Best action heroines
 

What are your favorite female stars as action heroes / or action movies starring women.

Picks-
Sigourney Weaver in alien films
Jodie Foster in Panic Room
Carrie Fisher in that space movie

any more?

Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, and Drew Barrymore in Charlie's Angels. Me likey Drew Barrymore. :eek:

Carrie-Ann Moss - The Matrix. She also did the terrible Red Planet but I don't recall her having any action sequences in it.

I second that emotion; she kicked some serious a** in The Matrix. It's not too easy to be tough, yet feminine. Personally I only know one girl who can pull it off. :yup:

Linda Hamilton in the Terminator movies...man, loading a gun like that with one arm, that was BAD ASS!!

"Ready for some action now, Danger Boy...."

- Aeon Flux

Only the coolest heroine ever!

Ditto. I can't believe I forgot her.

How about Sandra Bullock in the Speed movies??

:rolleyes:

Carrie Ann Moss is by far, my favorite. I'll tell you why. Pulling off the "tough girl" rarely goes over well...in fact, women almost always over do it.*think the girl with curly hair in Starship Troopers; or Jolie in Gone in 60 Seconds.
Carrie Ann Moss had that nice subtle quality to her hardness...it was brilliant. She rocked that movie!

Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, no contest for me.

She definately set the standard for heroines to come...
:yup:

L.B. ASKED ME TO POST THIS FOR HIM

It's not a action but I'd say Franka Potente in Run Lola Run should be considered. Tyne Daly in Clint Eastwoods second outing as Dirty Harry The Enforcer. Julianne Moore as the FBI Agent Clarice M. Starling in Hannibal suited me just fine in her role and does some serious @ss kick'in.

Pitch Black's Radha Mitchell had a juicy role as is up there IMO. For a classic Female Heroine look too Marlene Dietrich espically in Destry Rides Again. Candice Bergen in "Soldier Blue" & Bite the Bullet makes other men look like wimps. Michelle Yeoh in numerous flick loved her in Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

Janeane Garofalo in Clay Pigeons has a samaller but vidil role as one of the agents out to get the serial killer. Geena Davis in [i]Cutthrout Island & espically The Long Kiss Goodnight her part is very meaty and she don't take shiyt. Althou a weak movie Elizabeth Shueshould be included into the thread for her part in ]Hollow Man. Another awful movie which a heroine that should at least get a nod is Thandie Newton in MI2.

Sharon Stone's western act in The Quick and the Dead is pretty stand-out. Katharine Hepburn in more of an adventure story with a love thingy with Bogart in The African Queen puts the men in place from time to time. Mira Sorvino back to back with Yun-Fat Chow in The Replacement Killers is nifty with the gun. Meryl Streep's watery thriller called The River Wild is sterdy as the female heroine.

Sigourney Weaveralready been mentioned but what about Jenette Goldstein as Private J. Vasquez shes kicks. For one minute there that girl in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrles how picks up that honk'in machine gun becomes an action heroine for me. Holly Hunter in Copycat simply rocks.

If Animies count than the female cyborg cop in Ghost in the Shell has to be added to the list. Karen Allen of course in Raiders of the Lost Ark that's all I ask is for a woman once in as blue moon to hit the badie of the frickin head with a pan which she does perfectly.

I'll admit that some of these films I've mentioned are not particularly action movie but are a mixture of suspense & thrillers as well. IMHO, I still think they should get mentioned they've done there part in making woman of cinema not look so blood helpless which they most certainly arn't in really life.

Thanks Spud, I finally got my computer workin properly again.

and I badly wanted to edit it so you can delete your post buddy thanks again.

It's not of a action movie but I'd say Franka Potente in Run Lola Run should be considered. Tyne Daly in Clint Eastwoods second outing as Dirty Harry The Enforcer. Julianne Moore as the FBI Agent Clarice M. Starling in Hannibal suited me just fine in her role and does some serious @ss kick'in.

Pitch Black's Radha Mitchell had a juicy role and is up there IMO. For a classic Female Heroine look too Marlene Dietrich espically in Destry Rides Again. Candice Bergen in "Soldier Blue" & Bite the Bullet makes men look like tiny little wimps. Michelle Yeoh in numerous flicks, loved her in Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

Janeane Garofalo in Clay Pigeons has a samaller but valid role as one of the agents out to catch the serial killer. Geena Davis in Cutthrout Island & espically The Long Kiss Goodnight her part is very meaty and she don't take shiyt. Althou a weak movie Elizabeth Shue should be included into the thread for her part in Hollow Man. Another awful movie which a heroine should at least get a nod is Thandie Newton in MI2.

