WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
Normally I would start off by talking about the character of Susan Storm themselves, however I wanted to make a little confession. I didn’t realise, until recently, that Kate Mara was the sister of Rooney Mara – actress who plays Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Genuinely thought it was coincidence. Anyway, to some I may be discussing the two Sue Storms of my generation the wrong way round as Jessica Alba was first, but unfortunately I was able to get more of Kate Mara films than Alba’s…
Shooter
I do and don’t get the point of Mara’s character in this film. To me, this could have been written a little bit like Jason Bourne in the sense that she does provide a relevant purpose to Swagger’s revenge on those who have framed him. However, do we need the fact that she’s the widow of his dead army buddy? I’m not so sure. It adds a sentimental side to the story of course and I guess it makes sense for him to go to her for help (even though it seems they have never met before) but he doesn’t need to know her for him to go to her (reference: Jason Bourne again). Obviously this isn’t me saying that Kate Mara is bad in this film because she’s not but I just wonder if there needed to be so much to the character. Truthfully, even the backstory of Donnie’s death isn’t massively important for the overall story but I guess they needed to add something in to make it easier to catch up with him.
HappyThankYouMorePlease
I’m going to be straight with you all here, I do not think we need Kate Mara’s character in this film. This film being what I guess can be considered as an anthology, because there’s more than one story happening at the same time, why did all of them need to include a love story? They could have just made Sam’s story about him looking after Rasheen and taking a grown up role in the child’s life. I know I sound harsh because this is the second time I’ve felt like this about one of her films and it’s not a critique on her acting at all. To be honest, it makes it harder to look at her acting when I feel like she doesn’t need to be there at all. The one thing I will say however, is that she has a very good singing voice.
127 Hours
I’ll be honest, in the grand scheme of things Kate Mara’s part in this film isn’t massive and really doesn’t have an effect on the plot as whole (the main plot being James Franco’s character getting himself stuck between the rocks). I also don’t know if Aron Ralston, the real life mountaineer than Franco plays, even met girls along his trip or if Kristi and Megan were added because the director was concerned that audiences would get bored having the film based around a single character. Truthfully, that’s all I can really say in regards to this film because after the scene in the rock-pool, we don’t actually meet her character again.
Honorary Mentions
OK, so I started off with a realisation and in writing this article I have had a second one. For those fans of American Horror Story, did anyone remember Kate Mara being in the inaugural ‘Murder House’ series? I certainly did not! Before this, she also starred in 5 episodes of 24 and 4 episodes of Nip/Tuck. Her TV career aside, her role as Sue Storm wasn’t the first time she put on a supersuit – as she play Summer Jones AKA Wonder in Zoom. She even has a bit part in Iron Man 2 before starring in Ironclad (rather proud of that little segway)
