1. Female Lead Action Films are a new thing and, for a while, will only appeal to a sub-population of people who easily accept the idea of a woman having physical prowess. Give it a decade… (seriously!)
2. “Smart” action is also a new thing. Action movies, particularly all those super-hero movies, are increasingly featuring facets of power that go beyond strength: speed, intelligence, agility, accuracy, etc. There’s a lot more room for plausible female leads in this new world. Again, give it time.
3. Female leads in “smart” action films are seldom going to reach as broad an audience as the typical male lead action films, because the simplest component in action is “power” in the sense of physical strength. The bigger and faster, the better. That appeals to the broadest audience, regardless of how good the movie is… and the male physique is just generally better for display of physical strength.

I came across this blog because I was looking for some action/sci-fi/fantasy movies featuring female action leads. I seek out these movies because I’ve found I flat-out enjoy watching women in action. I’m a woman, so I can relate to the movement much better. Plus, watching a woman fight, or do anything physical, really, is usually more aestheticly pleasing to me than watching a man do the same thing. (Yes, I hear you snickering!) Women have a grace and fineness of movement, even in fighting, that usually exceeds that of men.

Thanks to the blogger who linked to Joss Whedon’s speech.

And a big “Yeah…. hmmm…” to the bloggers who noted the success of female leads in action series on TV, as well as in horror films.

2) Believability
The main point here is that most of the scriptwriters make their heroines strong as men, whitch is generally wrong. What a female hero character shoud be good at is speed and agility, not strength. And then it is (atleast in my oppinion) absolutely believable. Unless it’s a sci-fi where what is possible and what is not literaly doesn’t matter. Sure there has to be a propper explanation and some things (like Ultraviolet) are just too eccentric. However in believability is not the problem.

3) We’re Conditioned To See Women For Their Sexuality And Intelligence In Film
I like to see a woman in an action movie as a symbol of pure feline energy and power. Sure, she has to be sexy and inteligent, but she has to kick ass. A woman who doesn’t kick ass in a movie is only half a woman in my eyes.

The main problem isn’t in women. The main problem is in directors and scriptwriters who seems not to choose women as main characters because they’re worried of failure. And when an action movie with a woman comes to its realization it’s something crazy (stupid?) like Ultraviolet. Can you imagine The Matrix or The Bourne trilogy with a female heroine? I do, hell I do.

So in short:
1) All the good titles and their main-characters are taken by men. So there’s only crap left for women.
2) There’s only few action-actress and there’s no actress as good in fighting and stuff like Jet Li is.

So, this is the truth in my eyes and I apologize to those who read these final words, because it means you read it all. Sorry for all the mistakes I made in this post, my english is not good enough.

p.s.: I don’t think Ultraviolet is as stupid as it seems from this post. Some sequences are good and the fights in there aren’t that bad, but as a whole the movie just fails.

Or Resident Evil… ? Did you want to mention that it tripled it’s 30 million budget in box office return? (ie OVER 100,000,000!!!)

Or how about Halle Berry, yes…I agree Catwoman was horrible, but are you suggesting her roles as Storm in X-Men or the fact that she was the most talked about Bond Girl in the last few years made those movies less watchable?

Let’s REALLY analyze why these movies bomb before we puke out half cocked sexist opinions. Men have no issues with ass-kickin’ women, Kate Beckinsale, Angelina Jolie, Uma Thurman or Michelle Rodriguez are a good examples of that… but what men and women alike have issues with are lack luster, over-worked, crappy story laden scripts. When screen writers are forced to think like business suits to ensure some demographic box office return we get crap like Catwoman…

Heck… it happens to male driven action films too, take a look at a winning icon like Batman!! Add Joel Schumacher and a horrible script and you barely make back your budget… where was the un-relatable female action star you can blame for the box office bomb of Batman and Robin, I don’t think George Clooney has breasts… and Oceans 11 did great…but if the script wasn’t at fault who was?

Let’s hand the horrible movie credit to those who deserve the infamy… not the actors involved but the script handed to them.

(ps… Even Uma Thurman couldn’t save Catwoman.)

Watch this movies, I will bet you wil look for woman-warrior movies once you watch this movie. Stop finding fault in movie, just watch and enjoy. If you dont like these movie, stop watching all woman-warrior movies

So-Close,
Naked Weapon.
My Wife is a Gangster III,

Kill Bill was brilliant! but it isn’t ‘real’ like these other action movies that involve men, you really expect me to believe one guy can beat everyone up? (bond, die hard guy, indianna)

I watched a documentary on snipers in World War II and they mentioned female snipers. A sniper trainer indicated that he prefers female snipers. They aren’t as impulsive. They’re patient. They pull the trigger when they know they have a good shot. They were effective and very ordinary. Some were even attractive.

It seems to me that the problem with the female action lead portrayal in Hollywood is rooted in the lack of understanding in just how dangerous a woman who knows, really knows how to fight, can be. Or is this something that is too unsettling for a man (and the male writers) to admit?