Unpacking the Kung Fu Chaos in Wu-Tang vs Ninja
If you dig martial arts, and I don’t mean MMA, then you will love Chinese Kung Fu theatre or Chinese Kung Fu Movies. FYI – I do consider MMA martial arts. Here, I mean wild martial arts prior to the UFC where people studied one style that typically didn’t involve anything ground-based. As we know, Royce Gracie showed the world the error of this but, it was fun to see martial arts prior to BJJ. So, high-flying kicks, fancy quick hand techniques, and insane weapons are staples of this genre and Wu-Tang vs Ninja is a decent installment. This film is part of the Wu-Tang Collection which aims to preserve rare kung fu movies. You can watch and read more about this list of movies here. Let’s hit the Shaolin temple and train in preparation to fight ninjas in this week’s blog on Wu-tang vs Ninja from ’87.
Classic Martial Arts Movies: What Makes Them Legendary
Within the Martial Arts movie genre, there are subgenres. Chinese Kung Fu films are unique and have a lot of signature qualities, some of which we will discuss. These films are more like a Wushu competition but with costumes, the same rehashed revenge plot, and dialog. You can watch some Wushu here if you’d like to see what I mean. In ‘80s America, we developed our own class of martial arts movies that generally involved a man seeking some obscure old teacher to learn something so that he could take revenge for someone. This is the same rehashed plot but, the lead role was much different. He, or she in the case of Cynthia Rothrock for instance, would generally only use Karate or Tae Kwon Do style fighting occasionally paired with guns. Wu-tang vs Ninja is certainly a Chinese kung-fu flick and more Wushu.
Realism vs Fiction: Ninjas in Wu-Tang vs Ninja
First, this is not a ninja movie. I am a fan of ninja movies and have blogged on two of them, Enter the Ninja and Ninja III: The Possession. You can read each of these at their linked titles. If you consider Van Damme’s Bloodsport to be a ninja movie, you can read my blog on this film here. I haven’t seen a lot of movies that really got the ninja right, but I’ve seen several that include accuracies. In the Chinese kung fu world, I’ve only seen one, Chinese Super Ninja. I say it was accurate because of some of the inclusions. For instance, hiding underwater using canes to breathe and feet boats to walk on water. To learn more about these techniques, go to the best source, Ninjutsu: In History and Tradition by Maasaki Hatsumi.
Wu-Tang vs Ninja had other accurate elements from Ninjutsu worth mentioning and some that were completely off. The White Abbot hires the ninja to help him destroy the Shaolin temple. This is a very accurate trait of this ancient system. The ninjas were well known to be “for hire” in ancient Japan and their craft was often sought out by wealthy Shogun and others alike. In Wu-tang vs Ninja, the ninjas disguise themselves as members of the temple which is something shinobi did do. Disguise and infiltration were some of their specialties. Of course, Wu-tang vs Ninja featured classical ninja weapons including grenades and ninja stars. Let’s look at the inaccuracies, or at least some of them.
Ninjas didn’t train in camps. Wu-tang vs Ninja had what seemed like a temple training ground but for ninjas. This would have never happened for several reasons. Ninjas were secretive about their art and identity. So, they trained in secret and not in wide open areas. Another giveaway – ninjas wouldn’t have used Chinese kung fu. The hand-to-hand art of the ninja is called Taijutsu and it, like other Japanese arts, is a hard style, not a soft style like kung fu. Another common misconception is that the ninja always wore a full black suit. Nothing could be further from the truth. These men and women were early pioneers in grey man tactics and blended in. So, if they were moving through the darkness, they would wear black. If it were snow, then white. But, if they were infiltrating a temple, monk robes it would be.
Unique Martial Arts Styles in Chinese Kung Fu Cinema
Without a revenge plot, we wouldn’t have any Chinese kung fu movies. Wu-tang vs Ninja has such a plot. You don’t typically watch this subgenre for the story though. Another common theme is a unique martial arts style, and, in this film, it was the “Shaolin Finger Poke.” As one could infer from the name, it involved conditioning a practitioner’s single finger to do devastating damage to the opponent. In Master of the Flying Guillotine it was the guillotine weapon, in Ancient Weapons of China it was the woman style and the 100-step death palm, and the list goes on. This knowledge is typically hidden and must be obtained by a hero to fulfill their revenge. Always, the hidden style overcomes that of the antagonist and the story comes to an end. It’s no different in Wu-tang vs Shaolin and honestly, the Shaolin Finger Poke with not impressive.
