Who doesn’t love a great action film?* There are so many movies these days to choose from. There are also some great action movies with female heroes. So this list is the top 10 action films with a female lead role! We put together this is list of women who kick ass, take names, and perhaps even chew bubblegum at the same time! So sit back, relax and say, “Ow, ya that was great film!” See if you agreed with us on the list or if you disagree with anything let us know in the comments after the article! We hope you like the list as much as we liked putting it together for you!
*Editor’s Note: This podcast and Top 10 List was created months before the 2016 election. Apparently, there are many millions of Americans that are not fans of a strong woman in a lead position. 🙁 🙁
Keith – The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
The Long Kiss Goodnight is a 1996 American action film directed and produced by Renny Harlin, written and produced by Shane Black and starring Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson. Geena Davis stars as a sleeper agent hit woman!
David – Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
Adventures in Babysitting (also known as A Night on the Town in certain countries) is a 1987 American comedy film written by David Simkins, directed by Chris Columbus (in his directorial debut), and starring Elisabeth Shue, Maia Brewton, Keith Coogan, Anthony Rapp, Penelope Ann Miller, Bradley Whitford, and brief cameos by blues singer/guitarist Albert Collins and singer-songwriter Southside Johnny Lyon.
Keith – Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (originally advertised as simply Kill Bill) is a 2003 American martial arts action film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who seeks revenge on a team of assassins (Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah and Vivica A. Fox) and their leader Bill (David Carradine) after they try to kill her and her unborn child. Her journey takes her to Japan, where she battles the Tokyo yakuza.
Tarantino conceived Kill Bill as a homage to “grindhouse” cinema including martial arts films, samurai cinema, blaxploitation films, and spaghetti westerns. It features an anime sequence animated by Production I.G. It is the first of two Kill Bill films produced simultaneously; the second, Kill Bill: Volume 2, was released in 2004. The films were originally set for a single release, but the film, with a runtime of over four hours, was divided in two. Volume 1 received positive reviews and was a commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing Tarantino film released at that point.
David – Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a 1992 American comedy horror film about a Valley girl cheerleader named Buffy who learns that it is her fate to hunt vampires. The film starred Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Paul Reubens, Rutger Hauer, Luke Perry and Hilary Swank. It was a moderate success at the box office, but received mixed reception from critics. The film was taken in a different direction from the one its writers Joss Whedon intended, and five years later he created the darker and acclaimed TV series of the same name.
Keith – Colombiana (2011)
Colombiana is a 2011 French action film, co-written and produced by Luc Besson and directed by Olivier Megaton. The French director’s best known other movies are the action films Transporter 3, Taken 2 and Taken 3. The film stars Zoe Saldana in the lead role[4] with supporting roles by Michael Vartan, Cliff Curtis, Lennie James, Callum Blue, and Jordi Mollà. “Colombiana” means a woman from Colombia, and is also a genus of orchids. The film is about Cataleya (Amandla Stenberg), a nine-year-old girl in Colombia whose family is killed by drug lord named Don Luis Sandoval (Beto Benites). Fifteen years later, a 24-year-old Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) has become an accomplished assassin. Even though Don Luis is now in the witness protection program in the U.S. and is guarded by many heavily armed gangsters, Cataleya uses every means at her disposal, including death threats to law enforcement officials, to find where Don Luis is hiding and avenge her family’s death. While the film received a mixed reception from critics, with more negative reviews than positive reviews, Saldana’s action sequences were praised and the movie earned $61 million against a $35 million budget.
David – Romancing the Stone (1984)
Romancing the Stone is a 1984 American action-adventure romantic comedy. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The film was followed by a 1985 sequel, The Jewel of the Nile.
Romancing the Stone earned over $86,572,238 worldwide in box-office receipts. It also helped launch Turner to stardom, reintroduced Douglas to the public as a capable leading man, and gave Zemeckis his first box-office success.
Keith – Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
Resident Evil: Apocalypse is a 2004 apocalyptic fiction action horror film directed by Alexander Witt, from a screenplay written by producer Paul W. S. Anderson. It is the second installment in the Resident Evil film series, which is based on the Capcom survival horror video game series Resident Evil.
Borrowing elements from the video games Resident Evil 2, 3: Nemesis, and Code: Veronica, Resident Evil: Apocalypse follows heroine Alice, who has escaped the underground Umbrella facility and must band with other survivors including Jill Valentine and escape Raccoon City alive.
