Five Elements Ninjas

Thanks to Netflix, I've finally had the chance to take in some Shaw Brothers movies and see what all the fuss is about them, this movie included. It's a pretty enjoyable martial arts exercise overall; if you like the 1970s to early 1980s style of Hong Kong martial arts, you'll certainly like this one. That's not to say that it's perfect, however. The script does have a few patches that while I won't say are boring, do come off as kind of padding and may have you mildly urging the movie to get on with it. Also, the basic story is one that has been told in dozens of other martial arts movies. But with the inclusion of ninjas, it definitely has a fresh element to liven things up. Indeed, the scenes with the ninjas have enough nuttiness (not to mention well choreographed and exciting action) to make it worth sitting through the parts that are routine or a little slow. The production values are also pretty solid for this kind of movie, even though it's clear that the "outdoor" sequences are actually on a soundstage. Definitely give this movie a look if you're craving some martial arts action with a little silliness.

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!

How do you go about making an old school Shaw Brothers kung fu flick even more entertaining? Simple… by chucking in a whole load of crazy ninjas with special fighting skills and have everyone who dies do so in a shower of bright red blood.

Directed by Chang Cheh, Five Element Ninjas opens as two kung fu schools go head to head to see who is the best. One team, who wear natty matching white outfits, are clearly the superior fighters, even beating the samurai brought on as guest fighter by the other side. As the defeated samurai commits seppuku, he throws his ring at his opponents, warning that when they see another ring like it, it will mean their death.

Sure enough, a note arrives soon after with a ring attached, a challenge from the five elements ninjas. The guys in white barricade their headquarters and send eight of their finest fighters to confront the ninjas. Two of their men go up against four Gold ninjas, who wear lamé outfits and use metal hats that fire blades from the rim; both meet bloody fates. The duo who face the wood ninjas (who disguise themselves as trees!) also die in gory fashion. Another pair battle Water ninjas, who lurk under the surface of a pond, ready to strike; they fare no better than their companions. A lone fighter faces the Fire ninjas, who wear red and are equipped with smoke weapons; no prizes for guessing how he gets on. The last of the eight is attacked by the Earth ninjas and their master, who appear from and disappear into the ground; he also dies.

Meanwhile, sexy female ninja Senji (Pei Hsi Chen) infiltrates the base of the white guys (who I think are called The Alliance of the Martial Arts World, but 'white guys' is quicker to type); she sends plans of their building to her ninja pals who launch an attack, killing all but Shao Tien-hao (Tien-Chi Cheng), who makes it to the home of a martial arts master who teaches him how to fight against the ninjas. Together with three equally adept pals, Shao Tien-hao goes looking for revenge.

With all manner of cool weaponry, and superbly choreographed fighting throughout, all taken to crazy extremes by director Cheh, Five Element Ninjas is a seriously enjoyable movie, with a satisfyingly brutal finalé that sees all of the ninjas being kicked, punched, sliced, diced and literally torn limb from limb by Shao Tien-hao and his buddies. Anyone who doesn't find this a whole lot of fun should forever be forbidden from watching any film with 'ninja' in the title.

'Five Element Ninjas (1982)' is a Kung fu flick about a martial arts school whose best fighters win a tournament and, in the process, cause a Japanese opponent to commit Seppuku. The man's fellow fighters send a letter to one of his allies back in Japan, an ally who just so happens to be a master ninja and leader of the eponymous five element ninja clans. Naturally, the ninjas make their way to China to avenge their fallen friend, and their mysterious martial arts skills prove to be very challenging to overcome. That's the basic set-up, even if the synopsis spoils a lot more of the narrative, and what follows is a nuts-and-bolts - but no less effective for it - revenge thriller with sequences of sometimes startlingly brutal combat and an unexpectedly nihilistic vibe. The five element ninja factions all use different methods to defeat their foes. For example, the gold ninjas use copper (?) hats to blind their opponents, the wood ninjas disguise themselves as trees, the water ninjas hide (you guessed it) underwater, the fire ninjas cloud the battlefield with smoke before striking with flaming swords, and the earth ninjas attack from beneath the ground. Each clan has several more tricks up its sleeve, but their common theme is to surprise and disorient their opponents before they viciously carve them to pieces. There are also regular ninjas who can silently infiltrate even the most heavily guarded of places, and they strike with ruthless efficiency using claws and iron fists and daggers and all manner of deadly instruments. They aren't interested in fighting fair and it's this that gives them their greatest advantage over the more traditional Chinese martial artists comprising the film's heroic side. Even though it is essentially a China vs Japan affair and there is an undercurrent of Ninjutsu being less honorable than Kung fu, the flick doesn't really feel interested in the kind of jingoism so often present in its peers (some martial arts movies are literally anti-Japanese propaganda pieces). It isn't really interested in the political implications of its premise, more so in pitting two different styles of combat against each other and making a broad but indicting statement about vengeance - and even violence - in general (one of the characters, after murdering someone who has recently wronged them, says to himself: "I didn't do anything wrong... did I?"). It's arguably uninterested in making any kind of statement at all, but its unwillingness to compromise on its focal violence speaks volumes in itself. This is sometimes downright nasty and it has no semblance of mercy to it. It also has a fairly unusual pacing that puts a lot of emphasis on the things building up to the hero's desire for revenge, rather than on the training process required to achieve it (which still appears but is much shorter so that the following segment can surprise us with the techniques the lead has learned in order to counter the various strategies of the five element ninjas). After a pretty full-on opening movement, the picture slows down significantly to introduce and focus on a kind of femme fatale character, and this somewhat humdrum segment is clearly the weakest. It's narratively important, but ever-so-slightly dull. It doesn't help that the soundtrack features an incredibly repetitive motif that builds and reaches its crescendo literally on a loop as if it's emphasising several major reveals that all occur within minutes of one another. In reality it's used to highlight things like opening a window or delivering a note, and its overused so much that it's genuinely annoying. Despite these issues, though, the film is a lot of fun when it gets out of its own way and does what it's best at: highly choreographed ultraviolence. With a colourful, almost cartoony aesthetic and a willful shunning of reality (it makes excellent use of reversed footage), the movie depicts its impressive combat as frantic, urgent and splattered with blood. Although it still tends to seem more like a painful dance than a duel (not a complaint), the film is considerably more vicious than a lot of its peers and is unafraid to showcase its brutality in shades of gleefully saturated red. People are stabbed, slashed, disemboweled and literally pulled apart, and it's all glorious. It's all in good fun (for us) and makes for some really memorable set-pieces soaked in bodily fluids and punctuated by out-of-place smiles of victory. Overall, this is a highly enjoyable and suitably silly martial arts movie that features some notable moments of gore and a strangely bleak atmosphere that's actually slightly haunting in retrospect. It's good stuff.

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