Here’s another commonality across many of these films, the look of the bad guy. In Wu-tang vs Shaolin, the White Abbot looks very similar to other characters featured in Chinese kung fu films. In most of these movies, his name is Pai Mei. Here’s the big question from this blog – does anyone out there know if Pai Mei really existed and why is he always chosen? Someone out there in fandom enlighten me, please. In Ancient Weapons of China, Pai Mei looked just like the White Abbot. If you’ve seen Tarantino’s Kill Bill, then you’ve seen Pai Mei. He always has long white hair with some in a bun, a long white beard, and he typically wears blue and white. In Kill Bill, Uma Thurman’s character, Beatrice Kiddo, must learn a secret technique from Pai Mei, the 5-finger death palm.
Effects and Aesthetic in Wu-Tang vs Ninja
Another classic in the kung fu world is Five Deadly Venoms. One of the styles in this movie is the Toad Style. Basically, this is iron body technique. The idea is that a practitioner would condition his or her body to be like iron. The Toad has one weakness on his body – his Achilles heel, if you will, was the area behind his ears. For the White Abbot, it is the inside of his mouth. The final fight ends when a female uses a double Shaolin Finger Poke strike to the inside of the White Abbot’s mouth. On a side note, this takes place in a beautiful open field that doesn’t match any other scenery in the movie. It’s so drastic of a change that I questioned the filming locations.
While we’re on classic Kung Fu theatre flicks, The Shaolin Master Killer is another to mention. There are a few reasons that Wu-tang vs Ninja reminded me of this masterpiece. First, the funny one-liners from the roughly translated Chinese to English dialogs. Some lines I laughed at from Wu-tang vs Ninja were “Give him the sandwich” and “Wu-tang ninjas are inside.” They were not preparing a meal for The White Abbot but two people were attacking him from both sides simultaneously. Wu-tang would never have had ninjas. They were in 2 completely different countries. From The Shaolin Master Killer, we get “Some fighting sticks he made himself” referencing the 3-section staff used by San-te. This weapon is my favorite and there is a lot of screentime in Wu-tang vs Ninja. Watch a practitioner use this weapon here. Iron rings are also used, which is another rarity.
The Cultural Clash in Classic Kung Fu Movies
If you’ve ever seen Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, you will recall the running up walls, insane jumping, fighting on top of trees, and other wild scenes. Wu-tang vs Ninja has some other laughable aspects reminiscent of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. First, there is a scene where some ninjas are fighting the Shaolin heroes against a rock face. Yes, they are supposedly having a full-on kung fu battle whilst clinching ropes suspended high above the ground. Of course, there is clearly a platform being used to create the effect. A second effect that you see is the appearance and disappearance of ninjas. Clearly, cutscene technology was not what it is today. People ignite from grenades and are plainly scarecrows. Honestly though, without cheesy effects, a lot of funny noises, crazy jumps, and mouth movements not matching the poorly done dialogs, Chinese kung theatre wouldn’t be the classic awesomeness it is.
The Symbolism Behind the Swastika in Martial Arts Films
In closing, I have a few things to mention. If you watch Wu-tang vs Ninja, the representatives of Wu-tang do not have the typical hairstyle, and we don’t see any Wu-tang sword either. Culture is funny. Much of the film’s dialog is spent on the Chinese trashing the ninjas, which is clearly a poke at the Japanese. Also, keep your eyes open for this – the swastika. Yes, I first noticed it in Master of the Flying Guillotine but, it’s used in Wu-tang vs Ninja as well. According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, the swastika was used in early Buddhist traditions as a symbol of good fortune and well-being. In 1920, Adolph Hitler adopted it and changed the direction of the symbol. Seeing this again pushed me to research this. I was curious about it after I watched the Master of the Flying Guillotine and just haven’t done the legwork.
Why Wu-Tang vs Ninja is Not on My Rewatch List
Thank you for taking the time to read this artist’s thoughts on Wu-tang vs Ninja. I will not be watching this movie again anytime soon I am sorry to say. However, I invite you to follow my art journey on social media, visit my website, and consider supporting and buying my work here. If you liked this blog or the movie, please share. Also, feel free to comment, especially if you are a fan of this genre. I’m curious too, if you’re a fan, why? Also, what other classics are out there? I’m always up to watch a good Chinese kung fu theatre movie. Peace.