Sharon Stone's western act in The Quick and the Dead is pretty stand-out. Katharine Hepburn in more of an adventure story with a love thingy with Bogart in The African Queen puts men into place from time to time. Mira Sorvino back to back with Yun-Fat Chow in The Replacement Killers is nifty with the gun. Meryl Streep's watery thriller called The River Wild is sterdy as the female heroine.

Sigourney Weaveralready been mentioned but what about Jenette Goldstein as Private J. Vasquez. For one minute there that girl in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrles how picks up that honk'in machine gun becomes an action heroine for me. Holly Hunter in Copycat simply amazed me.

If Animies count than the female cyborg cop in Ghost in the Shell has to be added to the list. Karen Allen of course in Raiders of the Lost Ark. That's all I ask is for a woman once in a blue moon to hit the badie over the frickin head with a pot or pan which she does perfectly.

I'll admit that some of these films I've mentioned are not particularly action movie but are a mixture of suspense & thrillers as well. IMHO, I still think they should get mentioned they've done there part in making woman of cinema not look so blood helpless which they most certainly arn't in really life.

i say yay to her also, but signourey weaver as ripley is the queen.

actresses i don't buy: elizabeth shue (but i don't believe her in any role), and i lovvvve drew barrymore but not in this type of role. .......:(

:p

The Enforcer (1976), with the memorable finale on deserted Alcatraz Island and Tyne Daly going out the way most of Callahan's partners do, is actually Clint Eastwood's THIRD outing as San Francisco's Detective Inspector Harry Callahan. It's the second sequel, but third film. In order they are: Dirty Harry (1971), Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer, Sudden Impact (1983) and The Dead Pool (1988).

Sorry, but I'm an Eastwoodian freak and can't let the little error pass...not even from you, Geoff.
;D

To tell you the truth HOLDEN I knew i'd get caught on that one just to lazy to check it out at IMDB to make sure.

You are forgiven....Punk. :laugh:

And since thus far she seems to have been forgotten, I'll give a shout out to Pam Grier, the @ss-kickin' star of such Blaxploitation classics as Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1974), Friday Foster (1975), Sheeba, Baby (1975) and much later in her career Original Gangstas (1996) and Jackie Brown (1997), among others (how did she get left out of I'm Gonna Git You Sucka?). Most recently she's done the female action thing in Ghosts of Mars and Bones. Fifty-three and still kickin' @ss.

Not very good movies in the '70s crop that propelled her to cult stardom, but a pototypical modern female action anti-hero.

Gotta be that bird from 5th element
 

What's that womens name from 5th element also in the new resident evil movie (which sucked) she's pretty kick ass and damn fine, she was in Joan of Arc too, can't believe i forgotten her name!!

That's Ukrainian fashion model turned actress Milla Jovovich. She was also recently one of the evil baddies in Ben Stiller's Zoolander.

Never watched Zoolander it just looked like it would suck!

Well, it doesn't, especially now as a rental. If you're even a mild fan of Stiller or Owen Wilson, you should definitely pick it up. Inherently stupid, of course, but pretty amusing in many spots as well.

HERE is the MoFo thread where those of us who saw it in the theater back in September discussed Zoolander. I only grade it a C+ myself, but that rates as a decent Friday night rental in my book. The DVD is a nice SE too.

Spud hit the jackpot with this one, The Matrix being on of my fav movies of all time, Carrie-Ann Moss did a fantastic job of being a women and still flying through windows and saving the world

My grandmother could look more dangerous holding that gun.:rolleyes:
"Waif with a weapon!"

You know who looks like she could kick some ass...and I'm not sure she was ever in an action film, but Angela Bassett has got some killer arms. I watched How Stella Got Her Groove Back the other day, and I couldn't believe that body. I'm jealous. :)

Angela Bassett got closest to action star in the Sci-Fi flick Strange Days (1995), but no she's never really done one. Of course she got beat up a lot in What's Love Got to Do with It, but as Tina never picked up an Uzi and shot Ike dead, I guess that doesn't count either.

Bassett was long rumored to be Storm in the X-Men movie, and certainly physically and thespian wise she is much more suited for the part than Halle Barrie. But alas, it didn't happen (too bad).

Angela looks amazing of course and is a terrific actress, but as an African-American woman over forty, the odds of her ever getting a shot at action hero are fairly slim. And that's without even factoring in whether or not she'd want to do such a movie in the first place.

