I synopsis this review and after watching it I was inclined to agree. Here’s just a brief statement
If you ask any comic book reader to name the greatest Batman storylines from the past twenty years, one of the most common answers you’ll get will be Batman: Hush.
There’s a good reason for that: it’s that damn good. From the intriguing detective story, plot twists and intelligent characterization from writer Jeph Loeb to the stunning artwork by Jim Lee, the nearly year-long story arc is as impressive now as it was then.
Adapting it in to a film should have been a no-brainer for Warner/DC. The only question should have been “What took so long?”
Instead, this adaptation goes off the rails in trying to fix what wasn’t broken and is ultimately disappointing.
This movie should have been way better. Batman Hush is an awesome, fantastic read and this adaptation was just not on the mark.
2 Likes
I would like to respectfully disagree. I rather enjoyed the movie. I think in some respects it trims the fat of the story. I think that’s what any adaptation should do. It pulls from the source material but also does its own thing. That’s what many of these DC Animated Movies have done (case in point the Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen) They’re adapting famous comic storylines into their Batman/Superman/Justice League continuity of animated films, so some things are going to be different.
The ending is really going to decide where you fall on this adaptation. Personally, I like it as I never really bought the identity of Hush in the comics. Month to month, as the comics came out, I kept thinking “There is no way they’re going to make it Tommy. It’s too obvious. He’s a red herring” But then they made Tommy Hush. And even then this wasn’t his plan. It was the Riddler’s who, at the very end, tells us he had cancer, he got healed in a Lazarus Pit and then told Hush who Batman really was. I think out of all my problems with the Hush storyline was the ending. I’m not saying the ending in the adaptation is perfect, but I found it to be more surprising and well handled than in the original story.
If I did have a criticism though, it’s that I’m tired of seeing Batman and a mind controlled Superman duke it out. I know this is taken from the comics (I wasn’t in love with that then, either) but since we already got something like this in Justice League: War, it felt like it was old hat.
Could not agree more with you. A lot of the plot beats felt forced like we have to include this because it also shows up in the story. Trying to wrap up a 12 issue story into a movie that is not even 90 minutes is just a recipe for disaster to me. The twist was absolutely forced to me, The Riddler is shown as some weakling when he is robbing the armored truck but then he is this hulking muscular mass of a man in the final fight? Making Tommy nothing more than a background character is such an insult to the story.
I know WB is on this anime type animation vibe but honestly, this is one where they needed to deviate heavy and emulate the beautiful art of Jim Lee, that was another reason why Hush was such a great read. Even if you hated the plot beats, the reveal, at least you had the art.
The DCAU movies are just not that great to me and this is a gigantic miss for me.