3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain is a 1998 American martial arts film. It is the fourth and final installment in the 3 Ninjas franchise. Directed by Sean McNamara, the film stars only three of the original actors. None of the child actors from the previous films returned for this installment. Victor Wong is the only cast member to appear in all four films. It is also his final film before his death in 2001. It grossed US$ $375,805 domestically, making it the least profitable of the franchise by far. It was filmed in Denver, Colorado at Elitch Gardens.
Plot
During their summer vacation with their grandfather Mori, Rocky, Colt and Tum-Tum take a test on an obstacle course in pitch blackness. They manage to complete the course, yet fail to learn how to use their other senses, in place of sight. Later that night, Mori overhears Rocky and Colt planning on not returning the next year due to them growing older. Mori becomes depressed at this. Returning home, Tum-Tum becomes even more depressed after learning that his favorite TV show Dave Dragon is going off the air soon and not even food can cheer him up, which confuses his mother Jessica. They meet a new neighbor, Amanda, who accidentally crashes her remote controlled helicopter into their house; she apologizes, and Jessica invites her to attend Tum-Tum's birthday party at Mega Mountain; an amusement park modeled after Six Flags. Once they get to the park, Rocky goes off on his own to be with his girlfriend, Jennifer while Tum-Tum convinces Colt to go with him to a special live Dave Dragon show. While the kids are enjoying themselves, a criminal named Mary Ann "Medusa" Rogers and her henchmen sneak in and commandeer the park, disabling many rides and shutting the place down to hold the patrons hostage in exchange for $10 Million from the park's owner, Harry Jacobson. The boys and Amanda discover this and save Dave from being captured, as he seems to be the only viable threat to Medusa's plans. Amanda uses her laptop to try and override the controls, but Medusa's henchman wrestle control away from her. Knowing that they will interfere with her plans, Medusa sends her 3 idiot nephews out to capture them, but they are taken down by the boys who use their ninja skills, as well as an arsenal of small weapons and devices that Amanda possesses earlier at the avalanche ride. Meanwhile, Dave sneaks into the command center, but is quickly discovered and captured. Finding a video footage of Rocky and his girlfriend Jennifer, Medusa sends her second-in-command Lothar Zogg out to make sure they don't interfere. Medusa's nephews capture Jennifer and ties her to the bottom of a roller coaster loop, at which Medusa threatens to release the brakes and crush her if they don't cooperate. Rocky goes to rescue her, but he gets attacked by Lothar. After a fight that leads to Rocky and Lothar ending up at the top of the roller coaster loop, Rocky knocks him off with a yo-yo and Lothar bounces out of the park and into the hands of the FBI. Rocky then manages to free Jennifer before the roller coaster can crush them both. Jacobson arrives via helicopter with the money to pay the ransom, but Amanda manages to destroy one of the bags with her helicopter. She is quickly captured by Medusa, who escapes underground with the remainder of the money. After she darkens the halls, the boys overcome their weakness in the dark, defeating Medusa’s henchmen, in order to rescue Amanda, who is tied next to a bomb. They manage to free her, but they are unable to disarm the bomb, so they attach it to an oxygen tanks and with Dave's help, they knock off the tank's valves and send it off like a torpedo down to Medusa's escape ship, which explodes. Alerted to the explosion, the FBI arrive to capture Medusa, who resigns herself to defeat. Now hailed and commemorated as heroes, the boys give the credit to Dave Dragon, hailing him as the real hero, to the press. After reuniting with their parents and grandfather, the boys assure Mori that they will not be leaving their training. They also extend the offer to Amanda to come train with them on the following year, and she gladly accepts. The film ends with them all celebrating Tum-Tum's birthday.
Filming began in 1996. Hulk Hogan, wrestling in World Championship Wrestling at the time, wore a wig for the film which resulted in him having a different hairstyle than his traditional bald look. As a result, he is seen in Halloween Havoc 1996 with a similar hairstyle as he had in the film. Elitch Gardens, the park at which it was filmed, underwent a complete remodel, with all the signs for the park and rides being changed and renamed for the film. However, there are a few times when the real ones are seen in the background.
Reception
The film had universally negative reviews and is generally considered to be the worst of the four in the series. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 0%, based on 6 reviews. Joe Leydon of Variety wrote: Only small children with limited attention spans will be impressed by the lackluster kung-foolishness. Anita Gates of The New York Times says things are sad when Hulk Hogan gives the most touching performance in the film. Gates calls the film "interminably boring" but concedes it is possible young children might enjoy it.
