Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Batman Ninja'

Written by Scott Murray

Batman Ninja is a wonderful testimonial of the power of bringing different cultures together. It is a glorious celebration of Eastern and Western drawn culture, and if you are a fan of either anime or Batman then you owe it to yourself to watch this film and see what Batman is like as a guest in Japan.
 
First things first: this is still definitely Batman. Although he has been invited into Japan and has adapted to their culture and customs, he is still Bruce Wayne, through and through. You’ll recognize a delightful list of classic Batman characters from all across his history, and see them in wondrous Sengoku Period splendor. Every inch of the overall design perfectly blends both Japan and Batman together, from the Samurai armor of the Villain Daimyo to the familiar, League-of-Sahdows-esque ancient Bat Ninja garb to Sumo Bane, everything about Batman Ninja is clearly the classic Batman characters covered in anime and historical paint, dripping with the characteristic Batman mix of realism, fantasy, and technological reality-stretching. If you’re worried about Batman completely transforming himself for this movie, fear not. He simply adapts, the way Batman always does, changing to accommodate the demands of his environment. Almost everyone behaves the way they should and we see it on the screen and in their actions, from Grod’s shifting motives that serve his own ‘greater good’ to Alfred’s steadfast unflappability to Selina’s typical self-serving loyalties that eventually give way to her true feelings.
 
The plot is actually quite meaty, and the 85-minute runtime is absolutely stuffed with people, places, and huge screen-covering events. It feels like a familiar Batman story with new anime flavor and style. They’ve combined all the best things about Japanese animated media and all the loudest, most signature notes of Batman. The filmmakers managed to utilize all their resources wonderfully: on the one side they packed in references and hat-tips to almost every inch of Batman’s onscreen history, from Adam West to Kevin Conroy to Ben Affleck, and even a small homage to The Dark Knight. On the other, well, Joel’s exclamation of ‘Super-Bat-Monkey’ seems like a perfect way to describe what’s called, in the film, ‘the mighty Bat-God before us.’ 

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In truth, the one thing that might put some people off is also one of its greatest strengths: it’s very Japanese. Giant robots, an army of monkeys, physics defying combat and disparate, changing art forms will all seem familiar to anyone who’s seen their fair share of anime, but might strike those less familiar with the medium as inconsistent with the Batman they are used to. I said before that the film is still true to Batman, and it is: Batman adapts to the culture and time period in the film, and he has also been faithfully and respectfully adapted to the art and storytelling. The clear respect for both East and West, coupled with the deft interweaving of the best aspects of both, left me delighted and overflowing with excitement by the end of the film, as if someone had written down all the most jaw-dropping and characteristic aspects of both the anime medium and Batman’s world then crafted a film around that list. The understanding the filmmakers had, both for the character and the medium, was palpable. As one of them said in the special features ‘Giant robots are giant robots, but they’re not just giant robots.’ That grasp of the important broader impact of both Batman and anime clearly helped them to sift through their huge pool of options and mesh together the best and most important parts to create something wholly unique, yet familiar. Of course if Batman was going to Japan there would have to be giant supervillain-driven robots, and of course if Japan was going to host Batman it would reveal an ancient bat-ninja clan. There was a place for everyone to fit comfortably into, as he and his Rogues Gallery so naturally slip into their new roles as Daimyo in the Warring States Period. I didn’t even mind that Damien had a personality I’ve never seen before (more anime than what I’m used to for him,) or that most of the villains played tertiary roles. There was simply so much stuffed into the film that every little inclusion, no matter how small, burst out of the screen like a nod to the fans, like the hint of another flavor in this massive melting pot. If anything, my only complaint is that it was too short: more time to explore the characters and their thoughts and more time to let fight scenes breathe would have been amazing. That everything feels tightly paced like a tour or an overview is disappointing only in the way that reaching the end of your first slice of pizza is disappointing: it just leaves you wanting more.
 
The quality of the production is excellent in every aspect, from the sound to the character design to the script to the art. Put simply, this film had some of the best art and animation I have ever seen on any screen, ever. Certain parts are achingly, eye-wateringly beautiful. Others are inspiring to the point of being downright moving. There was one moment, a sunrise, that can only be described as truly and genuinely mind-blowing. There is simply no other term that sufficiently describes what I experienced or the way I was utterly overcome by feeling. The effort didn’t all go into the art however: the sound was woven in so smoothly as to become a perfect utilitarian decoration: enhancing every second of film while providing its own unique detail, context, and depth. The script was also phenomenal: each character true to their own nature. The Joker/Harley script was particularly on point: tight, comical, and perfectly written and delivered. I have to specifically call out the performance of Tony Hale, the English voice actor for The Joker, as top notch. It’s not so obvious at first: at times he speaks with a strange style and pitch, almost like the Joker himself is putting on a parody of an accent, but in other parts he drops the jovial, just-for-fun act and his voice is exactly as it should be: pure Joker, though and through. No accents, no strange affectations, just The Voice. There is a particular moment that sent shivers up my spine like only Mark Hamill has ever managed until now, when a largely innocent laugh transforms into The Joker Laugh, and it is chilling, electrifying, and utterly flawless.
 
Batman is one of my oldest and most enduring nerd obsessions, one I’ve been immersed in for as long as I can remember. Anime is a more recent discovery; one I’ve tried to dive headfirst into in an effort to catchup on as much as possible. Putting the two together could have been disastrous – an exercise in compromise as Batman and anime were bent over backwards to accommodate each other – but instead it’s a beautiful mixing of two worlds. Each brings its own unique flavors, their disparate distinctions serving as dazzling accents that enhance and support the beautiful central pillar of similarities. In a true example of the wonderful things that collaboration can accomplish, Batman Ninja takes two separate worlds and blends their similarities into a smooth new flavor without diminishing any of the sharp, distinctive standouts that make them what they are. The end result, at once both new and familiar, is a delightful experience packed full of fun and incredible moments. I absolutely recommend Batman Ninja to any fan of either Batman or anime, and I hope to see many more such collaborations in the years ahead.

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