Starring: Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt
Director: Pitof
Rated: M15+
AFTER her appearance in Die Another Day, her Oscar for Monster’s Ball and being one of the stars of the two X-Men movies, everything was possible for Halle Berry.
She appeared in the psychological horror film, Gothika, which received a mixed response, and then went on to Catwoman, which received a generally negative response.
Catwoman is a rather flashy show, directed by Pitof, a Frenchman who was a set designer on the films of Jeunet and Caro, like City of Lost Children. He has a taste for the exotic.
However, the screenplay is not really exotic. The credits remind us of the sacred images of cats, especially in ancient Egypt and we remember that this has been popular at least since Cat People, with many variations.
However, the mythology is only alluded to and the real role of Catwoman is to right some wrongs, especially in the cosmetics company where she has worked as an artist.
Her target is the owner, the arrogant and womanising boss (Lambert Wilson).
We know, however, that she should beware of his wife (Sharon Stone), the past face of the company but whose face and character have literally hardened like marble because of the destructive chemicals in the product that is being heavily promoted.
When the cat takes over Halle, she can become just like ‘Spiderman’, confident, agile, saviour of the city.
When she comes to, she is more like a glamorously diffident Peter Parker. She needs her friends (who are rather camp) for support, as well as the detective who stumbles into her life (Benjamin Bratt).
Since Spiderman is successful in portraying the psychological struggles of Peter Parker, there was no reason why Catwoman could not. But it doesn’t, leaving a good-looking but rather flat story until the inevitable showdown between Sharon and Halle.
