Guerreiro Americano 4

After the abysmal American Ninja 3, it seemed all hope was lost for fans of low-budget martial arts movies starring white guys. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, this film would see the return of the one and ONLY American Ninja: Michael Dudikoff. Unfortunately, he doesn't return until about halfway through it. Still, it's Dudikoff's last hurrah as Joe Armstrong so it's worth seeing for that alone. Steve James is absent, which is unfortunate. The movie doesn't have the same feel as the first two. But that was generally true of most Cannon films of the time. The heyday of Golan/Globus was gone and Cannon by 1990 was just another cheap production company. Is this movie worth checking out for anybody who isn't an American Ninja or Dudikoff completist? Probably not.

I imagine Cannon was pretty excited about the concept of teaming up the two leads from their earlier "American Ninja" trilogy. Unfortunately the two barely appear on screen together, and Bradley (who resembles a less macho Rick Springfield) is a woefully inadequate screen presence. Booth--whose son appears to have been the screenwriter...or was it Booth himself using a pseudonym?--gets all the best lines and chews enough scenery for everybody. There's nothing here you haven't seen a dozen times before, but it should keep you awake if you stumble upon it on late-night cable.

When you are living in poor eastern Europe town, you see things in different colours)) When I was kid, two things defined my interest for this Movie:

• Two American Ninjas in one film at the same time! Take 2!
• Ninjas of all colours! Take 5!
• New bad Ninja boss! Take 3! Now it's 10/10

It is really sad to see grown aged men giving American Ninja 4 low ratings and trash critics. Wake up, critic, you are no longer a kid. You can't see Magic no more. This movie is part of me. It's bad, who cares. It was.

Realizing that nobody wants to see an AMERICAN NINJA film without Michael Dudikoff, the producers got him back for this entry in an attempt to make things right. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Headbashing Dudemeister doesn't even show up until nearly halfway through the film, after David Bradley (star of the previous film) and some friends are captured overseas during an important mission. Dudikoff's Joe Armstrong reluctantly agrees to come out of self-imposed retirement and save the day, rescuing the others and stopping James Booth's plot to detonate a nuclear weapon. There's a good bar fight with Bradley, and the climax (cutting between two fights, one with Dudikoff and one with Bradley) is pretty decent. They are no Jackie Chan moments, but then again, the AMERICAN NINJA films are more for "chop socky" fans.

Michael Dudikoff and his blank stare return to the "American Ninja" franchise, and he's the film's selling point, though even with him this fourth installment of the series that really should have stopped after the first two is hard to sit through.

We do desperately need Dudikoff's Joe though, because our other ninja is Sean, played by David Bradley, who looks too weird and wears too much eye makeup for me to ever fully get behind. Plus he's not a very effective ninja. He spends what feels like half of the film's running time chained to a post in someone's basement. Jackson, who served as Joe's sidekick in the first two movies and then Sean's in the third, would never have settled for that. He would have ripped the post out of the ground, and then ripped off his own sleeves before pulling two giant machetes out of his underwear and kicking some ninja ass.

Speaking of Jackson, this is the first film in the franchise that doesn't have Steve James in it, and when he's absent, you realize how much he made the series in the first place.

I did enjoy the Mad Max band of ruffians who appear mid-way through this movie living in some kind of dystopian society. I'm not really sure where they are supposed to be or why they're all living like characters out of "Ready Player One," but I could roll with it.

It's not like the "American Ninja" movies were ever movie masterpieces to begin with, but the third and fourth installments make you realize how relatively good the first two are.

Grade: C-