I think this might be why, other problems in the film aside, Catwoman in Batman Returns actually worked so well - she wasn't there to be saved and she wasn't there to be defeated. She pretty much just wanted to do her own thing and it just kind of sucked that Batman happened to be in the way as her beef wasn't actually with him. It also makes her rejection of Bruce's offer at the end that much more significant - it's not that she doesn't like him, it's that she doesn't *need* him and it makes her presence in the film that much stronger.
Compare to Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins and you've got a pitch perfect example of what so often goes wrong with women in superhero movies - the role as written is thin on the ground to start out and then you've cast an actress who simple doesn't the sheer force of personality to pull it off, especially sharing the screen with people like Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman. It ends up making her a non-presence.
Though, hmm, come to think of it why *didn't* they go with Talia in that film instead of Ducard? Her presence would have made just as much sense and her function could have easily been the same. Though that leads into a whole other mess of arguments, namely why is it a woman can be the major arch nemesis of another woman but never of a man? And that seems to be true both in comics and their films. So, something else to muddle over.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-07-27 06:42 pm (UTC)Compare to Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins and you've got a pitch perfect example of what so often goes wrong with women in superhero movies - the role as written is thin on the ground to start out and then you've cast an actress who simple doesn't the sheer force of personality to pull it off, especially sharing the screen with people like Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman. It ends up making her a non-presence.
Though, hmm, come to think of it why *didn't* they go with Talia in that film instead of Ducard? Her presence would have made just as much sense and her function could have easily been the same. Though that leads into a whole other mess of arguments, namely why is it a woman can be the major arch nemesis of another woman but never of a man? And that seems to be true both in comics and their films. So, something else to muddle over.