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Review: Batman: Hush (2019)
This movie was a little disappointing to me. I wonder if it's because I hadn't watched the animated series movies leading up to this one. This movie relied on the audience having a lot of prior knowledge of DC comics, but as someone who has very slightly above average knowledge of the DC universe, I was confused because I wasn't sure at what point in the story I was.
As a standalone movie, this was disappointing, but I can't comment on whether this movie would have been much more enjoyable as an instalment of the series.
Spoilers.
Story
As most superhero movies do, this movie followed the protagonists as they tried to take down the big bad villain of the moment. This time, Batman and Catwoman teamed up. The major villain, called Hush, was controlling and using several other villains popular in the Batman world, including Bane, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Joker, Clayface, and more. In the end, it was revealed that Hush was actually the Riddler who'd been in the Lazarus Pit and now knew who Batman was.
At the beginning of the movie, we were introduced to Thomas Elliot. Bruce Wayne said that he was his best friend, and that they'd been inseparable as kids, especially after his parents' death. I hate it in movies and TV shows when a character-of-the-moment is introduced as a best friend, in an attempt to induce an emotional reaction. I had zero emotional reaction towards Thomas Elliot, and I had heavily suspected that he was actually Hush. In this movie, he was killed by Hush, but after looking into Thomas Elliot, I found that he was indeed Hush in the comics.
The romance between Bruce and Selina was also extremely heavy handed and I didn't find it fun at all. The writers tried to stuff Bruce and Selina into a very typical normal person romance. I understand that that might have made sense logically speaking, as they'd known each other as Bruce and Selina first, both normal people. But that's not what made their relationship fun in any sense. We don't go to Bruce and Selina for romantic dating, we like them for their perpetual cat-and-mouse flirting. The fact that they were having relatively down-to-earth dating struggles just felt...uninteresting to me.
Of course, the final conflict was about Batman's inability to let people die. Catwoman was very disappointed that Batman wouldn't let Riddler die, but...we all knew that this is who Batman was. If we thought Batman would change for Catwoman, then maybe we should have seen a more all-consuming romance between them.
There was a lot of awkward dialogue in this movie, particularly when it came to the more usual conversation. It might have just felt more awkward because of the awkward animation (which I'll get into later).
As I mentioned, this movie relied on prior knowledge of DC, but I suspect that it required specific knowledge of the animated universe. During the movie, I was confused over whether Selina knew that Batman was Bruce Wayne and it became evident that she didn't. But we also had a ton of Batman villains showing up. So I was just in a muddle over who was supposed to know what. It definitely was not meant to be watched as a standalone movie :S
I did get bored during the movie, especially when I realized that this movie was just going to introduce one villain after another for a short battle. It got old fast. I couldn't even tell you how the last third of the movie happened. I basically checked out after Selina and Bruce started seriously dating.
I also felt that this movie was trying to be risque but without really building up the tension to make it feel like anything. Yes, Poison Ivy kissed Catwoman but...that didn't make me feel anything (also because kiss scenes were so stiffly animated in this movie). I didn't feel anything any time Poison ivy kissed anyone, and she's supposed to be an irresistible seductress. We had characters swearing to solidify it as an adult movie but...again, with the awkward delivery, none of the swearing really impressed upon me the impact it was supposed to have.
Production
All of the good animation was in the fight. Otherwise, any animation when it came to people doing regular everyday things was awkward. I noticed this at the dinner party at the beginning of the movie right away. I remember watching Selina have her drink and recognizing that it didn't have the amount of detail I would have liked.
There was also a lot of awkward pauses because of that awkward animation, most with regards to mannerisms.
Characters
Bruce Wayne
Admittedly I didn't love Bruce Wayne in this movie. He seemed too cheery and polite...too normal. Maybe Christian Bale's Batman is still on my mind but I always expected for Bruce Wayne to be a bit eccentric albeit still very charming. That being said, I can accept Bruce Wayne the way he was in this movie if the previous instalments portrayed him in this way.
