Batman Ninja came to Netflix last week, and I finally got to watch it today. I remember seeing the trailer for this last year and being amazed by its visuals. For today's blog entry, I'll be talking about the movie, free of any spoilers. Important note: I watched the Japanese version. Apparently, the version with English voice acting has a different script. I'll have to see what that's about at some point. First and foremost, I want to talk about the visuals. Not only is the art style gorgeous and visually striking, the animation is incredible and gives us some awesome-looking fights. The Feudal Japan versions of Batman, Joker, and more look like insane fan mashups, and I mean that in the best way possible. Seeing characters I've known for most of my life in a completely different medium (anime, in this case) is always exciting, and the fact that they look goddamn amazing is the cherry on top. The trailers gave me the impression that the movie would simply be an alternate universe Batman with a standalone story, but apparently that is not the case. The story begins with modern day Batman attempting to thwart Gorilla Grodd's experiments in Arkham Asylum. In the chaos, Gorilla Grodd's device goes off, and sends Batman and a bunch of other characters back in time to Feudal Japan. Batman must then figure out a way to get back home while also keeping the villains from terrorizing Japan. If that sounds like a batshit (no pun intended) story to you, that's because it is. Once Batman arrives in Japan, the story gets increasingly ridiculous, eventually reaching Super Sentai/Power Rangers levels of "all right, that makes zero sense". By the third act, I had a look of incredulity on my face as a result of how far off the rails the action had escalated. That isn't to say that I hated the movie, however. Quite the opposite, in fact. Sure, the plot escalates in absurdity to the point that it's practically all over the place, but I didn't mind. The amazing visuals actually complemented the utter shenanigans happening on the screen; it didn't matter that I didn't understand what the fuck was happening, because the action looks fucking ridiculous (in a good way). While the story was not at all what I had in mind with the "Batman in Feudal Japan" premise, Batman Ninja more than makes up for it with an hour and a half of sheer visual spectacle. It's more of a turn-your-brain-off popcorn movie than a cerebral Batman tale deeply rooted in the comic lore, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't have preferred the latter, but hey, I had a blast watching what we got, so I'm not upset about it.
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June 2024
Derryck
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