Brigitte Nielsen in Beverly Hills Cop II. She would turn on the femme fatale when it suited her purpose, but she was still the major muscle in the bad-guy gang.
She also cut up rough some as Red Sonja.
Oh, and Princess Fiona in Shrek. You don’t want to be an accordion-playing cleric with her around.
May I nominate Princess Kaurwaki, as played by Kareena Kapoor in 2001’s Asoka? For much of the movie she’s the singing-and-dancing love interest, but when she charges into battle wielding her Tiger-Claw, she kicks some major ass.
I saw the last few seconds of that movie. That’s impressive that such a film as that one would have a female as the head villain.
This reminds me of a question I wanted to ask in all this: after seeing Kill Bill Volume 1, I wondered, is this the most feminine-driven action film ever? It’s not the first film to have a woman as the main bad guy, or women as the main kickers of the bad guys asses (Charlies Angels 2 came out several months before, for instance, and had both), but consider that the two Kill Bill films had
1.) The ‘deadliest woman in the world’ as the lead, who kills scores of men- this is derived from kung fu films w/ the same premise, I know…
2.) The main bad guy was a woman, bad ass as imaginable- more so than the main bad woman in Beverly Hills 2? This woman fights Uma better than anyone in the series I think, and when she was little she killed the gang boss who had her father killed, and she became one of the top female assasins in the world…
3.) This woman had a girl who was amazingly deadly as her bodyguard, who fought 10 times better then the scores of men did…
4.) Uma also fought Vivica Fox’s character, who kicks ass, and her daughter is a strong figure b/c she could grow up to seek revenge on Uma- this is violent stuff for women, you see?
5.) The one-eyed woman who fights Uma is bad ass as hell
6.) All the supposedly ‘powerful’ men in the movie are killed by the women- Michael Madsen is rendered helpless, the gang boss by young Lui, the trainer kung-fu guy poisoned by one-eyed woman, Bill by Uma, all the crazy 88s…
7.) Oh, and let’s not forget the female translator/helper whatever woman who gets her arm chopped off- she’s a strong character, even if she can’t fight
It just seems like the most female-lead action film ever, ahead of it’s time (wasn’t that partially the point?), but I certainly can’t know of all the action films ever made- do you know?
free bump
Ahead of its time? I am puzzled. If the long list of female action leads in this thread hasn’t proven to you that Kill Bill didn’t pioneer the notion of a tough, ass-kicking woman, what will convince you?
Kelly Hu. Yes I love her too.
Hey now, I wasn’t saying Kill Bill pioneered ass-kicking women! What I said was, the Kill Bill films seem to take the trend of ass-kicking women that is so beloved, prevalent, and f-ing cool, and jump ahead of us to give us a tale where (reiterate)
1.) Lucy Lui, the main foe in 1, is a woman, who kicks more ass than the scores of men who work for her
2.) Her bodyguard is a young girl, who does the same
3.) Daryll Hannah is a major ass-kicker, as is
4.) Vivica Fox, and her
5.) Daughter could grow up to seek vengeance- this is like men stuff, you dig? Like spaghetti westerns, that’s the point, but with gorgeous women replacing all the men. And that’s what makes it so amazing.
6.) Uma is the deadliest woman in the world, kicks everyone’s ass
7.) Even the assasin who comes after her at the end is a woman
8.) All the powerful men are killed by the women
9.) Lucy Lui’s translator is- yet another woman!
Bill may be the one who instigated the whole thing, and Michael Madsen is bad-ass, but the women fill all these roles, they kick all the ass, they kill all these men, they have the power, they have the authority, they take revenge, they are the ninjas and the cowboys 
and the gang leaders and the right hand men and the bodyguards and the assasins…
Do you get what I’m saying? This action film doesn’t just have women who kick ass going with the men to kick ass to fight other men baddies, it has women versus women with other women. It’s all women…
So, are there any other films that top Kill Bill 1/2 in this respect?
And another thing I wanted to ask was: what actresses would you like to see in ass-kicking roles in the future? My list:
1.) Katie Holmes (that would be awesome)
2.) Alysson Hannigan (not that she didn’t kick ass on Buffy, but imagine her as Buffy
3.) Anne Hathaway (so she kicked ass in Ella Enchanted, right? Not enough!)
Ok, I’m starting to think that in addition to ass-kicking, there’s some leg-pulling going on here. Katie Holmes? :smack:
Most of you have stuck to movies, but Jessica Alba’s Max in the James Cameron TV series Dark Angel was a serious ass-kicking female.
Cameron often stars powerful female characters (see his muscular wife in T2), something David Foster Wallace pointed out in his essay F/X Porn , available at that link.
There was a couple Buffy episodes where Hannigan played an evil vampire version of Willow (basically, a femme fatale). She was actually pretty good at it.
As for actresses I’d like to see in ass-kicking roles, I don’t think cute little dolls like Katie Holmes would cut it, especially since she doesn’t have the talent to pull it off. That girl was the only awful thing about Batman Beyond (and otherwise great movie).
How’s this for a list?
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Amy Acker. She played “Fred” in the series Angel. In the final few episodes her character became possessed by an ass-kicking demon. She played it quite well - I was impressed. Acker has disappeared since Angel was canceled (like Dark Angel was - why does this keep happening to the few shows I like?). I’d love to see her land a role as some ass-kicking woman in a movie.
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Jolie. In a real role, not some half-assed, oversexed spinoff of a freaking video game. Something with substance, like the original Terminator or the first two Alien movies. She has the attitude and talent to pull it off.
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Selma Hayek. She always seems to have supporting roles that are more about her hips & tits than her punch. Frita was the closest she came to a strident woman role. Put her in something with pop, and give her a bazooka, damn it.
Apparently, from what I’ve learned on IMDB, Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls, in case you didn’t know) in Sin City doesn’t kick ass, she’s a whore?! :eek:
I’d love to see her kick ass in a movie too. I’m sorry, pinkfreud, I really am.
And hey, if Jennifer Love Hewitt can kick some ass in The Tuxedo, why can’t Katie? Or Alexis Bledel…
Another vote. She rocked. First thing I thought of when I saw this thread. (It was wierd to see that actress playing an Irish mom in Titanic. She was the one reading a bedtime story to the kids as the ship sank. I was waiting for her to start greasing the 1st-class passengers. “Let’s rooock!”)
For those who like girls, guns and hot cars…Arcee.
Well, you can be as sorry as you want, but Alexis Bledel is never gonna kick my ass.
Uhh… really?
Fairly independant-minded, I suppose, but in no way ass-kicking.
Are we talking about the same person? Is there another Nausicaa?
Oh, well if television counts, there’s Donna Douglas and Irene Ryan, as Ellie May and Granny Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies. They kcked Jethro’s ass from here to next Sunday.