My Top 30 Favorite Female Movie Bad-Asses.

Pvt. Jenette Vasquez

Yeah, sure, Ripley can certainly handle a big gun & kick enough ass to help contribute to making this movie one of my favorite sci-fi flicks of all time. But Vasquez, when she carries a fire-arm, any fire-arm, no matter how big or small, she wields it as though it were a natural extension of who she is.
And when it comes to xenomorphs,
she just needs to know one thing:
Where
they
are......

and don't even think about mistaking her for a man
.... cabrón.

The Bride

"Here comes the Bride,
all dressed in white,
dum dee dee da dum,
here comes the Bride...."



You wanna know just how bad-ass Beatrice Kiddo, the Bride really is?
At her wedding, not only does she show up looking like she's late into her trimester of pregnancy, but also at the same time, she has enough balls to wear a wedding dress that is white, the traditional color that is supposed to symbolize virginancy.
So then, the question arises,
how does one stop such an act of blatant aborition towards such an long-standing & endeared nuptial tradition?
Try sending her a Bill.

Hit Girl

While it is the title of this film adaptation of the comicbook series that makes it truly "kick-ass",
it is the energy and charisma of the character Hit Girl that elevates this movie into the realm of a high level, hardcore badd-ass superhero flick.
Robin may have started the whole sidekick thing as the "Boy Wonder", but this little foul-mouthed "Baby Doll" is the show-stealer that will put an end to the whole idea of having a partner simply as a tag-along second stringer.
And yeah, she's just a kid,
but you try telling her that while she's shoving your teeth thru your brain.

Ching, Tung & Chat

With a fighting style that combines epic wuxia-themed battle moves & cheesy yet energetically fun kung-fu camp, these are 3 high-flying colorful female warriors whose chemistry made it impossible for me not to fall in love with each one of them when I first saw this movie.
This trio of hot asian super-heroines who fight crime with such cool moves & kick-ass sultry outfits is so sexy, that it makes my hairy pimp-ass want to do sumthin villainous just for the spanking they'd give me.

Taarna


Yeah, I know....
she's a cartoon.....
But she definitely ain't no power puff girl.

Zen

It's been said that many people suffering from austism tend to develope some kind of focused talent to make for the lack of awareness. Like being able to do complex mathematical problems instantly or sculpt exquisite works of art from memory.
Zen is a young, autistic tweener-aged girl whose photographic memory allows her to copy advanced fighting techniques by watching television or by observing the students in a Muay Thai school next to her home.
An ability that helps in ensuring that Zen gets an entry high up in the upper echelons of female badassery.

Sarah Connor

Sometimes,
if you're one one of those rare individuals who's destined to become the leader of an international front of human resistance,
then you might find that the fate of the future may very well lay upon the hands of yo' momma.

Miho

Based on what this femme fatale does for a living,
if you're willing to pay the right price, she'll give you head.
But at the same time, if you're not careful,
she'll slice it off.
Your head, that is.

Nikita Taylor

C'est une francais bad-ass.

She's crazy, she's French & she's a hitman. What more can you ask for from a crazy female assassin flick made in France?

Ripley

"Get away from her, you bitch!"

Yeah, you knew she would eventually show up on this list.

Selene

I'm not really a big fan of the Underground movies,
but Selene in that leather outfit is hotter that all heck.
One of the few times that the most human of the characters makes me not notice the CGI effects that are supposed to drive these films.
Yowza....

River Tam

One of those rare AB Type personalities that can instantly switch from a B type to an A++ type, with just one flip of a mental trigger.
And it seems kinda unlikely that the trigger may come in the form of something like the phrase "Serenity now!".

Coffy

Now here's a flick for those of you who like your movies like you like your coffee and your women;
black and bitter.
Or better yet, with an extra couple of lumps of brown sugar.
See, that's the thing about blaxploitation films,
the more bad puns, the better.



Pam Greer stars in this one as a foxy lady who carries around a small caffeine-themed name and a big ass ghetto-blastin' gun... aimed right straight at your percolator.
Stickin' it to the man with a hefty load of camp and a medieval shot to the groin.

Lady Snowblood

Before there was Beatrice Kiddo, the Bride, waking up after her supposed death and staining the snow with blood in Kill Bill vol. 1*,
there was Yuki Kashima, aka Lady Snowblood, doing the exact same thing. But unlike the Bride, who did it as a homage to the Pinky Violence genre, Lady S did it as the originator of these kinds of story themes and was an early entry into the field of female film bad-assery.



*(For any fans of the Kill Bill films, the battle scene where Kiddo goes Hanzo sword to Hanzo sword with O-Ren Isgii was inspired by this movie.)

