Lori Petty as Tank Girl in “Tank Girl”
It might have taken Marvel and DC decades to get around to female comic-book heroes, but United Artists were at least well ahead of the game with their adaptation of the cult underground riot girl heroine. Rachel Talalay’s film is admittedly a bit rubbish, with budgetary and tonal issues all over the place, but it’s got a lot more character to it than many of its modern day equivalents, thanks in part to Lori Petty’s manic, Looney Tunes-ish central performance, a piece of perfect casting in the middle of an almighty mess. Imagine if she’d had a more worthwhile script…
Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo in “Kill Bill”
To his immense credit, Tarantino’s generally featured very strong female characters, but the most obviously kick-ass of the bunch is Beatrix Kiddo, aka the blood-soaked bride heroine of the two-part “Kill Bill” epic. The director’s muse Uma Thurman gave an instantly iconic performance as she took on dozens of Yakuza, dug her way out of a grave, and finally manages to fulfill the title (with a single punch, no less). Endless homages and Halloween costumes were born as a result, and Thurman’s place in cinema history was secured.
Jenette Goldstein as Vasquez in “Aliens”
Of all the many air-punching moments in “Aliens,” probably our single favorite is surprisingly a moment lacking Ripley, Hicks, or even an Alien. “Hey Vasquez, you ever been mistaken for a man?” sneers Bill Paxton’s Hudson. “No,” she whips back, “have you?” Between that and the greatest, toughest final words of all time (“You always were an asshole, Gorman”) Vasquez may have the least screen time of any entrant on this list, but she makes an impression so indelible that even Goldstein herself, despite subsequent roles in “Near Dark” and “The Presidio” and bit parts in a couple more Cameron films, never escaped that character’s awesome, buff shadow.
Summer Glau as River Song in “Serenity”
Joss Whedon is another male creator with an admirable commitment to strong female characters, and aside from his best-known creation “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” the best example of that is likely “Serenity” and its short-lived parent series “Firefly.” There’s an admirable breadth and diversity of awesome women in his sci-fi universe (special shout-out to the great Gina Torres as right-hand woman Zoe), but it’s Summer Glau as troubled walking weapon River, a slip of a thing able to take out a room full of thugs with a ballerina’s grace (and, thanks to Glau’s performance, a light comic touch), who turned out to be the baddest ass on the Serenity ship.