Athletic Women Blog

Here's some welcome news: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will return for another season. This according to /FILM and Zap2it.

A promo for the second season of American Gladiators. Gina Carano (aka Crush) always looks impressive, perhaps even more so as a giantess:

Once again, we are able to glimpse the emerging power of female muscle. This time it is arm-wrestling: cheerleader vs. football player. Behold as she easily outmuscles him:



The others in the clip seem surprised at the outcome. They needn't be. Seeing a female athlete overpower a male athlete isn't all that rare anymore, and I expect it will soon be so commonplace that no one will think twice about it.

Interview in connection with their photo shoot for ESPN The Magazine's 10th anniversary. (Sorry it's only a link, but the embed option didn't seem to work.)

Doomsday hasn't made much of a splash at the box office, and reviews for the movie have generally been mixed at best (though some, like SciFi.com's, have been unabashedly positive). But people are talking about Rhona Mitra nonetheless.

For example, Cynthia Fuchs, in an interesting review at PopMatters, starts off by saying:

Rhona Mitra’s back. If there’s a single image worth contemplating in Doomsday, it’s her strapping lats and shoulders. Whatever else she did to prepare for her work as Major Eden Sinclair, Mitra and her trainers spent serious time hardening her body.

Then later on:

While Eden draws obvious inspiration from precursors (Linda Hamilton, Kate Beckinsale, Milla Jovovich, even Buffy), she’s also a vaguely new kind of mad girl. Her intimidating back is one indication of the shift she embodies, legible as a sign of her multiple rejections, as well as her resilience and strength. Her morality is practical, her motives conditional.

Jason of icongeek makes this point:

As of late we have seen a lot of female protagonists heading up action movies. Milla Jovovich, Angelina Jolie, Kate Beckinsale, etc… but after seeing Doomsday I’m hoping to see Rhona Mitra leading the way. She was not just the requisite eye candy, but actually gave a sense of real strength to her role. She’s in awesome condition conjuring Linda Hamilton in her Terminator 2 days. When this woman hits some thundering lug, you believe it will hurt. This is in stark contrast to the too lady-like and dainty approach of many other actresses. She’s tough and fit enough to make it believable, yet still remains feminine and sexy even when battered, bruised and dirty.

Which dovetails with what I said after seeing Doomsday.

But perhaps saloprix best captures the lasting impression Mitra makes with her comment at AfterEllen:

i had no idea who she was before i saw this, but my god; i love action films and women kicking ass, and this movie was the best birthday present that i could have given myself.

So what next for Rhona Mitra, our newly crowned queen of action? Actually, I can partly answer that: expect to see her in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, which is set for release some time in 2009. But what then? And is there an iconic role ready-made for her? Based on my perusal of the Internet, I can give three suggestions which are repeated quite often: Catwoman, Lara Croft, and Wonder Woman. I don't have a strong preference here. (Although I'm not a big Catwoman fan, I'm more than willing to give the character a chance with Mitra at the helm.) I just want to see her in something worthy of her talent, preferably soon.

I am, however, curious to know what you think; hence, I'm trying something new for this blog: a poll. You should see it over on the left, so please take the time to vote. And if you pick "Other" be sure to post a comment and let us know what role, if any, you have in mind.