Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12025 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-01-17
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, German
• Dubbed in: German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Synopsis
Patience Philips is a shy, reserved young woman who wants to be an artist but instead is a designer for an advertising company. She is mousy and lacking in self-esteem even when she gets her big break to work on the launch of a major beauty product for her mean-spirited, ruthless boss. But a series of events initiated by a mysterious cat results in her discovering a terrifying secret that leads to her murder. That same cat breathes new life into her, creating a strong, brave woman within her that wrestles with her previous self for control of her mind and body--a body that can now do amazing things. Academy Award winner Halle Berry is captivating as Patience, a female superhero for the 21st century. She is fearless as she seeks revenge on the people who killed her, and she attempts to save the public from the release of a dangerous product. As the Catwoman side of her battles George Hedare (Lambert Wilson) and his wife, Laurel (Sharon Stone), who he has decided is now too old to be the face of his company, the Patience side of her gets involved with hot cop Tom Lone (Benjamin Bratt), who is caught in the middle of her two-sided personality. First-time director Pitof keeps things moving at a fast pace, with quick cuts, sweeping camerawork, and pounding music. Alex Borstein provides comic relief as Patience's best friend, and SIX FEET UNDER's Frances Conroy plays a cat lady who knows the secret history of felines through the ages.

Customer Reviews

"You are a cat woman, Accept it, child."
Halle Berry was given the Golden Razzi Award for worst actress of the year for this film. I think she's being unjustifiably picked on, as neither her or the film is really that bad. Maybe the critics got stuck into her because they felt that such an esteemed, talented actress, who has reached A-list Oscar stardom shouldn't be demeaning herself by playing a kiddy-friendly superhero. After all, you certainly wouldn't see the multi-talented Nicole Kidman doing this kind of role. But this doesn't belay the fact, that Halle is great as Catwoman - her kick-butt style, and her vampish sexiness lends it self ideally to the role as she slinks, struts, meows and purrs her way through the film.

Tracing the modern day Catwoman persona back to Ancient Egypt, the film starts out with an almost mythical subtext, as a mysterious, and very old cat called Midnight arrives in a city that which looks strangely like Toronto. At the same time we meet Patience Phillips (Berry), a ruffled, introverted, and shy graphic designer, who designs advertisements for a big cosmetics company run by the reptilian George Hedare (Lambert Wilson), and his frosty, but beautiful wife, Laurel (Sharon Stone). During the course of her day Patience tries to rescue Midnight from a ledge above her apartment and is saved from falling from a high window by Tom Lone (Benjamin Bratt), a kindhearted and studly cop.

One night, while dropping off a portfolio of material at the company's headquarters, Patience overhears some deadly corporate secrets involving some face cream that is deadly poisonous. The security officers' corner and murder her, but she is bought back to life by Midnight who performs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her waterlogged body and thus endows her with super-human feline powers. Soon Patience starts to manifest cat-like characteristics: she begins to sleep on high shelves, leaps up on to railings, hisses at dogs as she walks down the street, and even eats cat food straight out of the can!

The film gets steadily campier and more over-the-top, as Patience - now part "Catwoman" begins to enjoy her newfound strength, power, and freedom. She goes to an eccentric zany cat lady (Frances Conroy) who explains to Patience that she has become a cat woman and that cat women were servants of the Egyptian goddess Bast. They date back to ancient times and reappear throughout history. Together with this knowledge, Patience equips herself with whips, diamond-studded claws, and sexy leather lingerie, and vows to take revenge on those who have "murdered" her.

Director Pitof has a real flare for the visual and he infuses the movie with lots of moody, over drenched colors, which are generally quite effective in adding a kind of overstated glamour to the proceedings. And the twisty camera moves and stroboscopic editing, does have a certain dissolute flair, which lends itself quite well to the cartoonish, almost music video atmosphere. Everything looks fake, sleek and model-like, and not at all realistic.

Thematically, there isn't much going on here. Although there are some limited attempts to instill some issues surrounding the value of feminine independence, and the emptiness of manufactured and artificial beauty. The script is frequently terrible, consisting mostly of lots of silly one-liners, like "cat got your tongue." The acting is passable, with Halle much more comfortable as the charming, self-assured Catwoman than she is as the crumbling, diffident Patience. But it is Sharon Stone who almost steals the show, playing it all for camp exactitude, and showing us that there is a still lot of acting life left in the old girl yet. Mike Leonard March 05.

Whats wrong with it ? Its absolutely amazing!
Whats wrong with this film- absolutely nothing. Its a great film undermimed by all the absolutely tragic reviews it got whe it graced the very few cinema screens back in summer 2004.
I was so looking forward to seeing this film- seeing as i love female empowerment movies (like elektra and the superb tv show buffy) and super-hero movies. But after reading all the slating movie reviews- i was set back until the dvd release. I rented it leaving my doubts behind me. During the film- i realised that this could actually turn out to be alright. After the 1hr40min's- i was left absolutely amazed. Amazed in two ways- 1 that it was a fantastic movie, and 2- why did it get some of the worst reviews in 2004.
The acting was fantastic(especially from Halle Berry as catwoman herself- and Sharon Stone as the pure evil baddie)- the special effects were mesmerising,the fight scenes were exhilerating, the story was interesting and the whole experience pushed me to go out and purchase the dvd the next day.
The only things that couldve been tweeked with - are the special features arent to good on the disc- considering what the fims is- i was expecting so much more (but what was there was still great) and also i wasnt to impressed with catwomans catsuit, but they dont ruin the movie at all.
It's just a superb movie, which reputation has been ruined by boring movie critics who dont know a stunning movie when they see one. I advise you buy this movie without hesitation- you will not regret it by a long shot. purrrrrrrrfect entertainment from start to finish.

Great film - don't know why it had bad press!
I only didn't buy this film originally because of the bad reviews etc.. but what a fool I was. This certainly isn't the best super hero film out there, but it's up there with my favourites. Halle Berry is fantastic as the dual-natured catwoman and the story is as deep as you'd want in a super hero flick. People have slated the CGI, but I couldn't see any problems, the transition from Halle to CGI is as smooth, in my opinion, as Neo's was in the last 2 matrix films.

If you like super hero films, you'll lap this up! Buy it now!!