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Catwoman is an intriguing character. In a world full of thugs and brutes driven by greed andchaos here is a woman who is both elegant and in a sense still very innocent. She may be seen as

a girl caught up in a game for men but that would not do justice to the fact she is always one step

ahead of the pack and one of those in the pack is Batman. Like all characters lurking aroundGotham City Catwoman has a special bond with Batman, an intertwined history that helps define

each of their characters. But the relationship is especially unique simply because we are never

quite sure if she is good or bad; should our hero trust her or not? Sometimes you wonder if sheeven knows herself.

Selina Kyle came from a poor background and never lived an easy life. To help escape from the

sinking weight of poverty she took to a life of crime, developing herself into an accomplishedthief. There is no doubting her skills, she is both sexy and dangerous and above all very

intelligent. Throughout Christopher Nolans The Dark Knight Rises she gives throw away lines

about the art of thievery like they are common knowledge Never steal from someone you

cant outrun She exudes confidence and kicks ass to boot. And just when it looks like she isdone you can be sure Batman will turn up to save the day.

The relationship between Batman and Catwoman in any Gotham tale is always interesting but in

Rises it is pivotal. We first see the shadow of Bruce Wayne lurking in the upper floors of Wayne

Enterprises. He is a crooked and ragged figure, a man who has given up. But as Catwoman entershis quarters we see he is not such a lost cause. He flirts with her, playing along with her game,

but as soon as Bruce reveals his hand calling her a thief Catwoman kicks out his walking

stick and disappears out the window. Bruce stares at the open window with half a smile. Finally

there is something in the outside world that could wake Batman from his slumber.

The flirtatious nature of Catwomans relationship with Bruce Wayne is only half the story. Theother half is told on the streets of Gotham, where her fate seems intricately tied to Batmans.They never quite fight the same war but they always end up fighting the same battles. As viewers

we are toyed with as Batman betrays too much trust to Catwoman. We are left like the cautious

mother watching on as her precious boy too eagerly gives his heart to the untrustworthy girl. Shemay be kind-hearted deep down it is Batmans wont to believe everyone is but her prime

motivation is self-preservation and if turning Batman in is going to help her survive then she

would do it. Even if it meant handing him over to Bane himself.

Beyond her sexy suits and ass-kicking moves it is Catwomans ability to act and adapt to any

scene that is most notable. She can play innocent; she can play seductive; and she play bad ass.And if all else fails she can come full circle and play innocent again. There are very few times

you actually see her thick exterior crack and show some real emotion. It takes a false promise of

a Clean Slate and the unwise decision to turn Batman over to Bane in the sewers to see her realemotion. She realises she has screwed up again; like a gambler going in too deep, there is no

one last heist that she can pull off and everything will be OK. Gotham is taken over by Bane

and there is no Dark Knight left to protect the City.

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IT is easy to categorise Catwoman as an icon of seduction but she is far from a one-dimensional

character. She is naive and brave and her true allegiance is a constant source of intrigue. In The

Dark Knight Rises she fights with Batman and dances with Bruce Wayne, but it is not until sherealises the two are one in the same that we see her given a true conflict. Batman is no longer the

idealist in a costume and Wayne is no longer the playboy heir of a fortune chasing his own dick.

She has so much to fear within Gotham and so little left to salvage but Batman still trusts her even after she betrayed him and left him begging for death he still trusts her. Once more we see

her steely exterior and tough girl act give way to real emotion. Nolan gives her the choice: Fight

or Flight?

The running theme in Nolans trilogy is the sacrifice of Bruce Wayne. At the end of each film

Batman finds himself deeper, forcing himself to sacrifice more his lifestyle, his body, hisreputation, his symbol all given to the people of Gotham for the greater good, and in return he

is broken and hated. At the end of Rises it looks like he will be forced to make the ultimate

sacrifice, but after such an epic trilogy is it too much to ask for a happy ending? Has he not

earned it? In the closing scene we see Bruce Wayne with Selina Kyle, sharing a moment at acafe. She came back for him; he saved the day. He could have given his life and would have

only months before but she gave him reason to live, that pretty cat burglar whose final act ofthievery was to steal his heart.

Christopher Nolan couldnt have done any better for his reintroduction to a much lovedcharacter: the minute she is caught stealing from Bruce Waynes (Christian Bale) safe (Oops.

No-one told me it was uncrackable!) you knew that she was going to be a lot of fun. More

importantly, you knew that Nolan and his brother Jonathan had nailed the character perfectly.

Catwoman is one of the most famous comic book women ever, and she already had two

successful portrayals before one in the 1960s TV show (Julia Newmar) and in the 1992 Tim

Burton film, Batman Returns. When Anne Hathaways casting was announced, the general beliefwas the character and the actor would fall short.

Both Hathaway and Nolan exceeded all expectations including my own, and as Ive mentionedbefore, Nolan is something of a hero of mine so I wasnt going into this film expecting the worst

by any means.

This Catwoman is high-tech thief who desperately wants to put her life of crime behind her, thelife of crime she fell into as a way to survive. Her means of escaping is by way of a programme

that will allow her to erase all traces of herself from every database including her criminal

records. Businessman John Daggett (Ben Mendelsohn) offers to give it to her if she will liftBruce Waynes fingerprints for him, but when she brings them to an arranged meeting with

Daggerts underling Stryver (Burn Gorman), Stryver attempts to kill her instead.