Oh jeez. I almost hate to say it, but I seriously liked the chicks in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. They did some serious ass-kicking.

now, take those chicks from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - these are the quiet ones you don't think can be tough, they are just normal people with kickass skills. Which I like. So, that's what the Milla Jovovich characters always feel like, wiry, desperate women who are like ... some animal backed in a corner - they WILL fight. I believed her more in The 5th Element than in Resident Evil which just wanted her running around in a skirt. I can't believe that movie. A skirt and a BORROWED gun for only HALF the movie. puhleez.

but, for me ... Marcellus has captured it, of course. (LOOK LEFT). my queen, my muse, my love - female assassin extraordinaire - Aeon Flux. I have a fascination for killing, I guess. The others, they're just trying to survive. Aeon, she's trying to survive and get her jollies f*cking with people. With the occasional burp of a conscience. Hhehe. AND she be beautiful, sexy, and not afraid of sex and being a female. SHe isn't hardened.

And this is where we come to my conundrum. I like an action heroine who kicks ass AND is capable of ... sexual vulnerability. Emotional vulnerability. Ripley ... she's faced with the horror of the loss of life, which is across the board for all of us - ohmigod, horrible things are happening here, must get under control and survive and save lives if I can. We only see her Terminator side really, and there are some minor emotional moments, but really - she's on buttkick mode. Same for Linda Hamilton. She was definitely an improvement on T1 but ... she was tough to the point she couldn't really be a mother to her son - which is understandable but at the same time - it's not there. She's on Rambo mode.

So, me likey the chicks who ... have that subtlety, that ambiguity of "focus" on the target, I guess. Who circle it, leave us guessing. No one else can trust them and watching them, neither can we. that's the ultimate femme fatale. the one who'll shoot you without a second thought and not regret it, and if she does, we won't ever really know for SURE. and she'll do it like ... it's second nature. there is something incredible about strong self discipline, martial arts, weapons mastery ... agility ... dexterity ... all that yummy kickass stuff.

so for me, the best action heroine is a femme fatale. but yeah, i get for others it might not be the same. but i loved Carrie Ann Moss, she's my runner up. she isn't so hardened that she doesn't feel anymore ... it's there, and she's veiled it, but we we see it slip at all the right moments.

anyhoo. there we are. :)

reading thmillin's post, which pretty much hit the nail on the head - although, i can't always relate to Aeon in the same way you do, i guess because im not female, and we all know that Trevor is so much cooler ;)

anyway, that made me think of Nikita, who as you mentioned, isn't on Rambo mode - she was forced into that situation, and yet we still see other aspects of her - sexual, emotional, etc, while maintaining that kickass, sexy femme fatale attitude

Oh yeah, definitely Anne Parillaud as la femme Nikita (1990). French chicks in eveningwear with guns: Yummy!

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Demi Moore in G.I. Jane. Just kinda came to mind and I wanted to see what you guys thought.

Oh man. No kidding. :nope: She would have done Storm justice!! Halle was too quiet and even tempered. Damn, that's a shame. She looks pretty damn good for her age; I'd cast her as an ass kicking secret agent or something. She IS too old to be running around half naked in some teen-oriented action flick...but I sure as hell could see her doing something in a cop uniform.

Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2...I was totally in love with her when I was in High School. She was so intense!

Michelle Yeoh in Supercop and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon...@ss kicking extrordinaire.

Zhang ZiYi from CTHD (I am not gonna type it out again. HA.) even though she's not really a hero. She gets most of the cast killed....

Trevor!! grrr ... actually Marcellus ... I feel the same way about him Aeon does. Desirable but in need of extermination. ;)

ah yes, La Femme Nikita. Also my initial introduction to femme fatales. it was she and Aeon, and I think that was the first film I owned. there's nothing like a frenchman named "Bob." Heheh. I developed a crush on Tcheky Karyo. And Jean Reno. raaow.

as for Bassett - i meant to comment on her! i dunno if i did post this but back when XMen came out i made a ruckus about Berry - she definitely did not deserve the role above Bassett, who was indeed my first choice. I remember Strange Days, too. Sad that's the closest she can really get to main character, kickass, and love interest. grrr.

she's gorgeous. and toned as hell. she could kick halle's butt anytime!

I, too, felt Angela Bassett was the best choice for Storm, and so did just about everyone else in the world who dream-casted the film.

It's the age thing, which Holden has already mentioned. She is over forty, and the studio wanted a young, "hip" cast--hence the mis-casting of James Marsden as Cyclops against Famke Janssen as Jean Grey. He looks like a kid, and she looks like a woman. :rolleyes:

So Angela gets left out in the cold. But I vote her as an excellent action chick in Strange Days, for sure. And Aeon rocks, too--nobody kicks a*s in skimpy black leather better than she does! I miss Liquid Television... sigh.

Catherine Zeta Jones in Entrapment
Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde
Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight

Anyone think J.Lo in Enough will make it on this list?

:nope:

Can I get a halleluiah?

http://www.absolutely.net/zhang/index.jpg

One hell of a good lookin', ass kickin', no name takin', bad ass babe. :yup: