Sergeant Rita Vrataski, Edge of Tomorrow and Girl Power … [spoilers]
Cast: Emily Blunt, Tom Cruise
Blurb: Edge of Tomorrow is a 2014 American science fiction action film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Doug Liman directed the film based on a screenplay adapted from the 2004 Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The film takes place in a future where Earth is invaded by an alien race. Major William Cage (Cruise), a public relations officer inexperienced in combat, is forced by his superiors to join a landing operation against the aliens. Though Cage is killed in combat, he finds himself in a time loop that sends him back to the day preceding the battle every time he dies. Cage teams up with Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt) to improve his fighting skills through the repeated days, seeking a way to defeat the extraterrestrial invaders.
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I have a new love. Sergeant Rita Vrataski from Edge of Tomorrow. Also known as the "Angel of Verdun" and "Full Metal Bitch", she is actually a real hero in every sense of the world.
I almost didn't watch Edge of Tomorrow, I dislike Tom Cruise so much. He's kind of an attention-sucking force in which he becomes the centre of the whole movie's universe … but it's so different in Edge of Tomorrow.
First of all, I loved the concept of Edge of Tomorrow - a sci fi, Groundhog Day with wonderful acting and imagery. We also have a genuine, strong female character who is truly kickass.
It's a bit sad though, that my two favourite female characters in recent movies are Rita Vrataski and Mako Mori, two characters who basically come out of/are inspired by Japanese manga i.e. they are not the product of Hollywood. Why can't Hollywood give us this sort of character? I'm guessing by the surname that Vrataski is supposed to have Polish roots - what is it about Poland that it produces such tough and kickass chicks? :) I think Abby Kowalski from Against the Wall is also of Polish origin.
As to my Tom Cruise dislike, watching Tom Cruise die over and over again is kind of therapeutic and the bit where he gets run over by a truck is pretty awesome. Rita kills him quite a few times ..
Rita herself is not entirely likeable when she first enters the battlefield although she does make a dramatic entrance. Aside from dying the first few times, after Cage saves her, she takes his battery pack and leaves him for dead. But then she says: "Come and find me when you wake up …"
You learn more about her, you learn that he can be a better person and there's something so sad and moving about how he feels when he sees her die over and over again. He comes to like and respect her - I am not sure it's love at that point, he just respects the hell out of her and he does not want her to die. There's a moment of agony when he decides that he doesn't want to save the world if it means that she's going to die, so he elects to go it alone and he walks away and leaves her. He tries to save the world on his own.
Of course he can't, and they team up again and she's still badass. I love how she broke out of her restraints at the hospital: "I was out of those things in three minutes flat," she tells him, all smug and superior.
When he wants her to stay behind, she tells him: "I’m a soldier. I volunteered. I’m not walking away."
Here's a post on Why you should watch Edge of Tomorrow.
Rita's going to be up there as one of my favourite female characters - right alongside the wonderful Mako Mori.
Blurb: Edge of Tomorrow is a 2014 American science fiction action film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Doug Liman directed the film based on a screenplay adapted from the 2004 Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The film takes place in a future where Earth is invaded by an alien race. Major William Cage (Cruise), a public relations officer inexperienced in combat, is forced by his superiors to join a landing operation against the aliens. Though Cage is killed in combat, he finds himself in a time loop that sends him back to the day preceding the battle every time he dies. Cage teams up with Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt) to improve his fighting skills through the repeated days, seeking a way to defeat the extraterrestrial invaders.
*
I have a new love. Sergeant Rita Vrataski from Edge of Tomorrow. Also known as the "Angel of Verdun" and "Full Metal Bitch", she is actually a real hero in every sense of the world.
I almost didn't watch Edge of Tomorrow, I dislike Tom Cruise so much. He's kind of an attention-sucking force in which he becomes the centre of the whole movie's universe … but it's so different in Edge of Tomorrow.
First of all, I loved the concept of Edge of Tomorrow - a sci fi, Groundhog Day with wonderful acting and imagery. We also have a genuine, strong female character who is truly kickass.
- She is not the traditional female lead in an action movie.
- She mentors Cage, the male lead instead of the other way around - she trains him, taking him from nothing and turning him into an amazing warrior.
- Rita is the one who is constantly pushing Cage to improve and better himself. Although he becomes as skilled as her, he never, ever overtakes her or overshadows her - even at the end when you expect Cage to maybe prevail at the end and be the real hero
- She's in charge. He takes charge and gives commands sometimes, but that's because he's got the 'Mimic' power - it's not because he's 'in charge'
- She starts off the movie being the more badass than the male lead and at the end of the movie is still more badass.
- At the beginning of the movie, she is the established war hero - she's a skilled and renowned warrior
- She is a career soldier and puts the mission before herself
- She calms down the male character instead of the other way around - at no point, does he calm her down and when he says the only way for the mission to succeed is for her to die, she gets in the chopper anyway. At the end, when he hesitates, she makes the call on the right thing to do.
- She's strong but vulnerable, brave and haunted.
- They never put her in sexy, skimpy clothing.
- She is so smart. Even though Cage is pretending that it's his first time walking through, she realises when he anticipates how she takes her coffee that they've been there before and that he's just killing time …
- She is complex, she's not the love interest - she and Cage never suddenly have sex in the midst of danger.
- She's not the clichéd female warrior i.e. unemotional and shuttered. She hurts and has been hurt - she's just tough and knows she has a job to do
- Although the story is from Cage’s perspective, Rita is actually the true hero. She is integral to the storyline. There's no way he can achieve what he does without her.
- I love the way he defers to her: " I don’t expect you to follow me. I expect you to follow her.”
It's a bit sad though, that my two favourite female characters in recent movies are Rita Vrataski and Mako Mori, two characters who basically come out of/are inspired by Japanese manga i.e. they are not the product of Hollywood. Why can't Hollywood give us this sort of character? I'm guessing by the surname that Vrataski is supposed to have Polish roots - what is it about Poland that it produces such tough and kickass chicks? :) I think Abby Kowalski from Against the Wall is also of Polish origin.
As to my Tom Cruise dislike, watching Tom Cruise die over and over again is kind of therapeutic and the bit where he gets run over by a truck is pretty awesome. Rita kills him quite a few times ..
Rita herself is not entirely likeable when she first enters the battlefield although she does make a dramatic entrance. Aside from dying the first few times, after Cage saves her, she takes his battery pack and leaves him for dead. But then she says: "Come and find me when you wake up …"
You learn more about her, you learn that he can be a better person and there's something so sad and moving about how he feels when he sees her die over and over again. He comes to like and respect her - I am not sure it's love at that point, he just respects the hell out of her and he does not want her to die. There's a moment of agony when he decides that he doesn't want to save the world if it means that she's going to die, so he elects to go it alone and he walks away and leaves her. He tries to save the world on his own.
Of course he can't, and they team up again and she's still badass. I love how she broke out of her restraints at the hospital: "I was out of those things in three minutes flat," she tells him, all smug and superior.
When he wants her to stay behind, she tells him: "I’m a soldier. I volunteered. I’m not walking away."
Here's a post on Why you should watch Edge of Tomorrow.
Rita's going to be up there as one of my favourite female characters - right alongside the wonderful Mako Mori.
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