The film opened to theaters on September 10, 2004. On a budget of $40 million, the film grossed $51 million domestically and $129 million worldwide, surpassing the box office gross of the previous installment. Resident Evil: Apocalypse received mostly negative reviews from critics, who praised the action sequences but criticized the plot. The film was released to DVD on December 28, 2004.
David – Foxy Brown (1974)
Foxy Brown is a 1974 American blaxploitation film written and directed by Jack Hill. It stars Pam Grier as the title character, described by one character as “a whole lot of woman” who showcases unrelenting sexiness while battling the villains. The film was released by American International Pictures as a double feature with Truck Turner. The film uses Afro-centric references in clothing and hair and touches on issues relatable to the black women of the 1970s, and is even still relatable today. Pam Grier, the star actress was born in Winston-Salem, NC, one of four children. Her mother was a nurse, and father was an Air force mechanic. From humbled beginnings, Pam Grier managed to star in six blaxploitation films with American International Pictures, and Foxy Brown was one of her most notable accomplishments.
Keith – Point of No Return (1993)
Point of No Return (also known as The Assassin) is a 1993 American action film directed by John Badham and starring Bridget Fonda and Gabriel Byrne. It is a remake of Luc Besson’s 1990 film Nikita.
Maggie Hayward (Bridget Fonda) is a young, violent and unstable drug addict found guilty of murdering a police officer, and is sentenced to death by lethal injection. Her death is faked, and a secret government agent named Bob (Gabriel Byrne) informs her that she is to become an assassin. She is given a makeover and training that transform her into a beautiful woman, and she is also trained as a killer. Her career as an assassin goes well at first. Then, after a mission goes awry, the agency sends in Victor (Harvey Keitel), a “cleaner,” to kill everyone and destroy the bodies.
David – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 Taiwanese–Chinese–Hong Kong–American martial arts film. A Chinese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen. The film was based on the fourth novel, of the same name, in the wuxia book series Crane Iron Pentalogy, by Chinese novelist Wang Dulu. The martial arts and fighting action sequences were choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping, who later directed the English language sequel Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, released in 2016.
Made on a US$17 million budget, with dialogue in Mandarin, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became a surprise international success, grossing $213.5 million. It grossed US$128 million in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing foreign-language film in American history. It has won over 40 awards. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Taiwan) and three other Academy Awards, and was nominated for six other Academy Awards, including Best Picture.[4] The film also won four BAFTAs and two Golden Globe Awards, one for Best Foreign Film. Along with its awards success, Crouching Tiger continues to be hailed as one of the greatest and most influential foreign language films in the United States, especially coming out of Taiwan. It has been praised for its martial arts sequences, story, direction, musical score, and cinematography.
Keith – The Hunger Games (2012)
The Hunger Games is a 2012 American dystopian science fiction adventure film directed by Gary Ross and based on the novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. It is the first installment in The Hunger Games film series and was produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik, with a screenplay by Ross, Collins, and Billy Ray. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. The story takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic future in the nation of Panem, where boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 18 must take part in the Hunger Games, a televised annual event in which the “tributes” are required to fight to the death until there is only one survivor. Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) volunteers to take her younger sister’s place. Joined by her district’s male tribute, Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson), Katniss travels to the Capitol to train for the Hunger Games under the guidance of former victor Haymitch Abernathy (Harrelson).
Development of The Hunger Games began in March 2009 when Lions Gate Entertainment entered into a co-production agreement with Color Force, which had acquired the rights a few weeks earlier. Collins collaborated with Ray and Ross to write the screenplay. The screenplay expanded the character of Seneca Crane to allow several developments to be shown directly to the audience and Ross added several scenes between Crane and Coriolanus Snow. The main characters were cast between March and May 2011. Principal photography began in May 2011 and ended in September 2011, with filming taking place in North Carolina. The Hunger Games was shot entirely on film as opposed to digital.
David – Spirited Away (2001)
Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) is a 2001 Japanese anime fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film stars Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takeshi Naito, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tsunehiko Kamij?, Takehiko Ono and Bunta Sugawara, and tells the story of Chihiro Ogino (Hiiragi), a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood, enters the spirit world. After her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba (Natsuki), Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba’s bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world.
Miyazaki wrote the script after he decided the film would be based on the ten-year-old daughter of his friend, associate producer Seiji Okuda, who came to visit his house each summer. At the time, Miyazaki was developing two personal projects, but they were rejected. With a budget of US$19 million, production of Spirited Away began in 2000. During production, Miyazaki realized the film would be over three hours long and decided to cut out several parts of the story. Pixar director John Lasseter, a fan of Miyazaki, was approached by Walt Disney Pictures to supervise an English-language translation for the film’s North American release. Lasseter hired Kirk Wise as director and Donald W. Ernst as producer of the adaptation. Screenwriters Cindy Davis Hewitt and Donald H. Hewitt wrote the English-language dialogue, which they wrote to match the characters’ original Japanese-language lip movements.
