10.23.2011

BAMF Of The Week: Michelle Rodriguez

MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ
"Bitch isn't standing now."

Michelle Rodriguez is the prime example of typecasting done right. Can she play the weepy love interest, the damsel in distress, the quirky romcom pixie girl? Maybe she can, but if she doesn't have a gun in her hand, frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. The thing is, we don't have enough actresses who will play the "masculine roles" just as good as the guys (and occasionally even better). Most actresses these days play eye candy or a guy's version of a kickass woman (also known as...useless eye candy). Rodriguez, however, manages to be easy on the eyes and knocks the guys on their asses every time. She's somehow managed to make it through Hollywood as a attractive woman without getting defined by how good looking she is. For that alone, my hat is off to her. She's short, she's hot as hell, and she can tear you apart with her bare hands. Tiny woman haven't been so badass since Leia Organa. I would say more about her, but I'm starting to salivate. Next question. 

Best films: She served up tacos with a side of justice in Machete (2010), she played one of the saving graces in Avatar (2009), kicked ass with the dudes in Resident Evil (2002), and finally revved up some hell in The Fast and the Furious (2001). Lastly, I haven't seen Battle LA (2011), so I've got nothing to say about that one. 

Worst films: Blue Crush (2002). Enough said. She also played one of the most irritating characters in Lost (2005-10), so while the show was great for her to be on, the writers just...can't write women for the life of them.

Best moments: Honestly, it's very hard to beat this.

Best quote: "Well, could you really imagine me playing the girlfriend that needs rescuing? Or the girlfriend?"

Upcoming films: Apart for a couple sequels, she's lined up to be alongside Al Pacino in Hands of Stone (2012), a boxing movie (yay, typecasting), and for a movie called Underground Comedy (2011). I'd look forward to seeing her in a comedy, except Rob Schneider's in it and his presence hasn't boded well for the last ten movies he's been in. 

26 comments:

  1. This is true. She really is very tough, but believably so. I quite liked her in Avatar.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! I definitely approved of her in Avatar, she was one of the best parts of the whole movie.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michelle is my girl!! She rocked Machete and Avatar. In Battle Los Angeles she plays a hard ass soldier who helps rescue her commanding officer. And she was pure cool in The Fast and The Furious, the way she tamed Vin Diesel and smoked that driver at the desert race. I cannot get enough of her and think she should be held up as an icon of badassitry for girls to aspire to.

    Did you see her boxing movie Girlfight? I really dug her in that role. She kicked ass and had attitude to spare.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wanted to see Battle: LA literally just for her character, because she looked like a badass. But I was told by multiple people that it sucked money balls so...rental it is! But I agree with you wholeheartedly, she makes an excellent icon of badassitry for all of us in the female race.

    I haven't seen Girlfight! Which is ridiculous because that's how she got her spotlight. And...it's fucking called Girlfight. I've gotta get on that one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. LOVE HER! I just watched GIRLFIGHT a couple weeks ago and it is really really good, she's amazing in it! I'm pretty enamored with her as well and I hope she can get more awesome starring roles since she seems to be more of a supporting player most of the time.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great pick! I don't think she knows how to be not kick ass. THe Machete picture says it all!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I are she's kickass, but I want to see more variety from her so I can rate her as an actress, not just a bamf. That said i still haven't seen avatar or girlfight or machete (I know, I know).

    As for Lost my best guess (aside from the writers are mostly/all guys) is that they don't know how to balance using women as plot devices and maintain them as characters since they focus on the guys above all. They need "someone" for Hurley, so they bring in Libby, then don't pay her role off. They need Jack/Locke to be the leader, so Kate takes a back seat. They need to up the angst, so Sun sells out Jin to her evil father to pay off a woman, then acts like a normal woman who can't handle her man's changes.

    For anna-lucia, Rodriguez probably got herself booted off because she apparently gets drunk in public a lot, and then got a lot of DUI's. How they didn't ruin Juliet and Penny, I'll never know.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I really like Michelle Rodriguez, she is a total bad ass, but I don't think I have seen her in a film that I have actually thoroughly enjoyed, though I did like Avatar more than most did.

    I really wanna see Machete, though!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Michelle Rodriguez strikes me as a woman for whom a bit of roughness is absolutely essential to the act of sex. She'd either overpower me and slap the shit out of me, or she'd love it as I did the same to her. This excites me to no end.

    Now, all she has to do is get herself cast in a great film and I can rhapsodize about her on my blog...

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am ridiculously late in getting back to comments. BUT!

    @ Alex--Whaa, I really have to see Girlfight! It's the one that put her on the map and it's the one I haven't seen. And I agree, I definitely would love to see her in more leading roles, though she does nail the secondary character role beautifully, and you always end up loving them more than the leading men/women anyway (or at least, I do).

    @ Brent--Thanks! I agree, the woman just breaths kickassitry.

    @ Thaddeus--I can see that. I'll definitely be surprised the day she pulls off the bubbly girlfriend role. But, hey, if she gets typecasted her whole life, I'm really not complaining, not when she does it so well.

    And as for Lost, that definitely makes sense. All in all, it was a male driven show and the women were mainly thrown in as plot devices. Kate wore the guise of leading lady, but she just didn't...lead all that often. Ah well. Better woman characters and a couple dinosaurs, and I wouldn't been completely happy.

    ReplyDelete
  11. @ Cherokee--She definitely does mostly B-list type action movies, so if that's not your thing, she won't be your favorite. But I always reccommend Machete, it's worth it for kicks if nothing else.

    @ Scott--Ahaha! Michelle the switch? Yeah, I can definitely see that. Not like I...fantasize about those sort of things. With Michelle. And her weapon of choice. Ahem. Never need an excuse to rhapsodize about a badass beautiful lady is all I'm saying.

    ReplyDelete

Every time you leave a comment, Chuck Norris sneezes and creates a new solar system.