Fun Friday - Fave movie heroines

Another Friday, another countdown. This time, I thought I'd focus on my favourite movie action heroines. Although they're not as visible or plentiful as the action heroes (can you remember when Sly Stallone, Steven Seagal, Jean Claude van Damme and Arnold Schwarzenegger brought out big budget movies every summer?)there have still been quite a few memorable action heroines over the years. Here are 10 of my faves, this time with pics!


10) Violet - Ultraviolet. Milla Jovovich has this crazy-cool, kick-butt character type down pat (also see her in Resident Evil and The Fifth Element). Violet's an outcast, the last of a special breed of fighting machines and she's mad at the world. The movie sucked but fast forward to watch Violet in action.


9) Aeon - Aeon Flux. Charlize Theron is known more for being an Oscar winner than an action hero, and she took a big chance with this part. The movie was so-so, but Aeon's futuristic assassin ways will win you over.


8) The Bride/Black Mamba - Kill Bill. I had nuff respect for Uma Thurman after watching this movie. She was able to deliver a lot of potentially corny dialogue with such panache, all the while wielding a sword and dressed in a yellow tracksuit. You don't see that every day. If you're afraid of blood, don't watch Kill Bill, though.


7) Cleopatra Jones - Cleopatra Jones. The late Tamara Dobson portrayed a Government special agent soul sister with more artillery than James Bond. In fact, some persons referred to her as the first female James Bond. A pity the movie's stuck in the era known as 'Blaxploitation'. I see a remake in its future.


6) Foxy Brown - Foxy Brown. Pam Grier, the original 'bad mama jama', starred. Need I say more?


5) Sarah Connor - Terminator 1 & 2. I still can't explain the premise of this movie to anyone without getting confused. Basically, Sarah will give birth to the man who'll save the world from destruction (note the biblical reference) so the same man comes from the future to...impregnate her? I give up. Just watch the movie. Linda Hamilton's biceps will astound you.


4) Lara Croft - Lara Croft: Tombraider 1 & 2. I love me some Angelina Jolie. She can play any role, from a bisexual junkie in Gia to a blonde, dread-locked car thief in Gone in Sixty Seconds. She breathed life into the video game character of Lara Croft and made it her own. The house, the cars, the bikes, the gadgets all up her cool factor.


3) Selene - Underworld 1 & 2. In my mind, Kate Beckinsale was just that chick from Pearl Harbour until she starred in the Underworld movies. Her vampire assassin character was classy (must have been the British accent) but could kick butt in a flash. Lycans, beware.


2) Trinity - Matrix Trilogy. Carrie-Ann Moss was a slick, tough as nails escapee from the Matrix with a penchant for black leather, but she still had a tender place in her heart for Neo. I'm not sure what roles she's done since the Matrix movies, but she'll always live on as Trinity. She'll make you want to take the red pill.


1) Lt. Ellen Ripley - Alien, Aliens trilogy. Words cannot begin to describe Sigourney Weaver's portrayal of the Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley. One of the greatest movie heroines of all time, this tough as nails bad*ss stares down space aliens and lives to tell the tale. Well, uhm, yeah, sorta. Anyhoo, in 2003, the character Ripley was selected by the American Film Institute as the #8 greatest hero in American cinema history, and Sigourney Weaver even received an Oscar nomination for the first Aliens movie. It's not every day that gun-toting, alien-stomping roles get nominated for Oscars. She was that good.


Special mention:
Xena - Xena: Warrior Princess. Although the Xena movie is still in the works and this character is primarily television-based, Lucy Lawless' Xena is so larger than life that I couldn't do a countdown of my fave action heroines and not mention her.

Next Friday, si dieu veux: my fave 80's television shows!

Photos: www.monstersandcritics.com, www.scifipedia.com, www.search.com, www.google.com and other sites too numerous to mention. You know who you are! My gratitude to all.