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7/26/12

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Thoughts on Hathaway's Catwoman

Careful, there may be minor spoilers ahead...

Probably the most comic-booky thing about The Dark Knight Rises was Anne Hathaway's portrayal of Selina Kyle (and her unnamed cat burgler alter ego known to all of us as Catwoman.)

Don't get me wrong; by 'comic-booky' I don't mean 'corny; or 'campy' or anything like that. I just mean that Hathaway's Selina Kyle/Catwoman scenes play like a true comic book movie, something that, it could be argued, Nolan's Batman movies are not.

Sans Catwoman, TDKR would have been a two hour and forty five minute uber-thriller with Batman in it for...oh about fifteen minutes.

Hathaway plays Selina and Catwoman better than anyone on screen has done to date. Sorry Julie and Eartha and Lee and Michelle; while your Catwomen were perfect (or, dare I say it...purrrfect) for their respective times, Nolan's universe demanded someone up the ante.

Hathaway does so in spades. (HAHA get it? Spade - spayed - Cat - HAHAHA!)

And unlike me, there are no ridiculous Cat puns with this Catwoman. There is however some serious butt whoopin skills, a sexy 'realistic' costume (except maybe those stilletto heels, but whadayagonnado?) and criminal motivation and skills straight out of the better Catwoman comic books of the past thirty or so years.

The 'team up' scenes with Batman and Catwoman were the most fun parts of TDKR, a film with little room for any kind of fun in it's bleak apocalyptic take on Gotham's darkest hour.

I was totally engrossed in the overarching story when I viewed TDKR for the first time; I look forward to viewing it again and soaking in the nuances, including paying more attention to Selina's scenes.

2 comments:

  1. I loved an Anne as Catwoman. She still has me thinking of how awesome her portrayal was over a week later. Some may think I am crazy, but I have to put her up there with Heath Ledger as the Joker. There was just something about her.

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