Super Ninjas

There's something about the Chinese take on the ninja that has always captured my attention. I think its the way they take the art of invisibilty a bit further than expected. This film, known as Chinese Super Ninja in the US and is probably one of Chang Cheh's best, performs the above beautifully. The featured element of the 5 element ninja is unique and well done. Each ninja clan has its own unique attack setup (gold-shields that fire spires, wood-ninjas posing as trees and using claws, water-ninja frogmen that pull kungfu fighters to the water where they can be easily killed, fire-smoke screens and fire setting traps, earth-underground spearmen). The first 30 minutes are practically non stop action sequences, with the opening showing a tournament between japanese bushidos and kungfu weapons experts. Then we get to the ninja scenes, which are some of the goriest of kungfu films (the stepped on intestines scene is memorable). After this, however, the films slows down until the end where the main character has to use certain techniques to defeat each element. All and all worthy of any collection. If you havent seen it, go!

If you don't like Ninja movies then don't watch this movie. If you can't appreciate that this movie does not take itself too seriously then don't watch it. This is a well crafted movie. The are a lot of things wrong with this movie but there are more things that are right and work. The story is good and leaves me satisfied at the end. This is VERY key when watching any movie. The creativity is great, clever and very funny. The fighting is in no way extremely slow paced (like one person writes in the comments) but it is possible to see that it is rehearsed here and there which of course it is for safety reasons. Most of the locations are horrendous especially where the elemental confrontations take place. I don't care so much about that because the story works and the dialog is funny so these flaws don't ruin it for me.

There are a lot of movies from this period that are REALLY bad and leaves more questions than answers. This is not the case here because this movie is one of the best Ninja movies out there. I have seen A LOT of Ninja movies (well nearly all I think):)

Another wonderful albeit very different movie from that era is "Ninja in the Dragon's den". I give both these movie 7/10. Also if you like goofy Ninja movies you might wanna watch Shogun's Ninja. It's hilarious :D

Before I even knew the name Shaw Bros. I was a fan. I saw this movie many years ago on a t.v. series Black Belt Theater.

The 5 elements are unique and add some of the fun to this movie.

If you are a fan of old Kung Fu movies, do yourself a favor and pick this up on DVD. The quality isn't great, but it does have a nice mini-filmography of the actors in the movie.

Cheh had a long and colorful career as one of the top directors at the Shaw studio but by 1982 his stock had fallen as trends moved away from the period costume kung fu action films he was so fond of. While fellow kung fu film director, Liu Chia Liang was still able to pull off hits, Cheh was perhaps getting too quirky and obvious with his favorite themes of heroic men in revealing outfits, gruesome fights and few if no women in the story. A few films followed in this year with one released the next, but none rival Five Element Ninjas. Cheh was out of the Shaw studio by 1983 and working in low budget Taiwanese cinema he never was able to achieve anything remotely near his past successes. This is his swan song at the Shaw studios,

The plot is absolutely silly and full of absurdities even for your average Chinese made Ninja film. It's as if Cheh saw the competition and said, "Oh yeah? Well watch this!". Except for Venom star Lo Meng, the cast is composed of Shaw second stringers but that doesn't mean the action is anything less then excellent. This film has the best fight scenes in a Cheh film since "The Crippled Avengers" of 1979. Everyone is fighting with weapons in mass fight scenes that are incredibly choreographed. Unfortunately, many production credits are not translated and I don't know who was the genius behind the fight scenes. Lo Meng is the only one doing open hand fighting and he fights a samurai in the first extended fight scene! Granted the samurai sword skills on display are from outer space but it goes with the absurd nature of the entire movie. So much of this film is wacky that it's a waste of your time to recount it. It's as if everything you'd expect from a late Cheh film (good and bad) was turned up to "11" including the pace.

Bloody and nuts. Just the way a good Cheh film should be. See it.

A young martial artist seeks revenge on the Ninja who kills his martial arts brothers and teacher. He finds help in the form of a new teacher (who knows Ninjitsu) and new brothers. Together the four pupils face the Five Element Ninja challenge: Wood, Earth, Gold, Water, and Fire.

From retrospective reviews, AllMovie described the film as "a legend amongst fans of Asian cult fare and for once, the legend lives up to the hype." The review noted that the plot sticks to simple martial arts tropes, while noting that the "actual methods used are so off the wall that no fan will care" and that "the final twenty minutes is the kind of high-kicking bloodbath that is guaranteed to leave any fan of these films smiling and slackjawed. Thus, Five Element Ninjas is the kind of gloriously over-the-top blowout that every genre fan needs to see." Sure, we have that same shallow backdrop we have come to expect from Chang Cheh, and we can say this film is cheesy with all its camera tricks and explosive punches. Haven't we seen this a million times by now? But you know what, this may be among the best of its kind, at least since "Five Deadly Venoms". Ninjas wrapping a guy up in chains and making him explode? Oh yeah, that happens. This is a lot more than punches and kicks, and it seems more like something Troma or Cannon would do. I absolutely love it.