Batman: Hush
review by Bobby Blakey
DC Entertainment has proven themselves with an outstanding catalog of animated feature films over the last couple of years. Now they are taking on one of my favorites stories with the latest feature Batman: Hush based on the story from creators Jim Lee, Jeph Loeb, Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair. Could this be yet another great entry into the world of the DC Universe Animated features or will people want to keep quiet about it?
Batman: Hush follows the seminal DC classic tale that centers on a shadowy new villain known only as Hush, who uses Gotham’s Rogues Gallery to destroy Batman’s crime-fighting career, as well as Bruce Wayne’s personal life – which has already been complicated by a relationship with Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. The film features a great voice cast including Jason O’Mara and Jennifer Morrison as the voices of Batman/Bruce Wayne and Catwoman/Selina Kyle, respectively, Jerry O’Connell as Superman, Rebecca Romijn as Lois Lane, Rainn Wilson as Lex Luthor, Vanessa Williams as Amanda Waller, Jason Spisak as Joker, Peyton List as Batgirl, Peyton List as Poison Ivy, Geoffrey Arend as the Riddler, Sean Maher as Nightwing, Maury Sterling as Thomas Elliot, Bruce Thomas as Jim Gordon, Adam Gifford as Bane, Sachie Alessio as Lady Shiva, Stuart Allan as Damian Wayne, James Garrett as Alfred, Hynden Walch as Harley Quinn, Chris Cox as Scarecrow, and Tara Strong as Reporter.
I’m a lifelong Jim Lee fan and loved this original comic story so was eager to see this film come to life complete with a new reproduction of the artwork by Lee and long time inker Williams for the Blu-ray cover. While there are elements of the story changed here it mostly keeps it all intact and does the story justice. The animation is great as always and getting to see Hush join the ranks was awesome. I love the ongoing continuity of these animated Batman/Justice League films with each making a reference back to another and this one is no different while still being its own thing. This keeps it feeling like you are reading the comics and the characters are evolving every time.
There is plenty of action and fun throughout while maintaining its PG-13 rating and keeping the serious tone this story needs. There are some big elements I was bummed they left out I get it as they are trying to structure this story the way they did. I applaud them for bringing this one into the mix at all as it offers up a lot of characters and layers that is no doubt hard to cram into a hour and a half and do it justice, but they did just that.
Outside of the film they also included a DC Showcase Short featuring Sgt. Rock voiced by Karl Urban and the Creature Commandos that was excellent. I would love to see a film just focusing on them as this short was just not enough. This highly unlikely so happy we at least go it and all its monster and military glory.
In addition to the feature this release also includes bonus content including commentary, a featurette, a sneak peek at the next animated feature Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, select episodes from the DC Vault, and the mentioned all-new animated short DC Showcase: Sgt. Rock. Discovery the mystery when Batman: Hush available now on digital and then on 4K Ultra, Blu-ray and DVD on August 6th from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.