Catwoman is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Pitof and released by Warner Brothers & Village Roadshow Pictures on July 23, 2004.
The film was inspired by the DC Comics character of the same name, who is traditionally a supervillain and love interest of the superhero Batman[2] This story features a completely new version of the character.
The film stars Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt, Lambert Wilson, Frances Conroy, and Alex Borstein. It was poorly received by critics and audiences.
Plot
Patience Phillips (Halle Berry) is a shy, timid artist working for a cosmetics company. One morning, she sees a cat outside her window. Thinking it is stuck, she climbs out onto a ledge and nearly falls. A detective named Tom Lone spots her and thinks she is attempting suicide, and rescues her. Once he believes her story, the two gradually form a relationship.
While delivering a new design to her boss, Patience overhears a plot to sell defective beauty products that initially make human skin look younger and prettier; if the product is not used over a long period of time, however, the skin begins to decay. She is spotted at the scene and attempts to flee into a set of water conduits. The pipes are flooded by her pursuers, and she drowns.
After being murdered, she is brought back to life by the temple cat she saw earlier, because the cat (Midnight) was moved by the fact that she risked her own life for it. The cat is actually a messenger of the Egyptian goddess Bast. The Egyptian Mau is sacred to several feline deities such as Sekhmet and Mafdet. When Patience wakes up, she has been transformed into Catwoman, a warrior with the force of a cat, who prowls the night in search of justice. The Catwomen were also meant to teach a life lesson to all humanity: There is no pure good or evil. There is no black or white. We are all grey beings. This is shown when she stops three men when they rob a jewelry store in the middle state of the film, but takes some of the jewels for herself. Her behavior becomes cat-like, and she gains heightened reflexes, senses, and physical power.
Determined to discover why she was murdered (having forgotten the events that occurred the night before), Patience re-learns about the beauty product. She goes to the factory where the product is made, and there she finds Dr. Ivan Slavicky, a scientist who protested against the product's release, murdered. Before she can investigate further, however, the night guard spots her and sounds the alarm. Patience quickly flees the factory. She then informs her boss's wife, Laurel Hedare, about the plan and asks her to keep an eye out for anything unusual.
Soon after, Laurel sees her husband with another woman (indicating that her husband is unfaithful) and angrily crushes a glass with her own bare hands, but suffers no damage - indicating that her skin is now invulnerable due to her use of the product.
Catwoman then heads to the opera house where her boss, George, is attending a play with another woman. She confronts him about the product, but he doesn't know about its toxic after-effects. The police arrive and chase Catwoman, who is able to escape by cutting off the power.
Patience and Lone then go out on a date at a sushi restaurant, where they discuss Catwoman. When they leave, they go to Patience's home where they make love. Lone wakes up in the middle of the night and finds one of Catwoman's claw nails, after which he leaves.
Later, Laurel contacts Catwoman, and tricks her into entering a room with Patience's brutally murdered boss lying on the floor. Laurel then calls the police after tossing a gun into Catwoman's hand. As she flees the house, Catwoman realizes that Laurel was the one who insisted on the product's release and murdered Dr. Slavicky for trying to stop it.
Catwoman's lip prints on Lone's cheek match up with those of Patience from a glass cup, and she is taken into custody by Lone. That night she is able to escape from her jail cell by squeezing through the bars like a cat.
Meanwhile, Lone goes to Laurel, who holds a press conference for the beauty product and a tribute to George. Lone and Laurel go to Laurel's office and talk, and during their conversation, Laurel lets slip that she's the murderer of Dr. Slavicky and her husband. Before Lone can arrest her, she pulls a gun and shoots him in the arm. Catwoman then arrives, and rescues Lone just as Laurel is about to finish him off. After taking out her henchmen, Catwoman confronts Laurel, and they fight, though Laurel's face is now like "living marble" from using the product for so long. During the fight, Catwoman slashes her face and causes it to rip. As Catwoman scratches at her, Laurel accidentally falls through a broken glass window she tried to push Catwoman out of. Catwoman attempts to save her as she's hanging on, but Laurel sees a reflection of her ripped face in another window. Horrified by her appearance, Laurel slips and falls to her death. Detective Lone comes and sees what happened. He then assures Patience that she will not be found guilty for the murders.
At the end of the movie Patience sends an art piece of hers and a thank you note to the woman who owns the cat that revived her. The woman, "Ophelia Powers", also helped Patience remember her death, and tells her about the powers her cat gave to her and her new freedom. Patience also sends a letter to Detective Lone, saying good bye and thank you, and walks off into the night, happy with her new powers and independence.
Cast
Production
Initially there was debate about the writing credits, with 28 writers involved in the arbitration, but the Writers Guild of America ultimately awarded screenplay credit to John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris, and John Rogers, and story credit to Theresa Rebeck, Brancato, and Ferris.
Reception
Box office
Catwoman's world wide box office reached $82,102,379. Its US DVD rental gross during its stay on the weekly top 50 chart was $35 million.[3][1]
Critical response
Catwoman was poorly received, both critically and at the box office. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 10% freshness rate, based on 168 reviews. It is also on the worst 100 reviews ever.[4]
The film appeared on the list of Roger Ebert's most hated films. He criticized the filmmakers for giving little thought to providing Berry "with a strong character, story, supporting characters or action sequences," but his primary criticism came from the failure of the film to give the audience a sense of what her character experienced as she was transformed into Catwoman.[5] Film critic Bill Muller of the Arizona Republic suggested that maybe Berry should give back her 2002 Academy Award as a penalty.[6]
Awards and recognition
This film received seven Golden Raspberry nominations in 2005. It won in the categories of Worst Picture, Worst Actress, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. Halle Berry, while clutching her Oscar statuette, accepted the award for Worst Actress personally, saying, "First of all, I want to thank Warner Brothers. Thank you for putting me in a piece of shit, God-awful movie . . . It was just what my career needed."[7] She has gone on to speak frankly in interviews about her views regarding problems with the film.
Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks ran a series of comic strips in which Riley is punished by being forced to watch Catwoman. He subsequently campaigns to have Catwoman considered to be a form of child abuse.
Soundtrack
Originally, the film's theme song was to be Britney Spears' "Outrageous", but Spears broke her knee on the set of the music video, and the idea was scrapped. Instead it was replaced with Mis-Teeq's "Scandalous".[citation needed]
See also
References
External links
