Steve James is phenomenal
He reallly is the heart of this series. I love the first two movies and a big reason for that is Curtis Jackson. Dudikoff is good to but can you imagine how boring this series would be with James. Honestly the best thing about these movies is the chemistry between the two leads. They play so well off each other that you really believe they are best friends and not just acting.
He's also the only reason AN3 is watchable. It's a horrible movie sure but James makes it passable. He was sorely missed in AN4.