Catwoman
by Pitof
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DVD details
Actor: Benjamin BrattDirector: Pitof
Brand: Warner Brothers
Primary Contributor: Halle Berry
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Original Language); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: WEA
Product features:
- TESTED
DVD Reviews of Catwoman
DVD Review: Why would you make Halle Berry look bad as "Catwoman"?
Summary: 2 Stars
There is universal agreement that Halle Berry is a beautiful woman, and after winning the Academy Award for "Monster's Ball," she has the bona fides of a legitimate actress. Hiring Berry to play "Catwoman" makes sense, because there is a tradition of the character being sexy and smart going all the way back to the campy "Batman" television series where Julie Newmarr and Eartha Kitt essayed the role of the felonious feline. But when it becomes clear in this 2004 film that the primary emphasis of Halle Berry as Catwoman is on her breasts, then I think it is clear this movie has lost definitely its focus on what makes Catwoman work.
Catwoman first appeared in the final story in "Batman" #1, when she was simply the Cat (a.k.a. Selina Kyle), the world's greatest cat burglar. She was devoid of superpowers, although she certainly employs her many cat-like qualities to her advantage. She walks the line between being good and bad, which explains why she is so attractive to Batman, since the Dark Knight's vigilantism has him walking that thin line as well. But in this story/screenplay by Theresa Rebeck, John Brancato & Michael Ferris, and John Rogers neither Selina Kyle nor the Batman make an appearance. For fans this becomes the obvious place to point a finger and start wagging it disparagingly.
In this incarnation Berry plays Patience Phillips, a talented commercial artist who designs print advertisements without a shread of self-confidence at H&H, a cosmetics company run by the husband and wife team of George (Lambert Wilson) and Laurel Hedare (Sharon Stone). Laurel has been the face of the company since its inception, but now she is being replaced by a younger face, and she is not at all happy about this changing state of affairs (you have to think this plot is hitting really close to home for Stone). There are some rather serious problems with the cosmetics H&H is putting out, and when Patience stumbles across something she should not see in some place she should not have been, she is killed.
When Patience is murdered she comes back to life after Midnight, a cat whose lineage goes back to the cat gods of ancient Egypt, breathes the power of Catwoman into her. But even though there is Ophelia Powers (Frances Conroy), a character who exists to provide Patience with the necessary background information, there is no real point beyond the exposition. Usually when someone is granted superpowers like this, from another being, there is a mission statement. Instead, what we get is a checklist of cat powers as more of an instructor's manual. Since Patience was murdered, Catwoman has a reason to do something about that, although it does not seem too much of a pressing concern to her. But there was an entire history lesson shown behind the opening credits and you would think it would actually lead to something significant in the film itself.
When this Catwoman steals some jewels, it seems just a nod to the comic book character, and not a serious bit of motivation. Instead of a bad girl who sometimes does good things, what we have is a woman dealing with a split personality. At this point I was reminded that the idea for a "Catwoman" movie was first floated after Michelle Pfeiffer's turn in "Batman Returns," which would explain the character's personality disorder. But while this makes sense when Catwoman/Selina Kyle is faced with Batman/Bruce Wayne, it has no resonance with the lead character is dealing with a cop, Tom Lone (Benjamin Bratt). He sees the world in black and white terms, while Catwoman works best as a gray character. But in this film she is bouncing back and forth between Patience and Catwoman without any rhyme or reason that resonates with the audience.
Catwoman's final costume, the infamous dominatrix outfit, is wrong for the character and actually extremely unflattering to Berry. Why anybody would want to make a movie with Halle Berry and make her look bad is beyond me, but this film manages to do it. I also think the character worked better with the long hair along with the full-body suit, which did not have to be made of leather. Then, to cap off the string of disappointments, we have the climatic cat fight between Catwoman and Laurel, whose use of cosmetics has had an interesting side-effect that could have been taken advantage of in the big fight but was not (because that would have made sense). Still, given that the film is devoid of thrilling stunts or memorable one liners, it is not surprising that it is a complete failure across the board.
Of the DVD extras the best of the bunch is the retrospective on the character of Catwoman, narrated by Eartha Kitt, who does the best purr in the history of the world. Watching the documentary it becomes clear that all of the actresses who have played Catwoman have had both a better respect for and a better understanding of the character than those who put together this film. The irony that "Catwoman," one of the worst comic book movies of all time, came out the same summer as one of the very best, "Spider-Man 2," is not lost on those of us weaned on comic book superheroes. Hopefully the people who are doing the next Batman movie will have figured out which of those two to hold up as a role model.
Description of Catwoman
Catwoman is the story of meek, mild-mannered artist Patience Philips, who works for Hedare Beauty, a mammoth cosmetics company on the verge of releasing a revolutionary anti-aging product. When Patience inadvertently happens upon a dark secret her employer is hiding, she is attacked and killed. But Patience is given a second chance - a second life in which someone not quite human resides. Someone with the strength, speed, agility and ultra-keen senses of a cat. With her newfound power, Patience becomes Catwoman, and sets out to stop Hedare's callous plan to unleash an appallingly dangerous product into the world.DVD Features:
Additional Scenes
Alternate endings
Documentaries:The many faces of Catwoman
Documentary:HBO First Look Special
For a certain segment of the population, the vision of Halle Berry in shredded skin-tight leather is reason enough to see Catwoman. As Patience Philips, Berry plays a mousy graphic designer for a cosmetics company who learns a little too much about her employer's new beauty cream and gets flushed down a waste-disposal pipe. A supernatural cat brings Patience back to life and brings up a new persona from the depths of her psyche; soon she's bounding around fire escapes, cracking a whip, and getting framed for a couple of murders by a villainous ex-supermodel (Sharon Stone, Total Recall, Basic Instinct). If you're hoping for a Catwoman with bite, this is not your movie--this Catwoman rescues children from malfunctioning ferris wheels and apologizes for stealing jewels. The movie's script and visual style are as fresh as used kitty litter. Also featuring Benjamin Bratt (Miss Congeniality), and Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under). --Bret Fetzer
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