Catwoman is one of the all time great super hero roles - the leather, the alter ego, the urst with Batman. Her appeal had already been thoroughly road tested on the small screen and in Batman Returns. How did this go wrong?
Because it is a bad film.
It's not misunderstood, they didn't try a brave new direction - it's just bad.
For starters, Halle Berry is simply miscast. A talented actor, who has a very likeable screen presence and is stunning looking, she seems out of place. Too nice or something. Sharon Stone, who is very good as the villain, would've been ideal - ditto others considered (Ashley Judd, Nicole Kidman) or others who did it (Michelle Pfeiffer).
It doesn't help that when she's meant to be the ugly duckling she's still very attractive, just has messy hair and baggy jumpers - and she is story wise too because she can attract Benjamin Bratt.
Maybe she could have worked with a stronger script. Things get off to a bad start with narration that pretty much spells out everything we seen on screen, then is dropped (was this added after test screenings?) but it's not too horrible... until the transformation into Catwoman.
The script is fully of silly bits - she's attracted to catnip, wants jewellery, is good at basketball, jumps around. Her leather outfit is explained because it's a gift from her friends. She orders cream at a night club. Then she does a dance with a whip. Eats a lot of tuna. Urgh! It's awful.
The reason she's transformed into a cat woman feels dumb - she's licked by a cat who's a messenger for an Egyptian God. (It's the sort of thing that isn't worth doing because it raises too many questions eg are their other people who do this? Why her? Is the crazy old lady blessed as well?) Why'd they give her superpowers - isn't the point of Catwoman that she doesn't have them? Why not use the source material?
The villain plot is dumb too. Sharon Stone's developing a cream that you have to keep using or it'll hurt you... Isn't that easily combatted by going to the authorities or the newspaper? Why isn't Catwoman a thief here? Still they should've had more story instead of crappy scenes of Catwoman being cat-ty. Why doesn't Catwoman know Stone is in on the plan? How did Stone learn to fight so well she can match someone with special powers?
Bad acting by the guy who plays Stone's husband. Standard Benjamin Bratt performance as the male love interest.
It lives down to the hype.
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