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!