"Catwoman"
Patience Philips (Halle Berry) is a mousy, constantly
apologizing graphics designer working for the
prestigious Hedare Beauty Corporation. Her boss,
George Hedare (Lambert Wilson), is an arrogant bully
who loudly rejects Patience's good work, even though
it is exactly what he asked for, and demands she redo
it by midnight. She complies and delivers but
overhears some nasty, conspiratorial conversation
about a dangerous new cosmetic. Her life is forfeit
and she is murdered. But, a strange and mysterious cat
comes to her rescue and brings her back to life – as a
very different person, one out for revenge in
"Catwoman."
The only compelling reasons for me to spend my time
and effort seeing "Catwoman" were that it would be
appreciably short and have ample on screen time of
Halle Berry wearing a skimpy leather cat suit. Well,
the movie clocks in at nearly 100 minutes (not nearly
short) and Halle does look fine as the sexy,
mysterious vigilante. This is not enough, though, to
recommend that you waste your time and money seeing
something that is, basically, a rehash of the first
"Spider-Man" movie.
The plot is simple enough. Hedare Beauty is on the
verge of announce the marketing release of a new
beauty product, "Beau-Line," a cream that will stop
the advances of aging in women's skin. George Hedare
has also replaced his wife, Laurel (Sharon Stone), as
the face of the company with much younger Drina (Kim
Smith). When Patience drops off her redone assignment
late one night she overhears the company's head
chemist threatening to expose the new product as
dangerous – unless a woman keeps using the cream she
will begin to look like a monster. Patience tries to
get away but is pursued and killed by Hedare's
henchman.
Through the magic of ancient legends and the
intervention of one particular cat named Midnight,
Patience is brought back to life she is no longer
Patience. Instead, she is a changed woman with feline
quick reflexes, incredible strength and agility and a
taste for danger. She is Catwoman.
As the city's new super hero/villain sets out to take
revenge on Patience's killers, a handsome cop, Tom
Lone (Benjamin Bratt), arrives on the scene and is
smitten with the pretty, shy artist. He is called in
to investigate a murder and learns about the sexy,
feline-like mystery woman who may be involved in the
crime. As his investigation of the crime, and his
interest in Patience, intensifies, he begins to see
that the line between Patience and the killer dubbed
Catwoman have blurred and the two have far too much in
common to ignore. Will Catwoman be able to exact her
vengeance before Tom slaps on the cuffs?
The special F/X that give Catwoman motion are a cross
between "Daredevil" and the cheesiness of the first
"Spider-Man" flick. There is an artificial feel to the
flick as the transition between live action and
Catwoman's CGI propelling around the city like, well,
a slinky cat take place. Sophomore helmer, Pitof (just
the one name), directs this slight effort to establish
a franchise for the title character. While his star
has the look and slink to give full body to the feline
uber woman, the material is far too lightweight to get
us through one movie, never mind dealing with a
series, or even a single sequel.
"Catwoman" is representative of the Hollywood
manufacture of movies we have grown used to over the
years. There is little new or different and lots
relies on the sexy swing of Catwoman's hips as she
prepares to kick butt. Halle Berry fits the cat suit
quite well but that is not a reason to make a movie.
Her strut looks like a model walking down the runway
but she sure is purr-ty
The acting is on par with the comic book source
material and never gets beyond the surface. Halle is
too humble and self-effacing as Patience but, I have
to admit, cuts quite a swath as the title character.
Sharon Stone looks great (the wonders of deadly
cosmetics, I guess) but does nothing and gets nothing
to do until near the very end. I would have loved to
see if the actress could take on a more fully realized
role – probably not. Lambert Wilson puts an elegant
sleaziness on his George Hedare character that
reminded me of James Fox in performances past.
Benjamin Bratt does the best he can as the good
cop/good man who believes in Catwoman/Patience. Alex
Borstein is amusing in the small role as Patience's
best friend and biggest fan, Sally. Frances Conroy, as
professor Ophelia Powers, takes on the job of telling
Patience (and us) the history and ancient lineage of
catwomen and their place throughout the millennia.
Cheesy special effects, under drawn characters,
simplistic writing (by a committee of scribes) and
music video direction will likely draw the
attention-deficit crowd but there is little here for
the discerning filmgoer. Hell, there is little here
for comic action fans. I wonder if Catwoman creator,
the late Bob Kane, is rolling over in his grave? I
give it a C-.
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
robin@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1299915
X-RT-TitleID: 1134224
X-RT-SourceID: 386
X-RT-AuthorID: 1488
X-RT-RatingText: C-
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