gavin6942 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.

bickeler I would give Chang Cheh's effort a 9 for pure amusement factor and a 9 for the action as the weapons and stunts are a lot of fun. As far as plot and acting eheh this one not so much. The Five Deadly Venoms would seem like Shakespeare and this a bad high school play in comparison. The plot is complicated but very childlike in it's actual dialogue. The characters have no chance at development and the timeline is ridiculous (The girl is given 6 months hard labor and Ricky Cheng learns the art of the Ninjas in what a 5 week study course? As the girl is still doing hard labor when he returns) The costumes in here are cheesy but very amusing but still a bit too much to accept as reality(Makes Iron Flag costumes realistic in comparison). I say that as I can see a black or brown ninja costume but gold with shiny hats haha really? In total a somewhat silly movie that keeps one occupied the entire length of the film I wonder if Cheh didn't have a bit of humor in mind with this one as one can't possibly accept it as a straight action without laughing.But one wonder as the gore factor is rather high ?

primevalsoup When the leader of a clan of elite Chinese warriors receives an invitation to a battle at five locations from the five elements ninjas he suspects a trap. Rightly so - when he caught one of the ninja's rings thrown to him by a disembowelled samurai he was poisoned and he knows he is now unable to use his kung-fu for 'about three months'. So, he considers the offer carefully but eventually decides to follow the elaborate instructions on the invitation to the letter. 90% of his best warriors are predictably ambushed and wiped out, including one being slain by the perverted 'earth' ninjas. What will happen next? Who cares. It will be funny.

jinxs 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!