24 Best and Worst Female Action Movies
Charlize’s hair apparent to her Furiosa character in Mad Max: Fury Road is Atomic Blonde, as she inhabits a new badass creation with a license to break bones and drub clowns across ’80s Germany. We could go Theron and on but let’s cut to the chase: Here’s 24 more female action movies, ranked by Tomatometer!
Added to the Criterion Collection last year, this influential Japanese film starring Meiko Kaji transform blood, guts, and revenge into pure poetry.
While Alien was a marvel of slow-building, atmospheric tension, Aliens packs a much more visceral punch, and features a typically strong performance from Sigourney Weaver.
Thrilling, earnest, and buoyed by Gal Gadot’s charismatic performance, Wonder Woman succeeds in spectacular fashion.
Paris by night: Crooked Anne Parillaud is trained to become the ultimate assassin in this Luc Besson joint.
Lady Snowblood‘s most famous fan Quentin Tarantino pays homage to the film, transforming Uma Thurman into a new millennium action goddess in the process.
MMA star and first-time actress Gina Carano displays ample action-movie chops in Haywire, a fast-paced thriller with a top-notch cast and outstanding direction from Steven Soderbergh.
Chocolate is a bizarre martial arts flick, with a slushy plot, an unusual protagonist (played by JeeJa Yanin), and breathtaking stunts.
Fantastic acting (Saoirse Ronan stars) and crisply choreographed action sequences propel this unique, cool take on the revenge thriller.
Before Point Break and well before Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow directed Jamie Lee Curtis as a rookie beat cop fending off a psycho stalking killer.
Geena Davis goes from brunette mom to killer blonde in this bloody blitz of mixed identities, knife fights, and water wheel torture.
Enthusiastic and silly, Lucy powers through the movie’s logic gaps with cheesy thrills plus Scarlett Johansson’s charm — and mostly succeeds at it.
Angelina Jolie gives it her all in the title role, and her seasoned performance is almost enough to save Salt from its predictable and ludicrous plot.
The ’70s called for a new breed of Hollywood action and Pam Grier answered the call: her Foxy Brown remains one of the sterling efforts of the blaxploitation era.
Doomsday is a pale imitation of previous futuristic thrillers, minus the cohesive narrative and charismatic leads. Sorry, Rhona Mitra!
Though stylish to look at (just look at Kate Beckinsale’s leather combat onesie!), Underworld is tedious and derivative.
Tough guy director Walter Hill goes off the deep end with Michelle Rodriguez, who stars as a hitman out for revenge after he’s captured and wakes up a new woman.
Barb Wire could’ve been fun camp, but Pamela Anderson can’t deliver her lines with any dramatic or comedic impact.
Zoe Saldana has the chops but she’s taken out by erratic and sloppy filmmaking.
Angelina Jolie is perfect for the role of Lara Croft, but even she can’t save the movie from a senseless plot and action sequences with no emotional impact.
Charlize Theron kicks back! Aeon Flux lacks the gravity-defying pace of its animated predecessor, and, despite some flash, is largely a dull affair.
Jennifer Garner inhabits her role with earnest gusto, but Elektra‘s tone deaf script is too self-serious and bereft of intelligent dialogue to provide engaging thrills.
Halle Berry is the lone sorta bright spot, but even she can’t save this laughable action thriller.
An incomprehensible and forgettable sci-fi thriller, Ultraviolet is inept in every regard despite all the time Milla Jovovich spent at the gym.
BloodRayne is an absurd sword-and-sorcery vid-game adaptation from schlock-maestro Uwe Boll, featuring a distinguished (and slumming) cast.
