Product Details

• Actors: Michael Dudikoff, David Bradley, James Booth, Dwayne Alexandre, Ken Gampu
• Directors: Cedric Sundstrom
• Writers: David Geeves
• Producers: Avi Lerner, Christopher Pearce, Ovidio G. Assonitis
• Format: Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: December 6, 2005
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000AYEL38
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,303 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "American Ninja 4 - The Annihilation" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 12/06/2005 Run time: 99 minutes Rating: R

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "There are no bloody priests - I shot them all months ago!", October 14, 2011

By 

Mike Sehorn "Rezo the Dezo" (APO, AE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Ninja 4 - The Annihilation (DVD)

I need to admit, I was never a fan of the "American Ninja" series, but I'm a sucker for action hero team-ups like this. At the time of this one's release, Michael Dudikoff was already an established name in the martial arts B-movie genre, and David Bradley would soon be doing neat stuff like Cyborg Soldier and Hard Justice, so their collaboration seems especially cool in retrospect. It's just a bit of a shame that the two of them don't do any real teaming up until the end of this film, and an even bigger shame that such an opportunity didn't yield anything but average results...but damn if it isn't an entertaining sort of disappointment.

The story: Special Forces expert Sean Davidson (Bradley) is sent into an oppressed African nation to free a Delta team from the clutches of a terrorist duo (James Booth and Ron Smerczak) with an army of ninja at their command, but when he too is captured, a retired Joe Armstrong (Dudikoff, Cobra) must return to action and finish the job.

You can argue at which point in the series it officially happened, but definitely by now, ninja have become a gimmick and completely extraneous to the actual plot. Really the only reason they're still hanging around - wearing heavy, color-coded jumpsuits in a hot, colorless African landscape and behaving more like foot soldiers than mystical shadow warriors - is to give Sean and Joe a reason to go through their own miniature becoming-a-ninja rituals and break out their ninja weapons. Admittedly, in the former's case, this immediately leads to the best action scene in the movie, wherein he takes on a whole squad of ninja with a bow, a strand of wire, a club, nunchuka, and shuriken. But like the costumes, the action looked silly long before that and doesn't really improve: few of the eight fight scenes are downright awful, but they all adhere to a lackluster standard of hit & miss camera angles, over-editing, and questionably-executed choreography. Most disappointingly, Dudikoff and Bradley don't ever really battle side-by-side, although they do have an okay-ish fight against eachother late in the movie.

The lack of actual teaming up between the two stars is mostly due to Michael Dudikoff's character not making an appearance until the movie's second half, whereupon he takes over the spotlight from David Bradley as the main lead. It's kinda hard to judge which of them has the weirder onscreen adventure, but since Dudikoff's half features more screentime for the film's over-the-top despicable villains, his side takes the cake. These two baddies are really something: James Booth's character is so darn evil that he whips the bound Delta team members to make them lick his shoes, and Ron Smerczak plays an arrogant sheik who encourages his forces to fight to the death but admits that he considers the promised heavenly reward to be mere propaganda. Jerks, I know, but they help keep the movie interesting: as hammy as the acting is and as beyond implausible as a lot of the action seems, the one thing that "American Ninja 4" has going for it is that it's never boring. Occasionally, it even flaunts some decent cinematography, like the helicopter shots of the entire ninja force training on a mountaintop. Director Cedric Sundstrom (who also did American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt) wasn't a genius but clearly knew how to do his job when it came to intentionally campy junk like this.

On the whole, "American Ninja 4" doesn't really do it for me, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad movie. For what it's worth, it might be the best installment in the series since the original film. Know yourself before you make a purchase.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funniest Movie Ever Made, May 20, 2007

By 

D. Stanley "Nemo" (Billings, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Ninja 4 - The Annihilation (DVD)

Here are only a few reasons why this movie surpasses even Plan 9 as the worst movie ever made.
1. Every cliche in the book has been written in. Like the soldier coming to the retired American Ninja at his Peace Corps classroom to ask for his help in rescuing the other American Ninja where the retired ninja responds "I told you the last time, it was the last time." BAM!
2. All the bad ninjas are COLORCODED! Don't know which ninja is more skilled than the others? Well, they're all wearing prime colors and you know which one is the boss because he's got an eyepatch.
3. The American Ninja enlists the help of some kind of retro-80's junkyard gang to take on the bad ninjas like something out of Mad Max.
4. Lastly we have scenes like the recently un-retired ninja fashioning a new sword. One scene he's got what looks like a led pipe and an grinder and in the next he's got a perfectly polished sword. The best scene however, is where the American Ninja, wearing a t-shirt and jeans is about to attack the bad ninja castle when he jumps into a convenient hole in the ground and immediately jumps back out in full black ninja gear. OH WAIT! I forgot about the scene when he catches a crossbow arrow in his teeth and stabs the guy next to him with it while it's still in his mouth.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this movie. Nothing like a good chuckle and no brain cells required. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who loves a good bathos.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Sean, You Can Find Me At The School" ~ Dudikoff And Bradley Shine, December 21, 2005

By 

Brian E. Erland "Rainbow Sphinx" (Brea, CA - USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Ninja 4 - The Annihilation (DVD)

Michael Dudikofff of 'American Ninja' 1 & 2 comes out of retirement to save David Bradley of 'American Ninja' 3 who is captured in Africa by a band of evil ninja's. Say what you want but I love this movie. After all, who doesn't love story's where a few brave warriors defeat all odds and the enemy to save the day!

Obviously not an Academy Award winner, but who cares. This is a total guy film. A couple of buddies with a six pack or two and you're good to go! Not to forget, the late Robin Stille is a very attractive addition to the story.