Yakuza League

Posted on July 21, 2026 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I am pretty sure that Batman has always been your relative.

Vampire Bat: I do not know how a man’s masked personality relates to me.

Vampire Owl: Every life is a mask, isn’t it? People take so many forms.

Vampire Bat: Humans are never true to the society or even to themselves.

Vampire Owl: We know that humans are evil, so there is no surprise at all.

Vampire Bat: The Vampire Elders were so shocked that they banned the humans.

Vampire Owl: So, Uncle Dracula was never the first one to ban them.

Vampire Bat: He only extended the ban for humans which was already established.

Vampire Owl: I hope that Dr. Frankenstein is not banned anymore.

Vampire Bat: Mr. Frankenstein will not even be accepted.

[Gets an ulli vada and three cups of Wayanad tea].

What is the movie about? :: Batman (Koichi Yamadera) has come back home after being sent to feudal Japan through a time displacement machine called the Quake Engine. After all of Gotham City’s top criminals who also reach there became feudal lords, he had stopped the villains from altering history and brought them back to Gotham City in the present. But it seems that he would have no time to rest in his own world with something strange occurring around the city. He is surprised to see that the Justice League is no longer there and he cannot find Japan in its location either. He also finds that yakuza are raining from the sky above. He finds out that they belong to Hinomoto, a different Japan from a parallel universe which has placed itself in the sky of the city. He is able to see an interdimensional rift above Gotham City which seems to be part of a plan to invade Earth. As only the people who previously time-traveled can see this particular rift, the others call it a yakuza tornado, a storm which carries them to Gotham City – they deny the other-worldly elements of the same.

And what more is to follow in a world facing imminent destruction through timelines? :: Before he can process this new reality, Batman understands that there is more to this than what meets the eye. Batman and Robin (Yuki Kaji) travel through the rift to Hinomoto, while the other members of the Bat family Nightwing (Daisuke Ono), Red Hood (Akira Ishida), and Red Robin (Yuki Kaji) stay behind to fight the yakuza who have fallen into the city through the tornado. The Bat family are soon ambushed by some more yakuza fighters who are part of the Hagane yakuza clan who took over Hinomoto. They are surprised to find out that the first three big yakuza members who come against them are Zeshika the Emerald Ray (Ayane Sakura), a version of Green Lantern, Asha the Aqua Dragon (Akio Otsuka), an alternate version of Aquaman and Bari the Fleet-Footed (Kengo Kawanishi), a Japanese version of the Flash. The Bat family struggles in the fight with them, but with additional help from the Daiana the Eagle Goddess (Saori Hayami), an alternate Wonder Woman who is the member of an opposing Yakuza clan called Amazone, they manage to escape.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: After leading them safely to the Amazone base, with the help of Harley Quinn (Rie Kugimiya) from Batman’s timeline, Daiana explains the rising power of of the Hagane clan at Hinomoto from the time when the area consisted solely of yakuza families fighting each ither. After a clan leader Deio Domuzu (Kenta Miyake), an alternate version of Doomsday, was killed by Kuraku (Takaya Kamikawa), the new leader and an alternate Superman, the Amazone is the only opposing group left, and they have decided to keep their code of honour and respect. Harley Quinn had escaped with Joker (Wataru Takagi) after hearing about the strange incidents happening in Gotham City. After being ambushed on the way back, Batman is saved by Joker who didn’t want anyone else to kill the bat other than him, but Robin is captured. During the fight, it is revealed that the mastermind behind all of these is Ra’s al Ghul (Kazuhiro Yamaji) who had found the Quake Engine and upgraded it into a Four-Dimensional Origami System, and used it to manipulate certain parts of Earth’s history, creating Hinomoto with the new rulers. With all members of Justice League except Wonder Woman going against him, can Batman stop the new villain intending to capture Earth with the help of Wonder Woman and Harley Queen?

The defence of Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League :: The art style used here is so interesting as the movie nicely blends the 3D and hand-sketched 2D animation together. There are also the segments that change styles which will have our attention, and when each character is introduced in a different form, it catches our attention, for the Japanese versions of Green Lantern is the best, and that of Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Superman – all feel like made with some smart thoughts as our interest in parallel worlds grow further. This idea of having the most powerful Justice League superheroes on one side and Batman only with Wonder Woman to help him, is more of a terrifying situation for fans of the universe, as Harley Quinn helping Wonder Woman at times and Joker only caring about Batman not getting killed would not mean they can save the world. Well, we know the powers of Superman, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Flash, and so this situation is one of the biggest dangers that the world can have. It is the advantage of the tale, and it is nicely told with a Japanese touch, with everything nicely coming together in the end. The character design is so well matched by the grand action.

