Warner, out now

Be warned: there are spoilers galore in this review!

 

There’s always a risk when Warner’s adapt a really popular, classic even, comic book for their DC Animated Universe. The critical mauling Batman: The Killing Joke received ought to have made the Powers That Be perhaps more apprehensive when approaching Batman: Hush. Or perhaps it made them more determined to say “There’s a world of difference between what a movie needs and what a comic book needs and here’s why…” Whether that’s a good idea will shape your opinion on Batman: Hush no end…

Confession time: I loved Batman: The Killing Joke animated movie. I thought it took the essence of the original story and ramped it up nicely. And whilst I might have winced at their use of implicit sexual violence and a naïve teenage crush as “character motivation” for Batgirl, I wasn’t as averse to the other changes as many. This confession is stated up front so that fans of the Loeb/Lee twelve-part miniseries of Batman: Hush who are outraged by the changes wrought to the movie version will understand that a) I’m not a die-hard Batfan and b) I don’t mind changes if they make the alternate version stand on its own two feet so as to make the movie format work.

So, before we approach that, let’s just give a big tick to the movie’s astonishingly great moments.

The love story: at its heart, this movie makes the romance between Batman and Catwoman the A story, the heart and meat of it all. Bruce Wayne’s eventual decision to reveal the truth to Selina Kyle is both logical and understandable – especially borne out of the death of his old friend Thomas Eliot, which bonds them both as heroes and civilians. Chuck in Nightwing and Alfred’s lovely reactions to the whole thing, and it all makes a really good character-based story.

The mass of villains: the B plot is about the titular Hush himself and it’s essentially a justification for a huge cameo feast. Hush’s plan provides a chance for pretty much every major Batman villain to get a spotlight moment (Mr Freeze, Penguin and Two-Face are reduced to non-speaking vignettes): Poison Ivy, Joker, Riddler, Clayface, Bane, Harley Quinn all get fun moments (well, okay, the Joker might not agree it’s fun). Add Superman, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Amanda Waller and of course Commissioner Gordon into the mix and it’s like a really good Greatest Hits album.

The voice cast: over the past five years, Jason O’Mara has done a lot of Batman. For me, whilst he’s not reached the level of Kevin Conroy (but who has?) he’s definitely the second-best animated Batman – and in a fairly massive list of names over the decades, that’s a pretty good place to be. Jennifer Morrison shakes off her House persona beautifully with a deep, smart and slightly quirky Catwoman that I’d like to hear more of.

The direction: oh my lord, this is astonishingly glorious – I don’t think any DC animated movie has been so brilliantly storyboarded/directed as Batman: Hush – the use of low angles, of lighting, of scale and spectacle; oh it’s just a delicious meal for the eyes.

But… oh you knew there was a “but” coming didn’t you? Well there is and it’s a big one.

As stated earlier – I have no problems with the movies taking some liberties with the comics if it improves the movie experience. But I can see no justification whatsoever for changing the villain.

The movie is called Hush. The bad guy is Hush. Except here, it isn’t. And whilst the red herring (for those in the know) of putting the comic-version civilian identity of Hush into the film might have seemed a nice feint, it totally works against the story. It means that Thomas Eliot’s character becomes utterly irrelevant – because there’s no emotional punch for Batman and Eliot contributes zero. Everything that Batman’s old school friend brings to this story could be exorcised and you’d never know. Finding another reason for Batman to beat the shit (a popular word uttered by most of the villains in this movie – we almost get a “fuck” from Ivy too) out of Joker. There are plenty of doctors in the history of Batman who could save Bruce’s life. And yes, his death being the catalyst for Selina and Bruce to be honest to each other is fine, it could easily have been borne out of any other incident, probably during the opera attack. But watching the movie, you accept Eliot’s role because you know he’s ultimately going to be revealed as Hush.

Until he isn’t.

And whilst there’s an argument that keeping an audience on their toes and pulling out metaphorical rugs can work sometimes, it simply doesn’t here. Making Hush just a battle-scarred Riddler has already been undermined by Nightwing’s earlier (and pretty spot on) assertion that Edward Nygma’s pretty much a C-list villain. But to make the story work in this context, Riddler has suddenly become a master of hand-to-hand combat, a brilliant marksman, as well as a snarling psychotic – and thus wholly out of character. And no, a dip in Ra’s Al-Gaul’s Lazarus Pit isn’t a good enough excuse. To add insult to injury, and proving Nightwing’s earlier assertion correct, he is ultimately defeated by Barman constantly telling him he’s a C-lister. Too right he is – and thus the audience us cheated out of having a new and exciting major villain in Hush. Instead of an embittered friend of Bruce’s (clichés are clichés for a reason when they work), we get a pretty meh old favourite bad guy who is easily defeated because neither Batman nor the viewer by the end of the adventure gives two monkeys about Hush. He is utterly insignificant.

Verdict: Batman: Hush, which has so much going for it technically, is sadly one of the most disappointing and weakest entries in the DC Animated Movie canon when, bearing in the mind its phenomenal source material, should have been one of the very best. 6/10

Gary Russell