|
 |
|
Entertainment |
Strong Women On-Screen Part II - Action Queens and Ladies-in-Waiting Originally Published in WorldBlackBelt, 2004 As we saw in the previous article, three decades of strong female actresses have paved the way for the current crop of hot action stars. Like their predecessors, they are gorgeous, smart, fearless, as knowledgeable in the art of war as in the wiles of women. Here then is the current bevy of hot action stars lighting up the big and small screen. ZHANG ZIYI
JENNIFER GARNER
KRISTANNA LOKEN
LUCY LOVELESS
UMA THURMAN
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY
JESSICA ALBA
HILLARY SWANK
JESSICA BIEL
|
Riding the wave of the “new” genre of martial arts films in Hollywood (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers), Zhang Ziyi is the current darling of martial arts films, both in Asia and the U.S., and it is obvious why. On–screen she is childlike yet capable, poised yet naughty and charming, smart yet impulsive. Zhang Yimou, one of China’s most renowned directors, gave Zhang Ziyi her first break by casting her in the lead role of The Road Home (1999). You might also remember her in the film Rush Hour with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, where she speaks strictly Chinese in the film. But moviegoers will definitely never forget her frenetic fight scenes with Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fat, or her torrid love scenes in the Gobi Desert in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
We know by now that Jennifer Garner is back in the spy business in Alias on TV this year, 2005. This was the TV series that catapulted her into action stardom. She is also reprising her role as Elektra in a movie sequel to Daredevil, appropriately titled Elektra. In addition to numerous other television productions, she has appeared in major motion pictures as 13 Going On 30 (2004), Pearl Harbor (2001) and Dude, Where’s My Car? (2000). She is trained ballerina , a college graduate with a Theatre degree, and now a serious kickboxer.
From Part I, we learned that Linda Hamilton turned down the recurring role of Sarah Connor for Terminator 3 : The Rise of the Machines. Taking her place was Kristanna Loken, a former 5’ 11” supermodel of Norwegian descent who was born and grew up in New York. She made numerous television appearances before her breakthrough film role in Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines (2003) opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger. She has just finished filming a movie based on a popular video game, BloodRayne where she stars as the title character.
I must confess I did not what a chakram was until I started watching Xena, Warrior Princess. (It is that circular weapon she carries around her waist, from the Sanskrit word meaning circle.) Then I found myself attracted more to the character Gabrielle (played by Renee O’Connor), until I found out she was Xena’s love interest in the series. The critics’ consensus seems to be that Lucy Lawless endowed her character with charisma, strength and sex appeal, and thus gave Xena enough credibility to rise above the fantasy world and campy scripts. Isn’t that the same thing I said, that I watched the show for the martial arts and the sexual tension between Xena and Gabrielle?
Kill Bill is of course the extreme martial arts anime’ from Quentin Tarantino in the old tradition of Hong Kong kung-fu movies, Japanese sword play movies and spaghetti Westerns, with the level of screen violence, gore and even music ratcheted up to stratospheric proportions. This classic story of betrayal and revenge is told in two movies, Kill Bill Volume 1 and Kill Bill Volume 2, but the fights are mostly in Volume 1 and the denouement is in Volume 2. Uma Thurman delectably serves up the fight and denouement in both movies, more with animal ferocity than anime’. After these movies, she will almost surely be remembered as an action hero than just being part of the Quentin Tarantino ensemble.
In yeoman fashion, British actress Keira Knightley has been racking up the action roles, including leading roles in Pirates of the Caribbean and King Arthur, where she plays Guinevere as a warrior-queen. A child star, her first high-profile role came as Sabe, the Decoy Queen to Queen Amidala, played by Natalie Portman in Star Wars : The Phantom Menace in 1999. She has become a women’s magazine favorite, earning titles in 2004 such as the most glamorous film actress, the sexiest film star of all time, and the most desirable single woman in UK.
Her TV series lasted only two seasons, but that was probably enough to get her noticed as an up-and-coming young action star. For two years Jessica Alba played Max, a genetically enhanced soldier on the run from her own creators in the TV series Dark Angel. There was much expectation from this series because it was produced and directed by James Cameron, he of Aliens and Titanic fame.
I toyed with the idea of featuring Hillary Swank in both Part I and II of this article. In the 1994 movie The Next Karate Kid, Hillary Swank played Julie-san, the female Karate Kid, actually the fourth Karate Kid, originally playedby Ralph Macchio. In 1999, she won an Oscar for Best Actress in the movie Boys Don’t Cry where she played a real life person, Brandon Teena, a woman who secretly lived as a man and was raped and murdered for her deception. Now, Hillary Swank is in a movie being touted as an Oscar contender, Million Dollar Baby, directed by the ageless Clint Eastwood. She plays a thirty-something waitress who convinces Eastwood to train her to become a boxer in spite of her age and utter lack of experience. Is this just another Rocky movie, or will Clint surprise and disturb us again, just as he did in Mystic River last year? Either way, Hillary Swank will be the beneficiary of Clint’s gender-twisting, genre-bending (Oscar) contender.
Okay, I confess to the guilty pleasure of watching the TV series Seventh Heaven, but only to listen to the Rev. Camden (Stephen Collins) counsel his rebellious teen-aged daughter Mary Camden (Jessica Biel). Well, Jessica Biel is all grown up now and has graduated to action pictures. She recently co-starred with Wesley Snipes in the film Blade : Trinity where she gets to shoot a bow and arrow, kill vampires and kick ass. Her previous film was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. If only the Rev. Camden could see her now.