Thursday, September 29. 2005

Catwoman (2004)

Photo: Catwoman (2004)
If life sucks, wear a helmet, they say, and judging from how big the cat helmet looks on the DVD's cover, life in Catwoman-world seemed to suck pretty badly.
 
The rumours seemed to support this, focusing on how little of Selina Kyle, the "real Catwoman", survived.
 
Yes, but was it good? Read on for no-spoilers look at the Catwoman movie by yours truly, impatient cat, reader of Catwoman comics, and role-player of DC characters.

What was bad:
  • The DVD cover. The cat "helmet" looks so tacky that that alone can put you off renting the movie. It looks better in the movie.
  • The CGI sucks — but then, what CGI doesn't? Someone asked me what they need CGI for in a Catwoman movie, anyway — remember that this is a catwoman, not the Catwoman. She is not Selina, and she is a metahuman (a mutant, in Marvel-speak) — and then of course, even Selina was metahuman in the now defunct Birds of Prey show. The extra speed and agility and most of the free running are CGI, and it looks like a video game.
Comparing Angelina Jolie to the revised Catwoman from the comicsWhat was dubious:
  • Non-Selina Catwoman. This doesn't make the movie less fun, but we probably won't see a Selina-movie in a long time now.
  • Some of the fights are shot in that close-to-the-actor/four-different-angles-a-second fashion that seems so en vogue these days.
  • The fights and action sequences do not try to be bigger and better than everything that came before them; they instead attempt to be reasonable in the context of the story — which of course is a super(anti)heroine story, so luckily, that's not too reasonable to begin with. I almost appreciated that, you might not.
  • Predictable plot. You be the judge of whether you can deal with that.
  • Halle Berry. I've never been a fan, and I'm not a fan now, but I must admit she did OK or better.
The good:
  • Pretty good pacing. No scene is too long, and the sequence is good. There seems to be a reasonable mix of action, plot-propelling, "romantic" and fun scenes. And then some more action scenes.
  • The soundtrack worked rather well. I have no idea whether I'd enjoy the songs outside of the movie (like I do with the songs used in the first Matrix), but within the context of the movie, it worked like a charm.
The upshot:

This is not a must-see. I do maintain though that it is a can-see. It's innocent (and somewhat shallow) entertainment for a Sunday afternoon, the way movies like the more charming Big are. It's an action music video, the way the visually more compelling first Matrix tried to be. And I easily found it more fun than the "first four" Batman movies, beating them one by one or combined.
 
So in short, I'm not quite sure why this one got so much flak. Sure, some of it was bad, but not Tim Burton-bad. If you want Selina, read the comics. If you don't like to read, watch Batman — the animated series — that's as close to a "definitive Batman" as you get, and it's not too bad in terms of Catwoman, either. And if you think you can do better, come to Gotham Knights MUSH and prove it — the Catwoman slot is open.
Posted by Azundris in English at 12:33 | Comments (4) | Trackback (1)
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Tatiana Azundris on : Batman Begins (2005)

Batman Begins (2005). At least in the comic scene, this was highly anticipated, with a mix part hope, but fear. And of course, it's been out a while, so if you're a fan of the franchise, you've already seen the movie. For everybody else, here come the bas

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Lewe on :

*I actually have seen the largest parts of this movie - but only the largest parts which probably already gives away the feelings I had when watching it.

Then again it wasn't Sunday afternoon, so in the end it could have been my mistake. :)

Anthony on :

*Angelina Jolie is Catwoman. Halle Berry should stick to X-Men.
Catwoman requires action and drama. Selina Kyle is an emotional contradiction, and should therefore be played by a great actress e.g. Angelina Jolie, although Michelle Pfieffer hit the nail on the head with her rendition. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

Azundris on :

*That's probably why they didn't let Halle play Selina, but "Patience." Having Halle play Selina would almost be as bad as having Angelina play any non-Selina Catwoman (which would plainly be a sin, to stop so close, and yet so far, from a "definitive" Catwoman movie). That's what I'm saying: as entertainment, this one's acceptable (if a harmless and not "must-see" movie otherwise), as a Catwoman-as-in-DC, it's obviously a no-show.

Azundris on :

*On the other hand, and let's be fair, the canonical Selina "origin" probably wouldn't have meshed well with the "family values" part of the evening...

Tori on :

*XXXX you and what you said about Halle Berry and Catwoman. FYI, I thought the movie was exciting and kind of funny. so eat cat litter and die XXXXX

Lundi on :

*I would like to see you expound upon why you aren't a fan of Burton's representation. I thought it touched on the more gothic side of her character, and was decent in comparision to some of the campier represenations.

Azundris on :

*(Please excuse the late reply, it was a bit of a busy week.)

That aside, I apologise for the lack of clarity. I have yet to see a Tim Burton film that I like; that's where "Tim Burton"-bad came from, he's simply my least favourite director. That said, as Burton goes, the Catwoman wasn't so bad. (I'm about to come right out and say, "far from the disaster that the Joker was", but I'm ready to acknowledge the possibility that it's just that I never got past the disaster that the Joker's make-up was. A Joker that worked for me quite nicely was Andrew Koenig's in the short film "Batman: Dead End". I'm also convinced that Brad Dourif's (otherwise known as, say, Grima Wormtongue from LotR, or as Billy Bibbit from "One flew over the cuckoo's nest") portrayal in "Death Machine" commends him as an A-league Joker.Paul Bettany ("A beautiful mind") who starred as Chaucer alongside Heath Ledger in "A Knight's tale"? Quite possibly, yeah. Heath Ledger himself? I have my doubts, really. But I'm ready to give the benefit of the doubt. That is, he might turn in a good performance, but unless it's perfectly stunning, I'll probably forever wonder whether somebody else wouldn't have been a crazier man for the job.)

So if you're the greatest Tim Burton-fan in the world, there probably is no sensible way we can discuss this : ), and if you aren't, well, once you eliminate the massive drag factor of Burton, I don't have a massive beef with his Catwoman in particular. Peace, and thanks for your interest!

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