Michael Dudikoff, although not doing much acting, has more on screen presence in this movie. He's clearly evolved over this series as an actor, and has a leading man charisma to him in this movie.
Unfortunately the series didn't evolve with him, but devolved.
Seen one, seen em all characterizes this fourth installment of the American Ninja series. Producers might lose interest after the first few production, and they're only making it on inertia. Even a big franchise like the JAWS went the same route, so maybe we can't blame the producers too much.
The story is choppy, and doesn't flow smoothly. Trying to find a meaning in a movie like this is a futile effort, but I wished they kept producing the movie in a nicer looking locations as they did in part 2 of this series.