Michelle Rodriguez - currently of the TV show Lost - could do a great job.
I agree with Menocchio - Buffy is a key root for all this activity and none of the movies come close to its quality…
They (ass-kicking female action movies) are “a burger and fries” in the nutrional spectrum of film quality, same as the male counterpart…every now and then you may have one that makes you stop and say “wow - great burger” - I cite Die Hard as a personal fave - but there will be dozens in between good ones…
I think we are just seeing the rise of the female version of this movie - and, over time, it will fall into the same rhythm (and have the same track record) as the male version. Overall, not great…
I am actually looking forward to DoA (Dead Or Alive). I’ve never played the game and have no interest in doing so, but if the movie is presented in a generally serious action movie manner but they make it the least bit self-aware and tongue-in-cheek, I think it could be a sexy and fun “ass-kicking chick movie.”
I’m one of the hugest Buffy fans on the SDMB, and I also loved Kill Bill. Moving further down the spectrum, I consider the two Charlie’s Angels movies “guilty pleasures,” along with the syndicated ass-kicking chick TV shows V.I.P. and She-Spies (the latter was actually very good). Don’t forget all the ass-kicking chicks in Sin City, particularly Gail and deadly little Miho!
Just off the top of my head: Kiefer Sutherland, Michael Chiklis, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, The Rock, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Vin Diesel, Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat, Michael Madsen, Mickey Rourke, Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Bruce Campbell, David Boreanaz, Russell Crowe… unless you weren’t actually asking for a list.
But Chuck Norris has quit acting, at least for now, according to his website. I think he plans to walk the Earth, like Caine from Kung Fu, making right what once went wrong, like Sam from Quantum Leap, and helping the hopeless, like Angel from Angel.
Actually, there was a very telling example on TV that supported the OP’s point, the incredibly unsuccessful WB series, “Birds of Prey.” It was a series about three very hot female superheroines that was hyped to the max by the WB network, but it died in less than a year’s time. I believe this was because there was a huge disconnect in how much sexy kickass was promised, and how much sexy kickass was delivered. The promos and the show’s bumpers had the Huntress writhing on a rug, half naked. In the show she wore a tight leather jumpsuit and a cape so the outlines of her body wouldn’t be too distractingly visible. But at least she could and did kick ass. The other two BoP’s were even more disappointing. One was confined to a wheelchair so she couldn’t kick ass and was not sexily dressed, the other was a klutz who dressed frumpy and couldn’t kick ass at all.
I don’t think the show lasted seven episodes, despite nice ratings on its premiere. It lost half its audience by the second show. I think all the guys who checked out the premiere looking for T&A and kickass action based on the comic books realized they were being hosed and tuned out in droves.
The recent “Aeon Flux” movie is another case in point. Anyone who watched any episode of the MTV animated series will know that a large part of its appeal was the fact that Aeon Flux’s outfit consisted of a thong, a bra, a few black leather straps, boots and gloves. Most of her torso was on full display whenever she was in a scene. But apparently Charlize Theron turned down the cartoon version of Aeon Flux garb and opted for a MUCH less sexy outfit. The producers went with the BIG NAME instead of teh sexy, and that was their mistake.
Strangely enough, even though they had their BIG NAME Charlize Theron, the movie bombed big time at the box office. Here’s the weekend grosses in the US from the IMDB:
$127,322 (USA) (22 January 2006) (227 Screens)
$222,037 (USA) (15 January 2006) (267 Screens)
$104,195 (USA) (8 January 2006)
$306,922 (USA) (1 January 2006)
$452,813 (USA) (25 December 2005) (852 Screens)
$1,751,220 (USA) (18 December 2005)
$4,561,619 (USA) (11 December 2005)
$12,661,112 (USA) (4 December 2005)
Reading from the bottom up, you’ll see that business fell by 1/3 the first week, by over half the following week, and then by another third the week after that. In a month it went from $12 million to $452,000. Talk about no legs!
Now it could be that there were other causes for Aeon Flux’s bomb, but all the reviews I read said there was plenty of action and a very good plot. Just considerably less of the sexy.
I’m not arguing that you can succeed on the basis of the sexy alone. The evidence argues otherwise, in the form of the TV series Black Scorpion which featured Michelle Lintel in a VERY tight suit with thong bottoms that let her butt hang out very nicely when she did one of her high kicks … and she did a lot of high kicks. But the series couldn’t stay on the air, couldn’t even maintain enough ratings by the loose standards of the SciFi Channel, which bought it. This would probably be because every other element of the show was pure crapola, especially the writing and the acting. Michelle Lintel’s butt was VERY nice indeed, but it just wasn’t enough to hang a whole series on.
I think if you’re going to do a kickass hottie series, you need to dress her like a hottie, i.e., like a stripper. PAINT her costume on, like Mystique’s in the X-Men movies. Heck, even Sapphic heroine Xena wore a tight leather corset all the time. Then get some halfway decent writing and editing. Xena’s writing wasn’t great, but it was good enough. Add in the action, and you’ll succeed. Case in point: “The Lost World,” one of the few series to maintain enough ratings to survive the sydicated adventure series bust of the late 90s. (Or it would have if its principals hadn’t destroyed it in an epidemic of chest poinding.) It had a hottie who ran around in a leather bikini at all times. Being a barbarian hottie, she kicked major ass. Compare her with Sheena, a jungle girl clad in a gunny sack. Despite benefitting from full-bore network hype, the series barely lasted two years, and when it ended, no one wanted to pick it up. Of course, it was lousy in a LOT of respects, not just an overdressed kickass heroine.
Meh. I saw both. The remake shows exactly what’s wrong with Hollywood: The mentality of MORE. It’s the same story, but with more action, bigger explosions, etc. Everything has to be MORE.
The “in Hollywood” is part of the problem. There are quite a few female butt-kickers in Asian cinema. Hollywood stars rarely do their own stunts and fights; even the usual “x weeks of intensive martial arts training” doesn’t always make them look credible on screen. But Michelle Yeoh is 43, and she still looks like she could kick Milla Jovovich’s skinny butt.
I’m not sure that action movies starring women are, in general, any worse than action movies starring men. Action movies usually just aren’t very good. To generalize: weak plot, weak characterization, weak acting. But I suppose you could argue that if you add in a lead who’s chosen for being thin or pretty rather than for being physically competent, and you get weak fights, too. Usually they try to at least get men who look muscular, even if they clearly don’t know how to throw a punch.
But hey, I say Hollywood should learn from its mistakes and keep trying.