The claws of flaw :: There is no tight narrative coherence around here as the movie keeps going through the action which is sometimes too quick and a little bit overdone for some characters without superpowers. The change to the main Justice League characters is not always that interesting when we look closer. The display of power seems a little too much for our interest and quickly going through here and there. There is the explanation of Superman’s power a little too much even for the new version, and instead we are left with less understanding of what has really happened in this universe as the earlier movie release too long ago, and this would feel like a standalone for even the people who watched that one; a recap would have done the universe better especially as the length is not that much already. To make this shorter run-time possible, the movie seems to have gone through some quickened edits too, as we shift the shifts happening at a better speed. One would also feel that the Japanese version might have been the better suited mode for this particular movie.

How it finishes :: The movie does embrace its own existence, as it remains a high-octane return to those classic cartoon adventure, anime tropes and manga aesthetics, as there is more Japanese about this particular superhero journey than American. The comic book nostalgia is nicely reflected here as we take a closer look. The best of multi-stylistic animation comes up with a visual feast that keeps shifting between different versions, none of them deviating from the purpose. The high-level comics superhero battles and the tale of parallel universes go on making an impact. I have always preferred DC’s model over that of Marvel, whose classic superhero power was ruined by the new group of superheroes with the one exception being Thunderbolts, and even DC had itself coming down from Man of Steel by a weakened by a new Superman. Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League above others embrace the pure joy of Batman going against all odds from start to finish – he is the underdog again, but he stands tall. We see him proving himself not only as Gotham’s Dark Knight, but also the best of a Japanese underworld even when facing the superpowered or the overpowered juggernauts of destruction.

Release date: 18 March 2025
Running time: 89 minutes
Directed by: Junpei Mizusaki, Shinji Takagi
Starring: Koichi Yamadera, Daisuke Ono, Akira Ishida, Kengo Kawanishi, Yuki Kaji, Hōchū Ōtsuka, Masaki Terasoma, Wataru Takagi, Rie Kugimiya, Nobuyuki Hiyama, Romi Park, Akio Otsuka, Ayane Sakura, Kazuhiro Yamaji, Takaya Kamikawa

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

War Machine

Posted on June 23, 2026 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I am sure that they are talking about.

Vampire Bat: We are not war machines, for we are simple friendly neighbourhood vampires.

Vampire Owl: There was a war in the realm, and we fought many battles.

Vampire Bat: The magical wars do not make us war machines.

Vampire Owl: Still, you have to agree that we are not friendly at all.

Vampire Bat: Well, we have been friendly with the vampire elders.

Vampire Owl: Vampire elders are just respectable seniors who cannot be fought against.

Vampire Bat: Still, most of the new generation vampires are not friendly with them.

Vampire Owl: The new generation was never meant to respect elders.

Vampire Bat: Well, we have already witnessed the highest level of new generation disrespect. And we know that it keeps happening each and every day.

[Gets a masala bonda and three cups of Munnar tea].

What is the movie about? :: 81 (Alan Ritchson) attends RASP to earn and assignment to a battalion of the consolidated 75th Ranger Regiment, and meets others who wishes to be part of it and are assigned similar numbers. He was hoping to be part of the group with his brother, but both were attacked by insurgent groups in Afghanistan during a mission and only he had survived, despite sustaining heavy injuries. He was also awarded a medal which make him look like a war hero to other despite his guilt of surviving alone. 15 (Blake Richardson) who is an young man who does not care about anything immediately feels that 81 has the immense pride that keeps him apart, while he himself gets into trouble for unruly behaviour as the funny young man of the whole camp. 7 (Stephan James) attempts to get closer to 81 who continues to be not open to anything personal in nature and makes no conversations with others. The group that includes 60 (Keiynan Lonsdale), 57 (Daniel Webber), 44 (Alex King) and 109 (Jack Patten) gets to the final around along with 81 who almost drowns while giving up during an exercise.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The seniors have their doubt about 81’s mental state despite him doing physically well after coming back from that life-threatening injury. They feel that he should go back and attend some long sessions of counselling, but as he refuses to do so, they make him the leader of the final group. He had opposed to that idea from the beginning, but this time, there is no choice during the final exercise known as the Death March, which serves as a simulated mission in the nearby forest to destroy a classified aircraft and bring home a pilot. It is then that the reports on television talk about a suspected asteroid flying past the planet and slowly breaking off into pieces which move away from each other. But the same is dismissed are irrelevant as the team set on their mission, only to find a strange flight-like machine on the location and sets off the explosives. But it does not harm this particular machine which rises and begins an attack, surprising them. They do not have any contact with the base and are stranded there without any strong weapon as they are running simulation. What kind of other-worldly thing has come up with this attack?

