# Let's talk about action movies in which the big bad is a woman. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655 "2014-08-27T17:30:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/81 "2014-08-29T17:20:17Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Christine. is a god! damn! car! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/82 "2014-08-29T17:22:32Z")
Well, you wouldn’t expect a _blessed_ car to be a villain, would you? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/83 "2014-08-29T20:43:33Z")
That unholy conveyance definitely seems to be characterized as a girl. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/84 "2014-08-29T20:57:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, you wouldn’t expect a _blessed_ car to be a villain, would you? > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > That unholy conveyance definitely seems to be characterized as a girl. :: flips up faceplate of Evil!Skald helmet the better to slurp diet Dr. Pepper :: I don’t understand why you guys say such things without disabling the GPSes on your phones first. Ah well–you can explain it to the wombats. :: resume slurping :: ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/85 "2014-08-29T21:24:52Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > She’s certainly bad, but is she really the “big bad” when Voldemort makes an actual appearance? I would say she’s not the Big Bad, but not because of Voldemort. He’s there for the finale, but is only indirectly involved in causing most of the troubles in the movie, making him the Big Bad of the series, but not of the particular film. Umbridge was the one directly harming and otherwise throwing complications at the good guys for the bulk of the film, and she really is a remarkable depiction of banal evil. She was, however, not calling the shots; she was implementing–in her vicious and self-righteous fashion–the will of her boss, Fudge. Personally ineffectual as he may have been, he was the source of most of the problems in the movie. Also, his antagonist role was resolved at the end (though, alas, without him actually getting punched, shot, sliced, or otherwise physically punished for his asshattery). I’d say that makes Fudge the Big Bad of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/86 "2014-08-29T22:38:04Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > I would say she’s not the Big Bad, but not because of Voldemort. He’s there for the finale, but is only indirectly involved in causing most of the troubles in the movie, making him the Big Bad of the series, but not of the particular film. > > Umbridge was the one directly harming and otherwise throwing complications at the good guys for the bulk of the film, and she really is a remarkable depiction of banal evil. She was, however, not calling the shots; she was implementing–in her vicious and self-righteous fashion–the will of her boss, Fudge. Personally ineffectual as he may have been, he was the source of most of the problems in the movie. Also, his antagonist role was resolved at the end (though, alas, without him actually getting punched, shot, sliced, or otherwise physically punished for his asshattery). I’d say that makes Fudge the Big Bad of the film. I disagree about Fudge. I think it’s made quite obvious that while the overall “throw off Dumbledore” plan was Fudge’s, it’s Umbridge that decided the details of what would go down and orchestrated her own take over of the school. Fudge backed her up and supported her, but she was the brain in the operation. Fudge at that point in his ministry was completely ineffective and without direction. he was easy for an ambitious woman with a plan to manipulate for her own gain. You can say she wasn’t the Big Bad, but Fudge was her boss in name only. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/87 "2014-08-29T23:08:51Z")
well there is Malificient. go ahead a waste a hobbit or two. Big Bad Mama and Big Bad Mama 2 starring Angie Dickinson. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/88 "2014-08-29T23:27:44Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Romeo is Bleeding. I read through the whole thread looking to see if anybody mentioned this. Lena Olin is not only the Big Bad, but a gorgeous one. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/89 "2014-08-29T23:30:58Z")
Maleficent isn’t the Big Bad, Sharlto Copley is ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/90 "2014-08-29T23:43:24Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Maleficent isn’t the Big Bad, > > Sharlto Copley is :: shoots Fatty Bolger & most of the Proudfoots, sparing only the women & children :: Are you TRYING to get the Shire depopulated? When the widows & orphans die this winter it will be your fault. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/91 "2014-08-30T01:04:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Hold on a second. I need to take a sip of coffee so I can properly do my ritual spit of contempt. > > :: sips coffee, spits it out in ritual contempt :: > > Now that I’ve completed the rite at the mention of that … thing … I have to say that Mrs. Coulter is too ambivalent a figure to the a true big bad. She’s a horrible human being and bad mother, but she’s not purely vicious, and as the movie series was never completed (Thank Athena!) it’s impossible to say whether she would have been the Big Bad of it. She’s clearly NOT the big bad of His Dark Materials. And even in the movie > > :: ritually spits again :: > > she has little to do with Asriel’s plan, and virtually nothing to do with Iorek Byrnison’s problems. So no, I’d not call her a big bad. You’re being absurdly picky and capricious at this point. She fully qualifies re your initial rules. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/92 "2014-08-31T00:23:54Z")
It’s a stretch, but SEE NO EVIL HEAR NO EVIL arguably fits: people spend the film solving problem after problem after problem with gunshots when they aren’t busy solving problem after problem after problem with good old-fashioned hand-to-hand combat, and it’s Joan Severance who decides partway through, _hey, why am I letting the bad guy order me around? I can take him in a fair fight; heck, I can take him even if he goes for an unfair fight; and while the heroes put in an admittedly good showing the last time they were in a car chase, there’s no real reason I can’t just kill my way to making off with the blood money I’ve been earning as a murderous kidnapper._ ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/93 "2014-09-02T17:31:56Z")
> [@astro](#): > > You’re being absurdly picky and capricious at this point. She fully qualifies re your initial rules. I was really thinking in terms of the book series, in which Mrs. Coulter is not the big bad. I’ll happily concede that she wasn’t the big bad of the movie, which (thank Athena, Metis, Tethys, & Gaia!) was never followed up on. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/94 "2014-09-02T17:47:55Z")
_Ghostbusters_. Gozer was female, wasn’t she? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/95 "2014-09-02T19:03:50Z")
[The Phantom Empire](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026867/) starring Gene Autry as the hero, and Dorothy Christy as the big bad. ---
**Author:** ![Neo-Calredic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/96bed5/32.png) [@Neo-Calredic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neo-Calredic)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/96 "2014-09-02T19:25:16Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > _Ghostbusters_. Gozer was female, wasn’t she? It’s whatever it wants to be! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655/97 "2014-09-02T20:51:17Z")
> [@Neo-Calredic](#): > > It’s whatever it wants to be! I saw a drawing someone did recently where a giant Flo from the Progressive Insurance ads is devastating NYC, with a present-day Ray saying she was the most inoffensive thing he could think of. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-action-movies-in-which-the-big-bad-is-a-woman/696655.md?page=4)