Catwoman is an iconic villainess/anti-hero from the Batman franchise and DC Universe.
Her real name was changed to Patience Phillips for the 2004 live-action adaptation of the same name.
This version was portrayed by Halle Berry.
Why She Should Be Thrown Into The Litterbox
Note: This page will only apply to the 2004 version of Catwoman, since the actual Catwoman is likeable.
- Okay, let's get the cat out of the bag (pun completely unintended), she's completely unfaithful to the source material like various other superheroines, as she looks and acts nothing like her original comic book counterpart in any way. If anything, she feels more like a gender-swapped (and animal-swapped) version of The Crow.
- Her citizen name was changed from Selina Kyle to Patience Phillips for no reason at all. However, this seems like a good thing to prevent accusations of blackwashing.
- She has a weird origin story, as she died and was brought back to life by an alley cat.
- Not to mention all the constant hissing, getting off to catnip, and eating unhealthy amounts of tuna. We get it, she has cat powers, no need to shove it down our throats! Also, why didn't she go to a doctor about that?
- Overall, she feels more like a parody of Catwoman, rather than the real deal.
- Her plastic, fake-looking catsuit looks like it came from Marvel's Judas Traveller's costume designs and other 90s costumes.
- Speaking of her costume, the title character wore plastic-looking black pants being made from black tape. In the comic books of the same name, she didn't wear a bra with chains in the bottom of it.
- She makes a lot of unnecessary cat puns -- and not the funny and smart kind either, like the kind Spider-Man would make-- the annoying and irritating kind.
- The film tries way too hard to make us sympathize with Patience by making her a clumsy nerd wearing brush-sized clothes who makes Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker look normal in comparison.
- Most of her dialogue is laughably terrible as well, like when Laurel says “Game Over" she responds by saying "It's over time” in one scene. What does that even mean?
- Rather than fighting a villain from the comics, she fights a movie-exclusive character who happens to lead a cosmetics company releasing an indestructible makeup that can damage the skin if it's not continually applied. That kind of stuff would be outlawed by the FBI, as Honest Trailers pointed out, meaning Catwoman could literally sit her own movie out and she would still win, hence making her role completely pointless.
- She gets a bizarre, nonsensical basketball scene with way too many cuts to make out what's happening. [Cringe in all its awkwardness here.]
- The scene where she jumping across different buildings is very unrealistic, as you can clearly tell it is entirely in CGI.
- Even Anne Hathaway (who got the title character's next appearance in The Dark Knight Rises better) even hated the title character's previous appearance in this movie as well.
- In the video game, most of her dialogue was provided by Jennifer Hale, who doesn't sound like Halle Berry at all.
Redeeming Qualities
- Halle Berry genuinely seems like she's doing the best she can with her role, nobody can make all this awkwardness work. In fact, she famously accepted her Razzie Award for the film and admitted the movie was bad. That takes serious courage.
- She has rather impressive whip skills.
- She was a much better character in the comics and her next film literation in The Dark Knight Rises thankfully avoided the problems that the 2004 film had done.
- Her rename into Patience Phillips is a good thing to prevent accusations of Blackwashing.
- While silly looking, her outfit is appealing.
Trivia
- Halle Berry is a huge fan of the character and was inspired by Eartha Kitt’s portrayal.
- Berry accepted a Razzie Award in person and made a hilarious speech.
Comments
Loading comments...