THE ANNIHILATION is the fourth instalment of the AMERICAN NINJA franchise and my first exposure to it too. It's notable for featuring in its cast both Michael Dudikoff, who starred in the first two films in the series, and David Bradley, who replaced him in the third. Bradley is kidnapped along with a bunch of commandos by a terrorist group led by a British warmonger. He also has an army of ninjas at his command. Dudikoff is called out of retirement to effect a rescue mission and does so with his usual deadly relish. This is a film which was shot in South Africa on a tight budget and it's ridiculously boring. The action scenes are non-exciting and the fight choreography is poor, a surprise as I enjoy a lot of 1990s-era action B-movies with their powerful kicks and punches. In the end I was merely waiting for the credits to roll. Even some of the Godfrey Ho ninja cheese-fests were more enjoyable than this. I'm going to pretend it doesn't exist.

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.

*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS I'm not sure if this movie is really better than "American ninja 3". At least that movie had Steve James as Curtis Jackson in it. This movie is a wasted opportunity. The idea of having 2 American ninja's is nice , but it's badly executed.

The story here seems to be written for Steve James and Michael Dudikoff. David Bradley is pretty much a sidekick here and Dudikoff's character appears into the story when he is told that is "friend" is in trouble. There was no evidence that Dudikoff and Bradley were friends in any of the three previous movies ! We never heard or saw any of this friendship. The connection between Davidson and Armstrong in the movie is laughable. If you're expecting something like buddy cop movie you will be disappointed. Dudikoff and Bradley make a fighting team only in the last ten minutes (!) of the movie.

It's bad that Steve James isn't in the movie , but I think it was a good decision for him . He wouldn't have much to do here. My stinky socks have more charisma and acting skills than David Bradley. Thankfully for a large part of movie he is kept off-screen. Michael Dudikoff gives a "I don't give a f***" performance. He obviously doesn't want to be in the movie and sleepwalks his performance.

The plot is VERY slow moving. There is quite a lot of action , but it's all uninspired and dull. The editing in fight scenes is sometimes VERY bad. There is quite a lot of stupidity in the screenplay. Arab terrorist with ninjas guarding him ?! Thousands of Mad Maxish rebels couldn't defeat the bad guy until the American ninja came in ?! The Mad Max group really out of place in this movie. And why the bad guys didn't simply kill Bradley , but kept him alive ?! The good things about this movie ? It starts off with not-bad action sequence. There are some unintentionally funny moments. For example Dudikoff catches an arrow in his mouth and then kills a ninja . The ninja training obstacle when some of the ninjas have unintentionally funny death scenes. Or dialogues like : "It fills me with ecstasy to know that I was one minute from meeting Allah!" , "Where we headed?" "MECCA!" Too bad that they can't save this dreadful movie. I'm amazed that they made enough money thanks to this movie to make even "American ninja 5". I give it 1/10.