Oct 042004
 
two reels

After introverted Patience Phillips (Halle Berry) is murdered, she is resurrected by cats. With a new sense of purpose and style, she hunts for her murderer, assumed to be the head of a cosmetics company (Lambert Wilson) or his wife (Sharon Stone). At the same time, a policeman (Benjamin Bratt) courts Patience while chasing the town’s new criminal.

I think we all know that Catwoman is no artistic triumph; if you don’t know that, just trust me. Even compared to other comic book superhero films, a rather low standard, Catwoman has a poorly developed plot, cardboard characters, a non-existent theme, and lackluster acting. Stone is particularly poor; this is the woman who defined sex in Basic Instinct? What happened? The FX are on a level with Spiderman, and no, that isn’t a good thing. As with the arachnid, you can watch Halle Berry switching from live-action to digital and back again. Shouldn’t good effects try to fool me into thinking I am not watching a cartoon during the action sequences?

OK, so I think its clear that this is a failure. That said, it’s a fun failure. Halle Berry watching fish hungrily and playing with a catnip ball is screwball comedy of a high level. And, if you happen to like watching the beautiful Ms Berry in tight, minimalist leather and a whip (as I do), you’ll find lots to enjoy. As a sexy, silly comedy, Catwoman is a success. Of course they wanted it to be an exciting action picture. Oh well.

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