Trinity

A leather clad, dark spectacled, gun-toting, bad-ass beauty with computer enhanced fighting ability.
Which can only mean one thing:

You are now entering the Matrix.

Maida

Anyone else remember this space-faring, ice-stealing, female bad-ass from this not-so-classical sci-fi 80's film-fare?
Anyone...?

Anyone....?




...Bueller...?

Yu Shu Lien

Kind, wise, patient, loving & beautiful.
And she knows how to wield a sword, a spear or any other kind of long-stemmed weapon.
A Crouching Tiger who will always get a rise out of my hidden dragon.

Eli

Sure,
"she" may come off as an angelic-faced, doe-eyed 12 year old sweetheart who likes to climb trees (or buildings) & who might even inspire you to find your own inner strength....
But if you mess with any of her friends,
she won't hesitate to completely rip your head off.
And then some.

Carolina

She may have been married to El Mariachi, but it wasn't for want of any kind of protection.
This was a scintillaly, sultry senorita who could definitely hold her own. And his too.

Silk Spectre

A super heroine in a yellow & black leather costume that, super-powered or not, will cause any Watchman's penis to turn blue.

Mei

She fights, she dances & in the end, she'll make you fall in love with her more instantly & more deeper than a dagger in the heart.
All without even trying.

Cherry Darling

If you're into hot chicks with guns, zombie apocalypeses, and amputees (& let's be honest.... who isn't?),
then this is the gal for you.

Neytiri

Yo, what's bigger, more bad-asser, more computer-generated and even more bluer than Dr. Manhattan's lower East Side?



Yeah,
you know what I'm talkin' about.

Hanna



First, it was Leon The Professional training a 12 year old Mathilda how to become a "cleaner".
Then it was Big Daddy training a 11 year old Hit-Girl to become a hit girl.
Now it's former CIA agent Erik Heller training 16-year-old Hanna how to become an assassin.
I guess when you consider that not that long ago, in most action thrillers, females, particularly young girls, were reduced to the role of a damsel in distress,
the old Virginia Slim tagline poignantly now applies:
"You've come a long way, baby."

Leeloo

A red-headed diva from some far-out future whose dancing ability is more than enough to clear any room full of dorky-looking, rubber-faced, brute-sized aliens.

Black Widow

As a big comicbook fan, I often get frustrated with the aimless changes that Hollywood likes to make with characters just for the sake of change (as opposed to the changes made for the sake of practicality... those are okay). In this one thought they did a great job at keeping the Black Widow close the comicbook version & making it work. Natasha Romanov almost fell short of making this list just because, due to the lack of room in the film, she didn't really get to portray the kiss-assibilty that she is truly capable of. But that's cool. With the success of the Marvel film franchise, it's pretty sure bet we'll be seeing more of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s prima spy/field agent in the near furure.

Flying Snow

And the train of wuxia warrior women continues with this film's contribution of Flying Snow (not to mention, her antogonist simply called "Moon"),
in color themed cool battle sequences that provide the fuel to this high quality artful story of honor & love for unity of a people.

Catwoman

I don't want anyone to get me wrong, I liked the Dark Knight trilogy... I just didn't love it to the extent that everyone else did. One of the reasons why is b'cuz we never really got to see the Batman's high level of expertise in physical combat. In the first film, battle scenes were so jumbled, there was no clear shots of the Caped Crusader's League Of Assassins trained technique. In the second film, the Joker was never much of a physical challenge for BM to really do his thing. And in the third movie, the battle between Bane (another trainee from the League Of Assasins) & ol' Bats, both combatants were just trying to outpunch each other.
The only true cool fight techniques came from the small spurts of violence that Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman was involved with. And if a female sneak-thief in stiletto heels can outshine the Dark Knight Detective in his own series with her brief battle scenes,
then it quickly becomes quite obvious that, when it comes to holding her own in a brawl, although she may dress as a cat,
she ain't no pussy.

Wonder Woman



When I first decided to come up with this list, I was determined not to include any cartoon characters. However, I made an exception with Taarna because one: Heavy Metal might be animated, but it's theme is totally adult.
And two: Taarna is just so bad-ass, I couldn't not include her.
So now, here's Princess Diana.
While it may seem that she should be a staple in any list dealing with femme female ass-kickers,
IMO, she had never been fully depicted as a bad-ass at the level which she had the potential to be.
Then, I picked up this recent straight to DVD feature, & came to the conclusion, that even though it may not yet be at the point that I'd like to see her at, it is a huge step in the right direction.
The Double W may still be in the form of a cartoon,
but in this latest interpretation of the Amazonian wunder, she is finally approaching the bad-ass broad with balls that she should've always been.

Princess Leia

For all you fan-boy nerds out there, I intentionally saved this entry for last.
So, y'know.....
have at it.