He just felt way too much like a normal guy for me, so if you add on his whole not killing thing, he comes off a bit as a Gary Stu. Maybe Batman is a Gary Stu on the outside but I always got the sense that he was difficult because of how rigid and serious he was. And even if they were playing it as a joke here, I felt that that might have still felt more like Batman to me than this iteration of everyman Bruce Wayne.
Selina Kyle
Selina Kyle was...also normal. Nothing about her stood out to me either. In this movie, she was laying low and trying to get her kleptomania under control. So I think that was the movie's attempt at showing us she was one of the good ones now.
In fact, she was supposed to be the "normal" one throughout the movie, the one who wanted to have a normal life despite how crazy the Wayne family was.
At the end, she told Batman that she was willing to change but she was disappointment that Batman wasn't. Again...framing their dating problems in a very normal way just doesn't really work. She knew that Batman was like this. And not for a second would I ever think Catwoman would give up stealing. She actually didn't really, so she doesn't even really have a leg to stand on, saying that she was willing to change.
Just let Batman be rigid and serious and let Catwoman be flirtatious and a thief and their romance would be a lot more interesting and fun.
Other
Of the Bat family, Dick, Barbara, Damian, and Alfred showed up. Barbara showed up at the beginning, thinking that Catwoman was going to hurt Batman, so she was hostile towards her. But she didn't show up again later.
In fact, very soon, the Bat family was warming up to Bruce Wayne dating Selina Kyle. Dick was making jokes about it, Damian was even giving his dad the protection talk. And Alfred had already welcomed her into the family by the time Bruce brought Selina over. Again...it was awkward for the family to already be this buddy-buddy with her. Even if Bruce trusted her wholeheartedly, did it make sense for the rest to do so?
Lady Shiva showed up briefly, only to tell Batman about the Lazarus Pit being used.
As mentioned, I did not love Thomas Elliot. He was a throway character that the writers wanted to give importance to but it always falls flat for me when someone who just showed up is portrayed as a best friend.
The villains were just a revolving door. All of them were being manipulated by Hush and once that connection was made, they just disappeared because they weren't important anymore. I wish they'd cut down on the villains because like I said, I stopped caring when it became clear that they were all here just for a cameo.
Overall
Unfortunately disappointing movie :(
As a standalone movie, this was disappointing, but I can't comment on whether this movie would have been much more enjoyable as an instalment of the series.
Spoilers.
Story
As most superhero movies do, this movie followed the protagonists as they tried to take down the big bad villain of the moment. This time, Batman and Catwoman teamed up. The major villain, called Hush, was controlling and using several other villains popular in the Batman world, including Bane, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Joker, Clayface, and more. In the end, it was revealed that Hush was actually the Riddler who'd been in the Lazarus Pit and now knew who Batman was.
At the beginning of the movie, we were introduced to Thomas Elliot. Bruce Wayne said that he was his best friend, and that they'd been inseparable as kids, especially after his parents' death. I hate it in movies and TV shows when a character-of-the-moment is introduced as a best friend, in an attempt to induce an emotional reaction. I had zero emotional reaction towards Thomas Elliot, and I had heavily suspected that he was actually Hush. In this movie, he was killed by Hush, but after looking into Thomas Elliot, I found that he was indeed Hush in the comics.
The romance between Bruce and Selina was also extremely heavy handed and I didn't find it fun at all. The writers tried to stuff Bruce and Selina into a very typical normal person romance. I understand that that might have made sense logically speaking, as they'd known each other as Bruce and Selina first, both normal people. But that's not what made their relationship fun in any sense. We don't go to Bruce and Selina for romantic dating, we like them for their perpetual cat-and-mouse flirting. The fact that they were having relatively down-to-earth dating struggles just felt...uninteresting to me.
Of course, the final conflict was about Batman's inability to let people die. Catwoman was very disappointed that Batman wouldn't let Riddler die, but...we all knew that this is who Batman was. If we thought Batman would change for Catwoman, then maybe we should have seen a more all-consuming romance between them.
There was a lot of awkward dialogue in this movie, particularly when it came to the more usual conversation. It might have just felt more awkward because of the awkward animation (which I'll get into later).
As I mentioned, this movie relied on prior knowledge of DC, but I suspect that it required specific knowledge of the animated universe. During the movie, I was confused over whether Selina knew that Batman was Bruce Wayne and it became evident that she didn't. But we also had a ton of Batman villains showing up. So I was just in a muddle over who was supposed to know what. It definitely was not meant to be watched as a standalone movie :S
I did get bored during the movie, especially when I realized that this movie was just going to introduce one villain after another for a short battle. It got old fast. I couldn't even tell you how the last third of the movie happened. I basically checked out after Selina and Bruce started seriously dating.
I also felt that this movie was trying to be risque but without really building up the tension to make it feel like anything. Yes, Poison Ivy kissed Catwoman but...that didn't make me feel anything (also because kiss scenes were so stiffly animated in this movie). I didn't feel anything any time Poison ivy kissed anyone, and she's supposed to be an irresistible seductress. We had characters swearing to solidify it as an adult movie but...again, with the awkward delivery, none of the swearing really impressed upon me the impact it was supposed to have.
Production
All of the good animation was in the fight. Otherwise, any animation when it came to people doing regular everyday things was awkward. I noticed this at the dinner party at the beginning of the movie right away. I remember watching Selina have her drink and recognizing that it didn't have the amount of detail I would have liked.
There was also a lot of awkward pauses because of that awkward animation, most with regards to mannerisms.
Characters
Bruce Wayne
Admittedly I didn't love Bruce Wayne in this movie. He seemed too cheery and polite...too normal. Maybe Christian Bale's Batman is still on my mind but I always expected for Bruce Wayne to be a bit eccentric albeit still very charming. That being said, I can accept Bruce Wayne the way he was in this movie if the previous instalments portrayed him in this way.
He just felt way too much like a normal guy for me, so if you add on his whole not killing thing, he comes off a bit as a Gary Stu. Maybe Batman is a Gary Stu on the outside but I always got the sense that he was difficult because of how rigid and serious he was. And even if they were playing it as a joke here, I felt that that might have still felt more like Batman to me than this iteration of everyman Bruce Wayne.
Selina Kyle
Selina Kyle was...also normal. Nothing about her stood out to me either. In this movie, she was laying low and trying to get her kleptomania under control. So I think that was the movie's attempt at showing us she was one of the good ones now.
In fact, she was supposed to be the "normal" one throughout the movie, the one who wanted to have a normal life despite how crazy the Wayne family was.
At the end, she told Batman that she was willing to change but she was disappointment that Batman wasn't. Again...framing their dating problems in a very normal way just doesn't really work. She knew that Batman was like this. And not for a second would I ever think Catwoman would give up stealing. She actually didn't really, so she doesn't even really have a leg to stand on, saying that she was willing to change.
Just let Batman be rigid and serious and let Catwoman be flirtatious and a thief and their romance would be a lot more interesting and fun.
Other
Of the Bat family, Dick, Barbara, Damian, and Alfred showed up. Barbara showed up at the beginning, thinking that Catwoman was going to hurt Batman, so she was hostile towards her. But she didn't show up again later.
In fact, very soon, the Bat family was warming up to Bruce Wayne dating Selina Kyle. Dick was making jokes about it, Damian was even giving his dad the protection talk. And Alfred had already welcomed her into the family by the time Bruce brought Selina over. Again...it was awkward for the family to already be this buddy-buddy with her. Even if Bruce trusted her wholeheartedly, did it make sense for the rest to do so?
Lady Shiva showed up briefly, only to tell Batman about the Lazarus Pit being used.
As mentioned, I did not love Thomas Elliot. He was a throway character that the writers wanted to give importance to but it always falls flat for me when someone who just showed up is portrayed as a best friend.
The villains were just a revolving door. All of them were being manipulated by Hush and once that connection was made, they just disappeared because they weren't important anymore. I wish they'd cut down on the villains because like I said, I stopped caring when it became clear that they were all here just for a cameo.
Overall
Unfortunately disappointing movie :(