Catwoman and Bourne Supremacy

[Mercule]

I agree, Berry just hasn't ever impressed me.

Agreed. Shoot -- I don't even think she's particularly attractive. I really think she's one of the most over-rated women in Hollywood right now.

 

[WayneLigon]

I went to see Catwoman this weekend despite having said I would not come within ten feet of the thing. I had a free ticket from the Batman Animated DVD set, as did a friend, and he wanted to go, I go I did.

It wasn't a steaming pile of poo, mainly because it has not one single thing to do with the comics Catwoman. Not seeing a comics legend dragged through the mud was a plus. No references to Gotham, the Bat, no Selina Kyle, nothing. Much like a Bond film, the only resemblence to the literary work is the name and the weapon. Of course this probably means we won;t get to see a movie about the real Catwoman anytime soon. This would have been a better film if there had been some way to completely divorce it from the Batman mythos and just make a film about a woman with cat-based super powers.

No movie is totally terrible. Some good things: (1) I liked the first part a great deal: I liked Berry as the ditzy artist. She was cute and beleivable. Her insane co-workers were cool, too. (2) I like the way and means she gets her powers, and what it means in the larger context. Like so many things, it's a very good idea very poorly executed. The origin hangs together. It's good. I'll rip it off for a superhero game in a second. I like the claws on the costume. Heck, the costume itself is not that bad.

Then we get to the bad parts which is, well, everything else.

Spoiler

The villain is mildly interesting up until the point where she pulls super powers out off her butt at the last minute.

That's pretty much the bad part and what brings down the entire film: the villain, or lack of one. I can see where they were going with the entire thing: image change, image not being what it is under the surface, how things look the same but are different on the inside.. I get all that, but it's done so cumsily and pooly that it's just.. bad.

Berry herself becomes much much less interesting when she adopts the Catwoman persona and discards the funny woman who is finding out what happened to her and what is happening still. Again the idea is a good one, just pooly executed.

Spoiler

And I like the crazy cat lady.

 

[Endur]

DC/Warner could have had a mega-hit, had they written Catwoman as a spin-off from the Batman series of movies. Have Batman/Bruce Wayne in a cameo. Use the traditional Catwoman costume, Selina Kyle, etc. The Catwoman Year One mini-series would have been a perfect movie script. I think Sharon Stone would have made a better Selina Kyle than HB.

Or they could have written the movie as a pre-quel to the Birds of Prey series they ran on WB. And focused on the Batman/Catwoman marriage, baby, etc.

Instead, they have this movie, that will be one of the most dismal comic book movies of the year.

And with one of their best properties.

Sheesh.

I refuse to see it in the theatres. I'll watch it on DVD.

 

[Hand of Evil]

My take on Catwoman - Crow movie

 

[Klaus]

Catwoman would just be a BAD movie if they changed the movie's/heroine's name to Vixen (an obscure African-american female DC heroine that was a member of the JLA during its Detroit bunker days).

Why make a Catwoman movie if you don't plan on using ANYTHING from the Catwoman mythos is beyond me...

 

[TracerBullet42]

I have to ask...

In Catwoman, does Sharon Stone really utter the words, "Now I can kill you," to Catwoman? I mean...just listen to that. That's garabage...

I thought I heard that in a commercial, and I'm just wondering if I've gone crazy or is that actual dialogue in a major motion picture...

 

[WayneLigon]

In Catwoman, does Sharon Stone really utter the words, "Now I can kill you," to Catwoman? I mean...just listen to that. That's garabage...

If not those exact words, she says something very similar to it. OK, spoilers...

Spoiler

Apparently they needed a huge knock-down drag-out fight between Halley and Sharon Stone. Now, considering that Berry is Catwoman with cat-reflexes, speed, and diamond claws how can Sharon Stone, the aging once-supermodel, ever hope to fight her?

Simple. Beauty Cream.

Yes, you heard that right.

The beauty cream that Stone's character has created does in fact erase wrinkles and lines. It's also addictive as cocaine and as if that was not enough, if you stop using it your skin degenerates into zombie-like consistancy. It's a very long-term effect that got past the FDA. However at the last minute they pull out another facet of the cream.

If you keep using it, it gives you super powers.

Yes, you heard that right.

It makes your skin 'like living marble'. And Stone's character apparently uses her own product almost all over. So then you can have Stone and Catwoman have a fight, because Catwoman can go all whup-ass on Stone and not kill her in less than a second.

 

[mmu1]

Saw Bourne today, thought it was very well done. The car chase is indeed one of the best ever put on film. But one thing that got to me was the uncomfortable level of "realistic" violence in two scenes.

They were:

Spoiler

When Jason strangles the guy on the floor

and when he

Spoiler

interrogates Julia Stiles' character. Particularly the latter scene. I felt a bit disturbed watching the guy I was supposed to be rooting for holding a gun to a basically innocent girl's head as she sobs in terror. Kudos to Stiles for so expertly selling the scene, but in a movie where Bourne is the good guy and takes pains not to kill either Agamemnon or Eomer because his old girlfriend wouldn't approve, his terror tactics against Stiles felt all the more out of place.

Otherwise it was a very good spy thriller, and had me smiling in approval a number of times at just how entertaining the cat and mouse build up was done.

Innocent girl? We're talking about someone who was deeply involved in running a black ops squad. She helped to coordinate assasinations. Just because she's young, cute and female doesn't mean she's innocent.

 

[BadMojo]

They also remind us of what he was trained to do, and what psychological toll that training took on him. All of which leads to my impression that this movie was just a bit darker than your standard lightweight summer popcorn fare. Which, I believe, was well hinted at in the trailers, with him training a sniper rifle on a roomful of CIA staff.

I also liked the darker tone of these films. The audience shouldn't forget that Bourne killed people for a living. Without going in to spoilers, just stop and think about his "training mission". He didn't ditch the mission, he changed the plan (to kinda quote the film).

The whole "pyschological toll" think was definitely big in this film. The Treadstone guys just aren't right...prone to depression, impulsive acts, etc. IMO, Bourne was under even more emotional stress in this film than in the first movie.

I liked how raw and brutal the fight scenes were, and the camera work really didn't bother me. The theater *did* have the volume cranked up to 11 though...oops there goes a bit more of my hearing range.

 

[Dimwhit]

Innocent girl? We're talking about someone who was deeply involved in running a black ops squad. She helped to coordinate assasinations. Just because she's young, cute and female doesn't mean she's innocent.

Yup, that's exactly what I was thinking. I liked that scene.