CATWOMAN

WB

RELEASED 13 August 2004

A troubled production history hung around ‘Catwoman’ like a bad smell, but the final product isn’t quite the mess it might’ve been. Set in an unnamed city (presumably Catford), Halle Berry takes the title role, a shy graphic designer who is murdered by the sinister beauty products company Hedare Beauty after witnessing the ageing effects of their imminent new face cream. Resurrected by cats (a cat’s breath is enough to raise anyone from the dead), Patience Phillips is reborn as Catwoman, out to get her revenge. 

Berry gets to do the whole hissing-at-dogs, going-crazy-over-catnip, walking-around-on-all-fours thing, replaced with a not-very convincing CG figure during the action sequences. Sharon Stone camps it up as the big bad boss, culminating in a ‘catfight’ between her and Berry at the films’ end. The best line of the film involves Berry ordering a drink in a bar. ‘I’ll have a White Russian - no ice, hold the vodka, hold the Kaluha’, to which the bartender replies, ‘Cream, straight up.’ No really, that was the best line of the movie!

Not the worst movie of 2004, but a camp classic certainly.

TWO OUT OF FIVE