This scene is a wonderful example of how cunning Selina is. She comes armed with a back-up

plan in case of such an eventuality and manages to take down Stryvers hired muscle and escape.

During said escape she feigns being a damsel in distress, screaming in fright when the police

enter and then quietly slipping away while they are distracted. Its also a wonderful example of

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Selina playing up to sexist stereotypes of women, which she frequently subverts throughout the

film. Its also one of many examples which show her to be any mans equal, outsmarting the

smarmy Stryver, who clearly looks down on her purely because she is a woman.

She later appears at Daggetts house to confront him, resplendent in her infamous costume. In

keeping with the grounded reality of Nolans series, her outfit is a bit more practical than theones that have come before. Even her high heels have a purpose they are razor-tipped and very

useful in a fight. Flat combats wouldve been the better option, but the heels are the subject of

one of Selinas best comebacks, so Im willing to let that pass. The outfit is not meant toobjectify her, which is a refreshing change.

One of the most interesting aspects of Selinas character in the comic book canon is her moral

ambiguity, and The Dark Knight Rises is the first time this has ever really been looked at onfilm. For all her apparent relishing of violence, she remains a woman trapped by whatever dire

circumstances forced into a life of crime in the first place, and she is desperate for a way out for

herself and her friend/accomplice, Jen (Juno Temple).

After Daggett refuses to hand over the Rykin programme, Catwoman leads Batman to Bane

(Tom Hardy) in exchange for it, an act she bitterly regrets. While she may be self-interested, sheis not heartless, and this constantly emphasised through the film. In one particularly amusing

scene, she saves a young boy from being attacked by two men for stealing an apple. After

rescuing him, she takes a bite from the apple and tosses it back to him, a great example of bothher sense of humour and her ability to show kindness to others.

It is perhaps this aspect of her character that gives Batman reason to trust her despite her earlier

act of betrayal. Like us, he his fascinated by her contradictions as well as finding her a lot of fun,something which the Nolan series has often been accused of lacking.

All of these aspects of Selinas character are wonderfully brought to life by Anne Hathaway. Iveexpressed my admiration for her before but she really exceeded my expectations in this film

she is absolutely pitch-perfect from beginning to end. Nolan has hinted that he might like to

make a prequel focusing solely upon Selina and I, for one, would really love to see that!

Now, honestly, I'm stating this now before you all jump to conclusions, that no, I'm not going to

give this character a standing ovation just because she's my favourite character. If anything, I've

got more reason to critique her because of that than anyone else.

Prior to seeing this film, I remember the comments people made about Anne Hathaway. "She's

not sexy enough to pull it off", and "She's too much of a goody girl for this kinda role" were linesI heard frequently. However I've always been of the belief that Anne would be perfect for the

role. I knew from the moment she was cast that she would accurately portray Selina Kyle as she

is within the DC unniverse: a cunning, manipulative, and highly professional thief who hasbrains to burn, balls of steel, can fight like the devil and happily plays on her femininity and

good looks to get the better of the men around her. What people don't realise is that Michelle

Pfeiffers version of Catwoman was and still is, a creative liberty taken by the director and the

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actress for that movie. Pfeiffer's Catwoman was never anything like the comic book version bar

the sassy one liners and the whip and claws, despite how legendary her portayal was.

Needless to say, I hate to say I told you so. Hathaway was everything I knew she would be, and

nothing more. Which isn't a bad thing, don't get me wrong. I've wanted to see Catwoman as

Catwoman on the big screen for years, and by that I mean I actually wanted to see the smart andresourceful thief on the big screen as opposed to a hot woman in a skintight suit licking milk

from a bowl. Hathaway's performance was the best performance of the cast (second only to

Michael Caine, who was impecable as Alfred) solely because she actually got the character right.She plays on the fact she's "a woman" to the men around her which helps her escape two

different crime scenes by being both "Damsel in Distress" and "Seductress", effectively

manipulating the men around her by playing up to pre-concieved societal gender stereotypes

before calmly leaving the scene of the crime with a smirk on her face and her hands clean.

Her fight scenes are gritty, flashy and incredibly impressive for "good girl" Hathaway, yet the

only complaint I had was they were far too quick: blink and you'd miss her killing two men and

knocking the third one out. She's tough, smart, independant, and just like the comic bookversion, she struggles with her morality and conscience. Her costume was very impressive too,

as the "ears" on her head are actually her night vision goggles folded up (the corners look like catears when they're resting on her head). Her high heeled boots are actually serated blades, which

she uses without hesitation to stomp and kick her opponents into catfood. Whilst she's certainly

not a nice lady and is incredibly self-centered, she's got an independant streak, a braveness, and asharp mind that I think little girls should be proud to look up to and little boys should be

incredibly impressed by. The only critique I do have about her is that unlike Pfeiffer, Hathaway

hasn't managed to master that "dangerous/sexy" vibe that Catwoman has in her comic book

portrayals, nor does her chemistry with Batman feel very authentic of passionate. He seems moreamused by her than anything else, and it's not really believable that there is any genuine sexual

chemistry between them, which has always been a huge asset to both of their characters and the

way they behave with each other in the comics. She's certainly one of Nolan's better characters inthe trilogy, but solely because it's a faithful portrayal of who Catwoman really is. Considering

how effective Hathaway was as Selina, my only complaint was that there wasn't enough screen

time for her. She filled her role in the 3 hours well, but I'd always welcome seeing more of her.