60 Kick-Ass Female Film Characters – Part VII

A girl can spend years and years of her childhood in the wilderness in preparation for avenging her mother’s death. A woman can come face to face with a deadly alien that has wiped out her entire crew. Six more inspirational female characters.

Ellen Ripley – – – Alien (1979)

For four decades Sigourney Weaver has gone from saving the world from alien devastation to a ghostly apocalypse. Whatever her role is savior, leading lady, or just a bad-ass Weaver has prove herself to compete with and even outmatch her male counterparts. Ripley from the Alien franchise is arguably her most recognizable role and by far her most impressive work. She went into hand to hand combat with a twenty foot Xenomorph queen and she ultimately destroyed it not once but twice. Weaver kicks ass and instills a sense of confidence to those follow her, that with her on their side victory is not only a possibility but an inevitability. – – – Mike Austin

Beth – – – Hostel Part II (2007)

At the start of the gory sequel of Hostel, Lauren German’s Beth is merely an art student on vacation, but by the end she is beheading a callous bitch so children can play football with the head. Eli Roth has a certain grotesque appeal in his writing and directing of Hostel Part II, keeping the same messed up tone as the first, where hostel reception boys scan passport photos for sex / fatality trafficking auctions.

When Beth’s two friends are scalped and scythed, she is entrapped and attempted to be tortured and raped by an American businessman Stuart, but finds it in herself in a deep, dark place none of us would want to encounter, to turn the tables on him. Beth lures Stuart into the chair himself, chaining him, sticks a needle in his ear, before offering the sick, twisted fucks that run this murderous operation her wealth in return for her freedom.

In response to the order she must kill, and Stuart’s c-word insult, Beth slices off his genitals and hurls them to the dogs – as a man my eyes watered. Beth is branded with the Elite Hunting tattoo, in a conclusion that marks a very fucked up can’t beat them, join them notion. – – – Robin Write

Felicia – – – Shampoo (1975)

Felicia is having a rough day. True, her husband is having an affair but outside of financial concerns and public appearance, which matters little as she is doing everything she can to guard her own claim. Her paramour hairdresser seems set on jumping the bones of every female he encounters, including her husband’s mistress and her own daughter.

Lee Grant operates in a measured and barely contained frenzy as she swarms from one location to another, preparing for a “political thing” in Hal Ashby’s political satire that culminates at a banquet on the night of Richard Nixon’s election to the Presidency. Grant deftly, and hilariously, maneuvers her character through a minefield of lust, jealousy and the determination to maintain control in a rapidly deteriorating situation.

Audiences may have been a bit baffled by Ashby’s intentions with Shampoo, but they certainly recognized Lee Grant’s Felicia, the matron desperately clinging to the last vestiges of authority. “The headboard. The headboard, honey…Could you put your hand up there…and hold it? That’s right, because. That’s… That’s… Jesus! Oh! That’s right. Jesus H. Christ!”. – – – Steve Schweighofer

Alice – – – Resident Evil (2002+)

 Full disclosure: I think the Resident Evil movies — save the third, Extinction — mostly suck, but Jovovitch’s Alice, the former security specialist at the UMBRELLA Corporation turned super-heroine thanks to the T-virus and a freedom fighter against the hordes of the undead, is the best thing about these movies. Thought these movies she’s handling all sorts of weaponry that would make Rambo blush, handles herself in fights as well as Jason Statham and she does all her own stunts, including running down a building with a harness in Apocalypse! In other words – she’s the baddest zombie-killer this side of Ash Williams…and even he might just be impressed by her level of skill slaughtering the undead. – – – Jonathan Holmes

Margaret Hall – – – The Deep End (2001)

The fierceness of a mother’s love is on full display in The Deep End, and it’s one of Tilda Swinton’s most underrated performances. When Margaret Hall discovers that her son, Beau (played by Jonathan Tucker), is not only gay but in a relationship with a seedy nightclub owner named Darby Reese, she immediately tells him to stay away from her son. Goodness knows that this upper middle class family couldn’t be rocked by such an unsavory character!

When Darby dies in a scuffle with Beau, Margaret hides his body in a cove without hesitation, and then she encounters a blackmailer. The whole thing spirals out of control. The aspect of a woman protecting her child is obviously not a new theme or motif in a film, but Swinton delivers a performance of such quiet intensity and unwavering loyalty, that you can’t help but cheer for her no matter how questionable her actions. – – – Joey Moser

Diana Prince / Wonder Woman – – – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

The concept of Batman and Superman spitting their dummies out to turn on each-other is a ridiculous one. But still Zack Snyder managed to attract a marvel of a cast including Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne – but hardly a grand use of character between them.

Step up Gal Gadot as Diana Prince, who although has to spend two and a half hours witnessing the mayhem – and by that I do include Bruce Wayne’s sleaze – finally brings some much-needed venom and glory to this mess as Wonder Woman. Blowing Batman’s monstrous voice and Superman’s distracting emotional side out of the water, Wonder Woman arrives to kick some serious ass and show these small boys how it is done.

It is a wonder, indeed, that one dynamic character can mark such a super-cool and influential motion picture appearance while our beloved Batman and Superman struggle to muster a breath of redemption between them. – – – Robin Write