Where this series started as a fun good bad movie, American Ninja 4: The Annihilation turned into just a plain old bad movie that oft Cannon Films are known for. Although we did get the return of Michael Dudikoff, and his presence at times were welcoming, it wasn’t near enough to make the movie watchable.
American Ninja 4: The Annihilation
(1990)
Genre(s): Martial Arts, Action, Adventure
Olive Films | R – 100 min. – $29.95 | August 16, 2016
Date Published: 08/19/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 1.0/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Teamed with CIA operative Sean Davidson (DAVID BRADLEY), Joe Armstrong (MICHAEL DUDIKOFF) is out to help foil the plans of Mulgrew (JAMES BOOTH), a terrorist hell-bent on annihilating New York City. Of course, Mulgrew has an army of ninjas to stop Davidson, who is ultimately captured, and a reluctant Armstrong, now in the Peace Corp., to rescue him and others. Quick Hit Review: American Ninja 4: Annihilation is simply a terrible movie, with little fun outside of one darkly comedic scene that admittedly made me chuckle in which, following beating up the head ninja, Armstrong tosses a grenade on the guy to finish the job. Even with the return of Michael Dudikoff, he couldn’t help a poorly written screenplay and even then, Dudikoff didn’t make an appearance until the 44-minute mark. Then you have Bradley and as with American Ninja 3 didn’t have very much charm, if any at all. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5 |
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Last Tango in Lesotho: The Making of American Ninja 4 (14:09; HD) features interviews with Director Cedric Sundstrom, Executive Producer Avi Lerner and Actor Michael Dudikoff. This one definitely is interesting where the participants talk about the fourth installment and the return of Dudikoff. “The Cobra Strikes” Music Video (4:15; SD) Theatrical Trailer (1:22; HD) |
VIDEO – 2.75/5 |
| Olive Films releases American Ninja 4: The Annihilation onto Blu-ray presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. Colors were a bit drab at times but detail was relatively well defined. However, as with the third entry, this transfer is littered with minor dust marks and film degradation not to the point it was distracting but it is evident. |
AUDIO – 3.25/5 |
| The disc comes with a basic but effective DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track though at times it acted like a mono track where a fair amount of the audio comes via the center channel. Even so, dialogue levels sounded clear and there’s so-so depth when it came to the numerous action sequences as well as Nicholaas Tenbroek’s, what sounded like, stock soundtrack. |
OVERALL – 2.0/5 |
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Overall, where this series started as a fun good bad movie, American Ninja 4: The Annihilation turned into just a plain old bad movie that oft Cannon Films are known for. Although we did get the return of Michael Dudikoff, and his presence at times were welcoming, it wasn’t near enough to make the movie watchable. The Blu-ray released by Olive Films offers average video, decent audio and a solid enough retrospective featurette. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.