It's International Womens' Day today, so in honour of the girls who are well able to keep up with the lads, we thought we'd celebrate some of the ladies who give kick-ass performances in some of our favourite action films!
Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Aliens
When we first meet Ripley in Alien, she's running for her life from a single acid-blooded alien. By the time Aliens comes to an end, she's firing grenades into an entire nest of them. Oscar-nominated for the role, Weaver makes you fully believe that she would fight an entire planet of the monsters just to save her surrogate daughter.
Michelle Yeoh as Yu Shu Lin in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Any number of Yeoh's movies could have been on this list - the likes of Super Cop or Tomorrow Never Dies come to mind - but she was at her best in this artful kung fu epic. Yeoh plays a woman in love with a fellow warrior, at once intelligent and highly dangerous. Her skills with weaponry is matched only by her natural beauty.
Gina Carano as Mallory Kane in Haywire
Director Steven Soderbergh saw professional MMA fighter Carano during one of her championship fights, and decided to build a movie around her. Reminiscent of the likes of China O'Brien, Carano actual abilities help raise the "oomph" factor in her scraps with the likes of Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum and half of Dublin's police force.
Rooney Mara/Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
There is an argument to be made for whether Mara or Rapace were better as the character, but either way, Salander is not to be trifled with. A hacking genius, a pierced and tattooed punk, an out-and-proud bisexual, a woman well versed in giving and receiving pain; Salander leaves a mark in the lives of everyone she meets, one way or another...
Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit Girl in Kick Ass
When we first meet Hit Girl, she's shot in the chest by her father Nicholas Cage. But it's okay, she's wearing a bullet proof vest. Throughout the course of the movie, she kills dozens of men with her knives and guns, all the while cursing a blue streak that would leave sailors blushing. Moretz may have only been 13 years old at the time, but you still wouldn't want to cross her.
Uma Thurman as The Bride in Kill Bill
An assassin who is double crossed by her lover, and then goes on a roaring rampage of revenge, killing anyone and everyone who gets in her way. Across two movies, Thurman kills what feels like hundreds of people, all in the name of the daughter she has never met. Basically, do not come between a mother and her child, or you will get cut. Badly.
Carrie Anne Moss as Trinity in The Matrix
Before she got a wishy-washy and loved up in the sequels, Trinity was an intimidating presence in The Matrix universe, mastering every type of hand-to-hand combat and every weapon you could imagine. All while decked out in body hugging leather outfits. She even made wearing sunglasses indoors look cool.
Angelina Jolie as Evelyn Salt in Salt
Jolie could've also been on this list for the likes of Tomb Raider or Wanted, but Salt just about pips them to the edge by having her be just that bit more physical than in the others. Originally a role developed for Tom Cruise, Jolie took it over and brought her own level of intensity to the explosions and jumping-on-top-of-moving-trucks scenes.
Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor in Terminator 2
James Cameron sure does like his powerful women; after turning Ripley into a one-woman alien exterminator, he warps Sarah Connor from the woman-on-the-run in the original into a twisted shadow of her former self for the sequel. Our re-introduction to her - doing pull-ups on the frame of her mental hospital bed - is one the great "WTF?" moments in cinema, and she sure does know how to handle a machine gun.
Rebecca Romijn as Mystique in X-Men
Wolverine faught and beat loads of mutants in the X-Men universe, but Mystique is the only one to have handed him back his ass after she kicked the absolute sh*t out of it. Capable of morphing into anyone she pleases, Mystique is also highly agile and lethal, both of which she uses to great effect. Plus, when she's not all blue skinned and scaly, she looks like Rebecca Romijn (and previously, Jennifer Lawrence). Which is a super-power all of it's own.