The film was released on 20 July 2001, and became the most successful film in Japanese history, grossing about $289 million worldwide and receiving widespread critical acclaim. The film overtook Titanic (at the time the top-grossing film worldwide) in the Japanese box office to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history with a ¥30.4 billion total. Spirited Away is frequently ranked among the greatest animated films. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards (Making it the only hand drawn animated film and Japanese animated film to win Best Animated Film), the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival (tied with Bloody Sunday) and is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.
Keith – Underworld (2003)
Underworld is a 2003 American action horror film directed by Len Wiseman about the secret history of vampires and lycans (an abbreviated form of lycanthrope, which means werewolf). It is the first (chronologically, the second) installment in the Underworld series. The main plot revolves around Selene (Kate Beckinsale), a vampire Death Dealer hunting Lycans. She finds herself attracted to a human, Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman), who is being targeted by the Lycans. After Michael is bitten by a Lycan, Selene must decide whether to do her duty and kill him or go against her clan and save him.
While reviewers generally received the film negatively, a smaller number of reviewers praised elements such as the film’s stylish Gothic visuals, the “icy English composure” in Kate Beckinsale’s performance, and the extensively worked-out vampire–werewolf mythology that serves as the film’s backstory.
David – Kill Bill: Volumes 1 & 2 (2003, 2004)
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (originally advertised as simply Kill Bill) is a 2003 American martial arts action film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who seeks revenge on a team of assassins (Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah and Vivica A. Fox) and their leader Bill (David Carradine) after they try to kill her and her unborn child. Her journey takes her to Japan, where she battles the Tokyo yakuza.
Tarantino conceived Kill Bill as a homage to “grindhouse” cinema including martial arts films, samurai cinema, blaxploitation films, and spaghetti westerns. It features an anime sequence animated by Production I.G. It is the first of two Kill Bill films produced simultaneously; the second, Kill Bill: Volume 2, was released in 2004. The films were originally set for a single release, but the film, with a runtime of over four hours, was divided in two. Volume 1 received positive reviews and was a commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing Tarantino film released at that point.
Keith – G.I. Jane (1997)
G.I. Jane is a 1997 American action film directed by Ridley Scott, produced by Largo Entertainment, Scott Free Productions and Caravan Pictures, distributed by Hollywood Pictures and starring Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen and Anne Bancroft. The film tells the fictional story of the first woman to undergo training in U.S. Navy Special Warfare Group.
David – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (also referred to as simply Terminator 2 or T2) is a 1991 American science fiction action-thriller film co-written, produced and directed by James Cameron. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick and Edward Furlong. It is the sequel to the 1984 film The Terminator, and the second installment in the Terminator franchise. Terminator 2 follows Sarah Connor (Hamilton) and her ten-year-old son John (Furlong) as they are pursued by a new, more advanced Terminator, the liquid metal, shapeshifting T-1000 (Patrick), sent back in time to kill John Connor and prevent him from becoming the leader of the human resistance. A second, less advanced Terminator (Schwarzenegger) is also sent back in time to protect John.
After a troubled pre-production characterized by legal disputes, Mario Kassar of Carolco Pictures emerged with the franchise’s property rights in early 1990. This paved the way for the completion of the screenplay by a Cameron-led production team, and the October 1990 start of a shortened 186-day filming schedule. The production of Terminator 2 required a $102 million budget making it the most expensive film made up to that point. Much of the film’s massive budget was spent on filming and special effects. The film was released on July 3, 1991, in time for the U.S. Independence Day weekend.
The film’s visual effects saw breakthroughs in computer-generated imagery, including the first use of natural human motion for a computer-generated character and the first partially computer-generated main character. Terminator 2 was a critical and commercial success and influenced popular culture, especially the use of visual effects in films. It received many accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects. The highest-grossing film of 1991 and Schwarzenegger’s career, Terminator 2 has since been ranked by several publications such as the American Film Institute as one of the greatest action films, science fiction films and sequels of all time
Keith – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (also referred to as simply Terminator 2 or T2) is a 1991 American science fiction action-thriller film co-written, produced and directed by James Cameron. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick and Edward Furlong. It is the sequel to the 1984 film The Terminator, and the second installment in the Terminator franchise. Terminator 2 follows Sarah Connor (Hamilton) and her ten-year-old son John (Furlong) as they are pursued by a new, more advanced Terminator, the liquid metal, shapeshifting T-1000 (Patrick), sent back in time to kill John Connor and prevent him from becoming the leader of the human resistance. A second, less advanced Terminator (Schwarzenegger) is also sent back in time to protect John.
