Saturday Night Premiere: Catwoman

Saturday, October 29, 2005

After a couple of weeks of doing my weekly movie review a bit differently, the Saturday Night Premiere is back, and this week's installment comes to us from HBO. Tonight they premiered Catwoman starring Halle Berry in the title role and co-starring Sharon Stone and Benjamin Bratt. Now I might be just a bit spoiled on past telling's of this story of a nondescript woman that dies and comes back to life with a part of her turned feline. I was actually a bit skeptical about watching this version.

Catwoman to me reminds me of Michelle Pfeiffer from the Batman movie in which Catwoman was featured. I didn't know if I could fit Halle Berry into that role. Don't get me wrong now. Halle Berry is a wonderful actress, and I've enjoyed her work in the past. Catwoman is just a specific type role, and when I see Halle Berry I think of a femme fatale, and not a mousy nondescript woman. My worry was based on her playing the early role and not Catwoman itself.

Well, my worries were unfounded with this movie. Halle Berry did a good job at bringing both Patience and Catwoman to life on the screen. This adaptation of the Catwoman story follows an advertising artist that discovers a secret about one of the products being developed by the company she works for. Their are some disastrous results to the users of the product with continued use, and the owners of the company are ready to hide the secret effects and push the product onto the market at any cost. Even killing a young woman that hears just a bit too much. The woman turning out to be Patience.

As Catwoman, she finds out what is happening behind the scenes at the company she once worked for, and in the process gets set up as the one behind a rash of killings that start to occur. All the while, Patience is falling for a man that is a cop and working on the Catwoman case. After some detective work, the man figures out the woman he is seeing is Catwoman and arrests her. She implores him to trust her and innocence, and he begins to once he meets the wife of the owner of the company. In the process, a battle ensues between Catwoman and the other woman, and in the end she dies. The company is no more, and the product isn't released. In the end, Catwoman leaves it all behind.

Now this wasn't a top grade A movie, but I did find it entertaining. I found myself laughing at points, and the stunts in the movie were also well done. Catwoman is no hero, but she isn't evil. If you're looking for a way to kill a couple of hours rent this on DVD or check it out on cable. I'm sure it'll be on again and again.

My Rating: 3 out 4

This movie available at: Amazon and j & R