Catwoman ** (2004, Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt, Lambert Wilson) – Classic Movie Review 567

Directed by Pitof in 2004, this Batman spinoff, using the comic book characters of Bob Kane, was eagerly awaited but turned out to be only passable and a bit of a damp squib. Inheriting the mantle of Catwoman from Michelle Pfeiffer in 1992’s Batman Returns, Halle Berry gets her claws out and puts on the kinky leather for a catfight with villainess Sharon Stone (as Laurel Hedare). This glossy but cheesy popcorn movie is generally held to be one of the failed superhero movies.

Screenwriter Thierry Arbogast and story writer Theresa Rebeck needed to paws for more thought with the plot: a meek cosmetics firm employee (Berry) uncovers the disfiguring secret of Stone’s beauty cream, so she’s killed, reincarnated and, with her new super powers, is out for vengeance.

Lovely Oscar-winner Berry (for Monster’s Ball in 2002) walks the walk and talks the talk, but she’s got no real bite as Catwoman and she obviously needs better quality work to be most effective. She’s kind of squandering her talents here, used largely as a sex object.

Stone growls nicely but looks fed up (she’d probably have liked to have been Catwoman), while villain Lambert Wilson overacts (as George Hedare) wildly and Benjamin Bratt underplays dully as the cop pursuing Catwoman.

Even the CGI visual special effects and Bill Brzeski’s sets look fairly regulation and ordinary. The extended catfight between Berry and Stone is a reasonable, very entertaining action highlight though and it is reasonably entertaining.

With reshoots and delays with the effects, this was a troubled film, costing $85 million and taking only $40 million in the US. Nito Larioza is Berry’s male stunt and body double.

Pitof was born on July 4 1957 in Paris as Jean-Christophe Comar. He is known for his remarkable visual effects work on Alien: Resurrection (1997), Delicatessen (1991) and The City of Lost Children (1995).

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 567

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