MovieChat Forums > Enter the Ninja (1981) Discussion > I hate to nitpick at movies like this on...

I hate to nitpick at movies like this one, but I just have to.. about...

posted 15 years ago by indigodragonmaster
6 replies | jump to latest

There are a couple of discrepancies in this movie that I just have to point out. Tell me if you noticed these ones. In the opening sequence, Cole is shown running through the jungle in a white uniform. Does this make much sense? Why wouldn't he choose an olive green or camouflage uniform? Wouldn't that increase his chances of not being noticed by the enemy? In another scene where he's running from the maroon ninjas, one of the maroon ninjas is standing next to a tree. Suddenly Cole pops up and fires a white arrow at the ninja. But when the arrow hits the tree, barley missing the ninja, the arrow is BROWN! How did this happen? Did the wind strip the white paint off the arrow?! My last nitpick is over a scene near the end of the movie where Cole confronts two hoods in a dark hallway. He begins to twirl sai swords around in his hands, the two thugs make a comment, and then Cole throws both sais at the hoods, killing both of them. Now I've had a lot of years of experience in martial arts weapons including sai, and any martial artist with weapons experience will tell you, as will I, that sai are not designed or meant to be thrown. They are for close quarter fighting, blocking and thrusting. So no ninja in his right mind would use sai against a gunman. He would more likely use a throwing or projectile weapon and would probably hit them from behind. Did any else out there notice any of this while watching this movie? If you have or you're a fellow martial artist with an opinion, you can post a reply here or e-mail me at [email protected].

[–] halk-3 15 years ago

A couple of discrepancies!? This whole movie is a discrepancy!

[–] pseudoraptor 15 years ago

Since Cole's skills are being tested in the opening scenes, white would be one of the worst possible colors, and thus create the greatest difficulty for said test to prove his stealth skills. So personally, I can overlook the white uniform. The reason for using the same uniform for the remainder of the story is less clear, unless he just likes the white. There is however, no excuse for the color changing arrow.

As for the sai, I have used them for a number of years and am quite proficient at throwing them - both point first, and flipping the sai to strike pommel first. Although I must admit, if you are going to make a habit of throwing sai, its cousin the manjisai is much better for this purpose.

[–] Creedence_Leonore_Gielgud 14 years ago

Cole is shown running through the jungle in a white uniform. Does this make much sense?

More sense than Pierre Kirby's outfit here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wWXRjdjOMw Be sure to check out The Cinema Snob's Pierre Kirby Week videos too.

Of course white camo can be practical if you live in Finland, and are sniping an average of 5 Russians a day, during the dead of winter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_Hayha.

Cheating is just another way of being prepared. ~~ Coach McGuirk

[–] cliff_niblr031 12 years ago

I hate to pile on since this was one of the first ninja movies I ever saw as a little kid in the theaters, but yes, there are many discrepancies.

As someone already pointed out the color of the ninja costumes would have made much more sense if they were used properly for the certain environments. White for arctic regions; black for night, green camo for jungle/forest, and so on.

I think the color of the costumes had more to do with the traditional notion of the good guy wearing the white hats in the old US western films and the villains always wearing black hats.

Much the film is laughable in terms of dialog, script, certain action sequences, and even the characters.

Definitely a B-grade martial arts pop corn film.

[–] bj_arni 10 years ago

Cole is shown running through the jungle in a white uniform. Does this make much sense?

YES. Because he is the white ninja. He's also not trying to hide (or the sensei is making it extra hard for him to hide).

But when the arrow hits the tree, barley missing the ninja, the arrow is BROWN! How did this happen? Did the wind strip the white paint off the arrow

YES. You just answered your own question. Because of his ninja skills, he shot the arrow so fast the paint literally got stripped off.

any martial artist with weapons experience will tell you, as will I, that sai are not designed or meant to be thrown.

A super ninja can throw anything at you and impale you with it.

transongeist.com

[–] [deleted] a year ago

And he also forgot to do ninjutsu, instead, he throws haymakers at enemies like a bar brawler. He also slaughters random innocent guards while he infiltrates into the antagonist's base.