The defence of War Machine :: The fights in the movie are really impressive, with some classic shots, but never really overdoing, and staying close to a reality of make believe, keeping the willing suspension of disbelief exactly where we wish to see it. There are the believable combat scenes and large-scale explosions, giving the action a realistic feel rather than that usual overload of alien unreality. The blend of military action and science fiction never really gets out of control as both are combined really well and without any doubt seemingly arising about the progress. There are not many alien movies which have managed to be this realistic in nature. The emotional side also works surprisingly well here. The alien machine is nicely designed and we see it working in a pattern which remains as much interesting as it catches our attention. The truth that during an invasion by an advanced alien civilization, humans never really stand a chance, and that they have no real superheroes to save them is asserted well, while focus still on the possibility of a sequel which could make some fine advancements here.

The claws of flaw :: The characters do not develop that much here, and we never even have the names of the main characters, which is strange, as at least the first name could have helped us to connect with them more. Some of the characters seem to be left there to die rather than to live inside the story. The predictability is there as we feel the aliens coming to Earth earlier, and the progress seems to reveal who all are going to survive and how this cannot end here with bigger scope only coming later. There is some loss of strength in between, and it is regained only a little later in the second part. A better focus on the other members of the squad, the supporting characters, would have helped better. The beginning stages do feel like there is something missing, and the power to satisfy the genre is also not there to be taken in the early stages. The story could have also had something special to make things better during the initial stages of soldier training which never really advances as we think it would – those moments seem to be just a random addition to make things get somewhere better.

The performers of the soul :: Alan Ritchson who leads the way comes up with a commanding performance as the central character, as he adds both physical intensity and screen presence to this particular role which demanded them. His portrayal lands an anchor for the film’s action-heavy narrative and keeps the strength felt whenever he is around. The emotional side is also handled well by him showing the loss as well as the bonding related to brotherhood. The movie always has something about him, and despite having so many characters around him, keeps the focus right there. Jai Courtney has only a small presence here, and we would miss having any more of the same later. Stephan James plays the second most important character to make an impact, and we see him developing into an important character soon enough. Blake Richardson brings the humour in a movie which mostly lacks in the same. Dennis Quaid also has his moments as we see how the movie progresses.

How it finishes :: This happens to be that science fiction action thriller focusing on an alien invasion that succeeds primarily through its strong but realistic action sequences, impressive but believable visual effects and some good performances from the leading cast which serves the emotions and the need for adventure really well. Even though it has that alien invasion to focus, it never really losses itself here in the process to create something like the usual movies of the genre. It only occasionally relies on familiar genre conventions, and manages to do enough for the fans of both military action and science fiction. Despite its shortcomings in some character development and often struggling with the narrative depth, this remains a fast-paced and engaging watch that serves as an enjoyable entertainer that could be watched on a fine weekend for some nice fun. After all, we have waited so long for an alien invasion to happen, but all that we are left with in real life is humans fighting each other due to different strange reasons, and we never really reached an end to that human violence itself. At least we see aliens making an impact in movies and considering the current situation, one has to wonder on which side most humans will be when there is that invasion.

Release date: 6th March 2026 (Netflix)
Running time: 107 minutes
Directed by: Patrick Hughes
Starring: Alan Ritchson, Dennis Quaid, Stephan James, Jai Courtney, Esai Morales, Keiynan Lonsdale, Daniel Webber, Alex King, Jack Patten, Blake Richardson, Steve Nation, Robert Rabiah, Patrick Hughes