If you're looking for entertainment..no more, no less - this little gem delivers! By far the best sequel (arguable order of merit for the series would be 1,4, 2 and 3) this is Michael Gross's film in totality. He has made the franchise his own and comes full circle playing his own Great Grandfather. It is a measured and emotional performance. As mine-owner Hiram Gummer he comes to Rejection" (as the backwoods township was known) to find out what has been killing the miners. What he discovers is completely outside his somewhat wimpy comfort-zone.
Very much a return to the original in terms of characters...and even special effects which rely thankfully here, far less on laughable CGI. What might be seen as scaled-down excitement is more than compensated for with absolutely knock-out performances - Drago and Gross especially.
All four films have an easy-on-the-eye laid back feel, principally because the production teams has remained intact throughout. Four excellent movies without sex, gratuitous violence and a solitary screen cussing in fifteen years. Not that Gross looks any older now than he did in 1989/1990.
Very faithful to the earlier films and fully explanatory of how it all came about. Mention should also be made of Jay Ferguson's great musical score - the best of the four films.
Best scripted, photographed and acted straight-to-video film I have yet seen and certainly was deserving of a theatrical release.