After a troubled pre-production characterized by legal disputes, Mario Kassar of Carolco Pictures emerged with the franchise’s property rights in early 1990. This paved the way for the completion of the screenplay by a Cameron-led production team, and the October 1990 start of a shortened 186-day filming schedule. The production of Terminator 2 required a $102 million budget making it the most expensive film made up to that point. Much of the film’s massive budget was spent on filming and special effects. The film was released on July 3, 1991, in time for the U.S. Independence Day weekend.
The film’s visual effects saw breakthroughs in computer-generated imagery, including the first use of natural human motion for a computer-generated character and the first partially computer-generated main character. Terminator 2 was a critical and commercial success and influenced popular culture, especially the use of visual effects in films. It received many accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects. The highest-grossing film of 1991 and Schwarzenegger’s career, Terminator 2 has since been ranked by several publications such as the American Film Institute as one of the greatest action films, science fiction films and sequels of all time.
David – Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Mad Max: Fury Road is a 2015 action film directed and produced by George Miller, and written by Miller, Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris. The fourth instalment in the Mad Max franchise, it is an Australian and American venture produced by Kennedy Miller Mitchell, RatPac-Dune Entertainment and Village Roadshow Pictures. The film is set in a future desert wasteland where gasoline and water are scarce commodities. It follows Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), who joins forces with Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) to flee from cult leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his army in an armoured tanker truck, which leads to a lengthy road battle. The film also features Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee, and Courtney Eaton.
Fury Road was in development hell for many years, with pre-production starting as early as 1997. Attempts were made to shoot the film in 2001 and 2003, but were delayed due to the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. In 2007, after focusing on Happy Feet, Miller decided to pursue producing the film again. He briefly considered producing it as a computer-animated film but abandoned it in favor of live-action. In 2009, Miller announced that filming would begin in early 2011. Hardy was cast as Max in June 2010, with production planned to begin that November. Principal photography was delayed several more times before beginning in July 2012. The film wrapped in December 2012, although additional footage was shot in November 2013.
Keith /David – Aliens (1986)
Aliens is a 1986 American military science fiction action horror film written and directed by James Cameron, produced by his then-wife Gale Anne Hurd, and starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, William Hope, and Bill Paxton. It is the sequel to the 1979 film Alien and the second installment in the Alien franchise. The film follows Weaver’s character Ellen Ripley as she returns to the planet where her crew encountered the hostile alien creature, this time accompanied by a unit of space marines.
Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill of Brandywine Productions, who produced the first film and the later sequels, were executive producers of Aliens. They were interested in a follow-up to Alien as soon as its 1979 release, but the new management at 20th Century Fox postponed those plans until 1983. That year Brandywine picked Cameron to write after reading his script for The Terminator; when that film became a hit in 1984, Fox greenlit Aliens with Cameron as director and a budget of approximately $18 million. The script was written with a war film tone influenced by the Vietnam War to contrast the horror motifs of the original Alien. It was filmed in England at Pinewood Studios and at a decommissioned power plant in Acton, London.
Aliens grossed $180 million worldwide. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including a Best Actress nomination for Sigourney Weaver, winning both Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects (that latter delivered to special effects supervisor John Richardson). It won eight Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actress for Weaver and Best Direction and Best Writing for Cameron. Aliens is considered one of the best films in its genre.
Well that’s our list, and we are sticking to it! What did you think of it? Your opinion matters to us, so comment below about what you liked and what you disliked, and/or if you thought one of us was right or wrong! If you want us to do a special Top Ten list, let us know. We will take it into consideration! If we use it, you may even get a sneak peek at our lists before anyone else! Do you want to hear more about this and other stuff we talk about? Go on over to podcastunlimited, and look for episode 92 in our archive section, and listen to us talk about this list in detail. If you want to see our list of Honorable Mentions, check out our sister blog.
Till next time movie fans!
“Get away from her you Bitch”
-The Engineer
“I’ve been watching you waltz all night Diane,
Nobody’s found a way behind your defenses.
They never notice the zap gun in your hand,
Until you’re pointing it and stunning their senses.”
– Billy Joel, “Sleeping With the Television On”
–-The Editor