Halle Berry's roles in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum and her directorial debut Bruised have given her the chance to show what she can do in an action role, which Catwoman failed to do. The 2004 Catwoman was originally meant to be a spin-off from Michelle Pfeiffer's portrayal in Batman Returns. However, after years of development hell, the Catwoman movie ended up lacking any and all connection to DC anti-heroine beyond her name, and is perhaps the most infamous comic book film ever made. Upon its release, Catwoman bombed spectacularly, and remains a superhero movie punchline to this day.

Berry herself bore the brunt of the film's highly negative reception, and has also commented on wanting to take another shot at Catwoman, on the condition that she'd direct. Berry has also jumped into directing with her new movie Bruised, in which she portrays an ex-MMA champion who gets a shot to return to the fighting game. What's interesting about both the MMA setting of Bruised and Berry's earlier role in John Wick 3 is that both have given Halle Berry a far better chance to take on an action role with a lot of physicality than Catwoman did.

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Though Berry trained in Capoeira for Catwoman, the movie's fight scenes were shredded by choppy editing lacking in any flow or coherence, and also made surreal by the questionable design choices used for the character's suit. Halle Berry could have risen into prominence via Catwoman had the film been received differently - but as it stood, few came away from cinemas aware of how much she'd committed to the role. With John Wick 3 and Bruised, Berry got the chance to become an action star - something that Catwoman and its many complications had ultimately failed to provide.

For John Wick 3, Berry trained extensively at the famed 87 Eleven gym in martial arts and firearms for her role as Sofia, an old friend turned begrudging ally of the legendary assassin John Wick, and it paid off very well in the movie itself. In the Moroccan mansion battle, Sofia is seen as John's genuine equal in both armed and unarmed combat, while the terrible editing of Catwoman's fight scenes was completely absent. As Sofia, Berry all but stole John Wick 3, and when it came time for Bruised, she simply resumed her previous training for her role as Jackie Justice.

As an MMA fan, Berry fully committed herself as both the leading lady and as director on Bruised. Production on the film did have to be temporarily shut down after Berry experienced an injury, but like John Wick 3, Bruised is doing what Catwoman was completely ill-equipped to. Berry trained heavily for all three movies, but Catwoman's horrendous editing, the ridiculous costume (especially compared to Halle Berry's Storm costumes in the X-Men movies), and the all-around bad conception of the film created a scenario where no amount of training and preparation was going to shine through. John Wick 3 and Bruised gave Halle Berry another chance to show what she was capable of in an action movie, both succeeding where Catwoman failed.

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