Yeah I... wasn't that high on this movie. It's alright and all... but it was definitively on the lower end of all Chang Cheh movies I've seen. I think it's easiest to talk about this movie squarely in relation to other martial arts movies (and especially in relation to Chang Cheh's own oeuvre). So that's what I'll do.
I know that it's almost a joke at this point about how "the plot doesn't matter in Kung Fu movies", but this movie just made me wish Chang still gave a damn about the story. The dramatic underpinning in his early stuff like
One-Armed Swordsman, Five Deadly Venom or
Golden Swallow made those movies so much better than his later stuff when he really just ran headlong to the punch-y, kick-y. I mean, this movie has such lazy plotting that when our protagonists get tied-up we have a previously unheralded flashback to when he learned by accident how to undo such a move!
Speaking of Golden Swallow, holy suicides batman! Chang Cheh definitively has a major fetish for his virtue boys falling on their own swords. Also speaking of Golden Swallow -- for those who don't know -- Chang Cheh was not really a fan of the fairer gender (dude loved himself some martial brotherly love though, dying in battle and all that). The female ninja part was basically mandated by producer Mona Fong who had taken a liking to the actress. She just straight-up told Chang to write her into the movie, somehow (and so we have female ninjas!). Honestly, I think her presence uplifts the movie, a needy chance of pace, basically.
That fishnet outfit though...
It's interesting how much they promote ninja techniques and equipment in this film. They even write the names on the screen when they're used. It's sort of garish how over-the-top the film is and how meticulous they are in trying to appear accurate with their use of ninja paraphernalia.
However, if one would want to watch an "accurate" ninja movie, the Japanese just did it way, waaay better with the Raizô Ichikawa Ninja Trilogy from the 60's.
Furthermore, As a Japan vs China movie, 5 Element Ninjas is just nowhere near as good as say
Heroes of the East or
Duel to the Death, which were superior both on a martial and dramatic angle (as well as just communicating the difference in style between the two nations).
But even on a pure action-level, this movie doesn't compare to some of Chang Cheh contemporary films. It falls way below
Kid with the Golden Fist in terms of creating interesting combatants and then having them square-off like a kid playing with his action toys. Neither does the movie have the sheer mean-spirited intensity and perverse cruelty of
Masked Avengers (on the plus side it's nowhere near as confusing). Nor does it have the crafty camera-trickery of
Sword Stained With Royal Blood to make the fighting more engaging (but again, the plus side is that it's nowhere near as silly as that movie).
This isn't the worst Chang Cheh movie out there though. It's about on par with
Shaolin Temple and a bit better than said movies sequel
5 Shaolin Masters (which is basically a bunch of guys running around a forest getting into fights) and it's waaay better than the worst stuff Cheh ever did like
Death Ring.
