If you were looking at this picture and thinking S&M Fantasy Island, I'm sorry. You're wrong.
This is Halle Berry after she has met some strange fate (from the previews I'm guessing some vat of chemicals) that causes her id persona to be more dominant when the sun goes down (a.k.a Catwoman).
Yes, I'm intrigued. Yes, I'm titilated. After Berry's turn in an Oscar award-winning performance in Monster’s Ball and her babe-ilicious ex-Bond girl role in Die Another Day, who would have thought Berry would choose a comicbook role.
I understand that this film, like the Batman films, were all for fun and entertainment. Nevertheless, I like smart fun and entertainment, not weak "who cares" films such as Underworld or Paycheck.
Will the story of Catwoman be intriguing enough that it merits being made? Will Halle’s performance be dynamic enough to do well at the boxoffice?
Do you remember Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in Batman Returns? I do. Can Berry match Pfeiffer’s vulnerable, psychologically layered (tormented), and sexy portrayal?
Here is the synopsis of the film according to the official website:
[Halle Berry] plays a shy and sensitive artist named Patience Philips. Phillips is a woman who can't seem to stop apologizing for her own existence. She works as a graphic designer for Hedare Beauty, a mammoth cosmetics company on the verge of releasing a revolutionary anti-aging product. When Patience inadvertently happens upon a dark secret her employer is hiding, she finds herself in the middle of a corporate conspiracy. What happens next changes Patience forever. In a mystical twist of fate, she is transformed into a woman with the strength, speed, agility and ultra-keen senses of a cat. With her newfound prowess and feline intuition, Patience becomes Catwoman, a sleek and stealthy creature balancing on the thin line between good and bad. Like any wildcat, she's dangerous, elusive and untamed. Her adventures are complicated by a burgeoning relationship with Tom Lone (Benjamin Bratt), a cop who has fallen for Patience but cannot shake his fascination with the mysterious Catwoman, who appears to be responsible for a string of crime sprees plaguing the city.
Catwoman is directed by a guy with one name, Pitof. I am only familiar with his name in two films, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc and Alien: Resurrection. Pitof was the visual effects director for the film Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc and the visual effects supervisor for Alien: Resurrection. If anything, we can be confident that the visual aspects of Catwoman will be decent, if not top notch.
Catwoman stars, to name a few: Halle Berry (Patience Philips), Sharon Stone (Laurel Hedare), Benjamin Bratt (Detective Tom Lone), Lambert Wilson (Georges Hedare), Frances McDormand, Alex Borstein, and Frances Conroy (Ophelia Powers).
Catwoman is in theaters on July 23. I don't know about you, but my curiousity (and appreciation of black leather) will get me in to this film.
