation. In its five-year existence, it yielded cinematic trash-treasures like The Phantom of the Opera (the one with Robert Englund), The Forbidden Dance (the other Lambada picture), Captain America (pre-MCU) and Death Wish V: The Face of Death (their last movie). Yoram Globus stayed at Cannon and produced movies with Christopher Pearce who took over as CEO after the departure of Italian movie producer Ovidio G. Assonitis. It just wasn’t the same after Golan left. It shows in lame flicks like American Ninja 4: The Annihilation.
Dudikoff is back in, but co-star Steve James is out. He’s replaced by a different black guy played by Dwayne Alexandre (Red Sun Rising). Three words, NOT EVEN CLOSE. If you ever doubted Steve was the true star of the American Ninja flicks, here’s your proof. The plot has our heroes attempting to rescue a captured Delta Force unit from the aforementioned megalomaniac Colonel Mulgrew, a British ex-cop who despises Americans. He has a stronghold (guarded by ninjas, of course) in some unnamed foreign country most likely somewhere in Africa. Or maybe it’s the Philippines? It’s never clear. Anyway, he’s joined forces with Muslim terrorist Ali (Smerczak, Cyborg Cop) in his efforts to extort $50M from the American government. If they don’t pay up, a suitcase containing a nuclear bomb will be set off in New Work.
I guess the CIA needed a couple of ninjas on the payroll (affirmative action?) seeing that Sean Davidson (Bradley) and Joe Armstrong (Dudikoff) are both agents now. Actually, Joe is technically a former agent; he left the company to join the Peace Corps as a teacher (WTF?!). With American Ninja #1 out of the picture (at least for now), American Ninja #2 is sent in to rescue the soldiers with non-field agent Carl Brackston (Alexandre). In their efforts to rescue their fellow Americans, the guys get captured along with Sarah (Stille, The Slumber Party Massacre), the kind nurse at a Peace Corps hospital who hides the guys from Mulgrew’s goons in the morgue. They’re taken to the fortress where Sean beats down several bad ninjas before being chained up in a dungeon with the others. They’re set to be executed with the other hostages in 24 hours time.
With Bradley temporarily out of action, it’s up to Dudikoff to finish the mission which now includes rescuing American Ninja #2 and his team. He appears at the 45-minute mark teaching environmental science to a bunch of kids in a poor country. His CIA boss shows up and leaves a folder. This time, Joe accepts the mission. Sean is his friend after all. He goes in and proceeds to kick ass all over the place, disguised as a priest at one point. He finds an ally in local rebel leader Tamba (Gampu, King Solomon’s Mines) whose army appears to have been recruited from a Mad Max movie. I kept waiting for Wez to show up. I think you already know how it all ends.
Like its predecessor, American Ninja 4: The Annihilation wasn’t widely released. It didn’t open in Philly. I saw it courtesy of a friend who secretly loaned me the screener copy from the video store where he worked. LOL! Wasn’t I quite the lawless one in the early 90s? I’m glad I saw it that way because American Ninja 4: The Annihilation isn’t even worth the price of a 99-cent rental. I hate to say it, but it’s bad. It’s not entertainingly bad like its predecessor, it’s just bad. It has two things going for it: (1) the return of Michael Dudikoff and (2) Booth’s scenery-chewing performance. Dudikoff may not be a master thespian, but he’s got serious kick-ass skills. It’s cool watching him fight. Thankfully, he gets to do a lot of it in his half of the picture. Booth, who previously made the mistake of going up against a ninja in Pray for Death, is one of the great 80s bad guy character actors provided you like villains that camp it up.
If not for Dudikoff and Booth, American Ninja 4: The Annihilation would be unwatchable. It is flatly directed, poorly written, badly acted, clumsily staged and idiotic to the max. Alexandre is bland and forgettable as the sidekick. He brings nothing but himself to the party which is the same as showing up empty-handed. The late Stille could have been replaced by a department store mannequin and no one would know the difference. Cedric Sundstrom still can’t direct to save his life. He appears not to have learned anything from his previous gig, American Ninja 3.
The one scene in which both stars appear on screen at the same time is a weird one. Joe sneaks into the dungeon and attempts to rescue somebody he assumes to be his good buddy Sean. It sure looks like him. Instead of showing gratitude, “Sean” attacks him and they fight. “Sean” turns out to be a ninja disguised as Sean utilizing the practice of “Hensojutsu” (i.e. the ancient art of impersonation). Now that’s what I call a cheat!
American Ninja 4: The Annihilation should have been the last, but when did Cannon ever rely on common sense? They took a totally unrelated picture called American Dragons starring Bradley and retitled it American Ninja 5. I didn’t even bother with it. I still have no desire to see it, so don’t expect a review any time soon or ever. It’s my sincere hope that the series doesn’t get a reboot. For me, Michael Dudikoff and Steve James are the one and only American Ninja team.
