*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.
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.