Dina Meyer in Starship Troopers
San, from Princess Mononoke
Ummm…there was no girl who burned stuff…that was a dude.
Oh, and “the element woman” is Milla Jovavich, possibly the hottest, ass-kickiest woman alive. 
Hey I started a thread exactly like this one!
Geena Davis in Long Kiss Goodnight and Sigourney Weaver in Aliens are still my favorites.
Jeniffer Garner in Alias and as Elektra (you didn’t say she had to kick ass it the box office)
Pamala Anderson in Barb Wire
No…Liv Tyler mostly rode a horse for 30 seconds and looked “mystical”. She did not stab, punch, poke or drop-kick anyone. The other woman - Miranda Otto - did fight in the battle at the end, but really did look and fight like a small woman in oversized armor (which makes sense), not some larger than life ass-whuping Xena clone which is what I think you are going for here.
You mean Hillary Swank?
And in the upcoming The Legend of Zorro.
Kathleen Turner in Undercover Blues
“Oh for God’s sake, Morty!”
“No no! Muerte! My name is Muerte!”
“Whatever you say, Morty. <crunch>”
I guess Kathleen Turner also counts for V.I. Warchowski
I think my favorite is Geena Davis from The Long Kiss Goodnight. An under-rated movie.
**Michelle Rodriguez ** is pretty tough in The Fast and the Furious, SWAT and Resident Evil. I Haven’t seen Girlfight, but I assume she does some ass-kicking, (or face-punching!)
Hey, she stabbed the Witch King in the face, it doesn’t tend to GET a lot more bad-ass than that. 
Eowyn (the character that Miranda Otto played) was established back in The Two Towers as being a capable fighter, though she didn’t get a chance to do any fighting until the battle towards the end of Return of the King. The fact that she only fought in one battles doesn’t do much to diminish her feats of ass-kickery in that battle (Didn’t she also help take down an Oliphant or two?)
Michelle Phifer in Tequila Sunrise.
Kurt Russell: “She’s tough.”
J.T. Walsh: “She’s not so tough.”
Kurt Russell: “She just kicked your ass.”
Grace Jones in Conan The Destroyer and one of the Bond films.
I second (or third, I guess) Pvt. Vasquez from Aliens. She was awesome.
There’s also Lena Olin’s character from Romeo is Bleeding, but she borders on the femme fatale. Fantastic film noir.
The female lead from Formula 51 kicked ass. She was an assassin who pretty much never missed. Crummy movie, but I loved the character.
There was Angela Basset’s character from Strange Days, she was pretty kickass.
Let us not forget the late Cat Sassoon.
Private Vasquez was a woman?! 
Before most of them, there was Princess Leia. “Oh, give me that!” <Zotzotzotzot>
I always liked that scene.
No she does kick ass. But it’s not all over the top like Millia Jovovivh just beating the crap out of everyone.
Did you think that ample bosom was just extra ammunition?
Lucy Lawless of Xena always looked convincing kicking ass, unlike many mentioned on this thread.
Babylon 5:
Susan Ivanova is worth mentioning.
Delenn probably also.
Brian
<*>
Oh my, how did I forget Captain Susan Ivonova, the originator of the Babylon 5 Mantra? :eek:
Ivonova was not only badass (capable apparantly of all manner of fighting, be it fleet-scale space battles, space fighter dogfights, or even bar room brawls) but she was also delightfully spazzy and funny.
Delenn is an entirely different kind of badass. She didn’t so much kick butt in a fight as she made it abundantly crystal clear to a potential opponent that it was a bad idea to try fighting her to begin with. Showing up with a sizable fleet of warships behind her helped too.
And while we’re talking Babylon 5 women, let’s talk Lyta Alexander, our favorite telepathic Redhead. Especially in the later seasons when she started to test the limits of what she could actually do with her powers.
Oh, and how can anyone forget Number One? The leader of the Mars Resistance, no less! 