Based on a 2002-03 arc in the comics, 2019’s Batman: Hush represents a new entry in DC’s direct to video animated universe. In this one, Batman (voiced by Jason O’Mara) faces a foe who uses the Dark Knight’s other enemies against him.

This begins when Bane (Adam Gifford) kidnaps a young heir but behaves in odd, uncharacteristic ways. It turns out a new baddie called Hush (Geoffrey Arend) manipulates Bane and other notable Bat-foes for his own ends.

After one encounter leaves Batman badly injured, he heals and returns to stalk his enemies. This leads toward revelations about the past and present.

With a slew of notable DC heroes and villains on display, Hush runs the risk that it’ll focus too much on gimmicks. We come with a story that may substitute guest stars for actual plot development.

As much as I hoped for something more substantial, that does become a problem with Hush. While it offers reasonable entertainment, it comes so stuffed with these guests that it runs short of time for real narrative depth.

Not that these guests don’t offer fun moments. I won’t dig into the details because too many potential spoilers would result, but we see a slew of entertaining alliances and twists.

While these become enough to keep us with Hush, they also tend to accentuate the general dearth of substance at the core. Hush himself seems like a surprisingly forgettable villain, and that turns into a definite drawback.

Given his immense powers, Hush needs to offer a character worthy of his own movie. This never quite occurs, partly because the movie remains so stuck on all the guests that it doesn’t expand Hush like it should.

All of this leads to a moderately entertaining film that lacks the substance it needs to hit a higher level. It’s empty calories but it’s a decent adventure.

Batman: Hush appears in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not bad, the image seemed weaker than anticipated.

Sharpness became the main problematic area, as wider shots could seem surprisingly soft. Most of the movie offered good delineation, but more than a few iffy elements created moderate distractions.

No issues with shimmering or jaggies materialized, and I saw no edge haloes or noise reduction. Of course, I found no print flaws here.

In terms of colors, Hush went with a stylized look. It tended toward low-key tones and favored a fairly teal appearance much of the time. The colors seemed fine, as they represented their intended schemes.

Blacks were deep and dark, but shadows could seem a little opaque, another factor that added to the semi-softness. Though I still felt the image merited a “B-“, it looked less appealing than I thought it would.

When I examined the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Hush, it created a fine sense of action. The movie packed a lot of battles and involving material, and it used the five channels to impart that information in a lively manner. Explosions and fights filled the channels to create a full spectrum, and quieter elements fleshed out the room as well.

Across the board, the material sounded good. Speech remained distinctive and concise, without edginess, and music seemed vivid and full.

Effects appeared accurate and tight, with clear highs and some powerful lows. All in all, the mix worked nicely.

As we shift to extras, we begin with an audio commentary from executive producer James Tucker, director Justin Copeland and screenwriter Ernie Altbacker. All three sit together for this running, screen-specific look at the source and its adaptation, story/characters, cast and performances, animation and design.

While amiable and moderately informative, this never becomes an especially compelling chat. We get decent notes – mainly about changes from the source – but the end result feels lackluster. Though worth a listen, the commentary never turns into something especially winning.

Under DC Showcase: Sgt. Rock, we find a 14-minute, 55-second animated short that – surprise! – focuses on the supernatural war-time adventures of the title character. With Karl Urban as the lead, this ends up as a reasonably exciting program.

A featurette called Love in Time of War spans 16 minutes, 53 seconds and involves Copeland, Altbacker, Tucker, licensed clinical psychologist Andrea Letamendi, publisher Dan Didio, and publisher/artist Jim Lee.

“Love” examines the evolution of Catwoman as well as her depiction in Hush. Though I fail to understand why “Love” discusses the 1960s and 1990s live-action Catwomen but leaves out Dark Knight Rises, the show still offers a good mix of insights.

A Sneak Peek for Batman: Assault on Arkham runs seven minutes, 29 seconds and offers info from Tucker, casting director Andrea Romano, co-director Jay Oliva, screenwriter Heath Corson, and actors Troy Baker and Matthew Gray Gubler.

We learn about the film’s story/characters as well as cast and various production elements. It’s another promotional piece, of course, but it’s more interesting than most.

We also find a Sneak Peek for Wonder Woman: Bloodlines. It fills 10 minutes with notes from Tucker, writer Mairghread Scott, producer Jim Krieg, voice director Wes Gleason and actors Rosario Dawson and Jeffrey Donovan.

This “Sneak Peek” follows the same path as the prior one. It also seems enjoyable but largely oriented toward selling product.

Finally, From the DC Comics Vault provides “Catwalk”, an episode from Batman: The Animated Series. It goes for 21 minutes, 17 seconds.

As implied by the title, “Catwalk” involves Catwoman, as we see the character’s attempt to avoid crime – and her return when recruited by Scarface. It’s a fun episode.

The disc opens with ads for Reign of the Supermen and Joker. Trailers adds promos for Shazam and Justice League vs. the Fatal Five.

Packed with action and DC Comics notables, Batman: Hush becomes a pretty entertaining adventure. However, it fails to bring us a particularly compelling plot or main villain, factors that rob it of the ability to reach greatness. The Blu-ray brings oddly soft visuals along with very good audio and a reasonable roster of bonus materials. Hush seems fun but it lacks the dramatic impact of the better Batman tales.