Catwoman is a 2004 superhero film directed by Pitof and released by Warner Brothers & Village Roadshow Pictures on July 23, 2004. It is inspired by the DC Comics character of the same name, who is traditionally a supervillain and love interest of the superhero Batman.[2] Initially there was debate about the writing credits, 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.
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 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. 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. Laurel sees her husband with another woman 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 talk about 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. This woman, "Ophelia Powers", also helps 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
Reception
Catwoman was poorly received, both critically and at the box office. 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.[3] Film critic Bill Muller of the Arizona Republic suggested that maybe Berry should give back her 2002 Academy Award as a penalty.[4]
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."[5] 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 being forced to watch Catwoman considered to be a form of child abuse.
Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 10% freshness rate, based on 168 reviews. It is also on the worst 100 reviews ever.[6]
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.[7]
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".
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Mee-yow
This one tries extremely hard to be campy, but as it turns out it's
Sandcooler from Belgium - 30 June 2009just very bad and nothing more. I wanted to laugh, but I couldn't
because it was all just so sad. The director is an easy target here,
especially because for some reason he likes to call himself "Pitof",
but really it's not all his fault. The action (the only thing directors
with one name care about) is actually filmed rather competently, it's
just everything in and around in that makes me cringe. Halle Berry's
performance is just miserable. She's a good actress, she's great at
emoting, she's great at portraying complex characters, too bad for her
this movie doesn't require any of that. This movie requires someone
that can make these one-liners sound cool, and that's really not
Berry's cup of tea. It all just feels so extremely awkward. It's a bad
sign when Sharon Stone's outplaying you. An even bigger thorn in the
eye is the screenplay though because seriously, what is this crap? Even
if you forget about the plot, these lines are just so incredibly bad. I
can't believe they found actual people willing to say them. This movie
is a pretty big disaster with very few redeeming qualities.
It's a good film underrated only because of bad fame…
Catwoman is a good film, realized by modern techniques matched by
sirrom5 from Italy - 19 May 2009darkness procedure. Good interpretation of actors, as well as the
director's guide. I dislike for negative critics because there are many
other movies that are the worst ever made in the cinema: I think to
Independence day or apocalipto, and many others. I'll see this movie
again and I'll get the DVD or blu-ray when it will be possible. Many
movies are underrated and would deserve better treatment by critic and
public opinion. So I think everybody can see this movie and be
satisfied without any preconceptions and if they will influence you so
this movie will be bad regardless.
Predictable and a little weird, but it is not that bad!
I do much prefer Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman,a manipulative character
Bethany_Cox25 from United Kingdom - 11 May 2009with a crave for jewellery, not emphasised enough in this instalment,
but not entirely missed. Unlike some people, I liked Halle Berry in the
title role, I liked the scene where she cuts off her hair and revealed
her real self. Somehow she didn't look right with all that hair over
face. When she was Catwoman, she looked very sexy in that leather
outfit. Now the script was weak at times, but I really liked the
overall look of the film, with the splendid sets. The special effects
were a bit ropey, and others where it looked part-animated, or like the
Matrix, but they're weren't the weakest part of the movie, that was the
script. The supporting players, particularly Sharon Stone weren't that
bad, and while slow-moving at times, neither was the plot. All in all,
a fairly watchable movie, not the best superhero movie, but not the
worst(Batman and Robin). 6/10 Bethany Cox.
This was a good movie.. Just not quite hater proof..
This is the problem with "you people" that expect everything to be
dadproductions200 from United States - 28 April 2009wrapped up the way YOU want it. You probably didn't even pay attention,
you just went through criticizing it.If you'd been paying attention then you would know the lore created by
Bob Kane, the creator of Batman- and thus this spin off, was that
Patience was only one of many Catwomen. So she indeed was a Catwoman-
like Selina Kyle. As for Marble-face, could have been much better I
agree but this film contained all the classic dynamics of Superhero
flick, not to mention she was the sexiest thing ever in a costume. The
feel of this film harkened sort of a pre Dark Knight from a woman
prospective. The storyline was decent and that of an introductory film
with character you would not mind getting to know further.Sorry you waited 12 years for a Spin off with Michelle Pfeiffer, I
liked her too- but you should take that up with her and the studio.
Watch the film a second time- this time without the chip on your
shoulder.
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