Who's Washburn???: September 2009

I haven't done one of these for awhile, and they're fun... so here we go...

Washburn's Top 5 of the Day: The Top 5 Most BadAss Female Characters in Film...

First off, this was a tough list to make... some honorable mentions that didn't make my top 5 are Linda Carter as Wonder Woman, Ziyi Zhang as Xiao Mei (in House of Flying Daggers), Rob Zombies girlfriend who played Baby Firefly in The Devil's Rejects, Angelina Jolie as the Tomb Raider Lara Croft, Carrie-Ann Moss as the Matrix's leading lady Trinity, and one of my all time favorites, Anne Parillaud as Nikita in LaFemme Nikita...sorry ladies... but here are the ones that did make my list...

5) Mallory Knox - Coming in at number 5 is the infamous, notorious mass-murderer Mallory Knox played by Juliette Lewis in the 1994 film, Natural Born Killers. Very rarely in films are villains so evil yet so lovable at the same time. Mallory Knox is a psychopathic murderer who, along with her husband, Mickey, racked up an impressive body count as they drove up and down highway 666 and terrorized small-town American towns. How can anyone forget the opening sequence when Mallory displays her sex appeal, her ability to fain innocence, and her natural ability to kill so effectively. She curtly seduces a man at a diner bar and leads him on to dance with her, all the while, her hubby is sitting at the bar waiting for the right moment to join in. As the unsuspecting victim gets more and more forward with Mallory, that is when the action begins. She spouts out in her hillbilly accent, "Are you flirtin with me???" and before you know it she socks the guy square in the jaw and continues the beat down until things really get bloody. View the clip below to see the opening sequence of Natural Born Killers and admire Mallory Knox's badassness. You don't want to mess with this little lady. Probably the only reason she isn't higher in the rankings is because she is only one part of a tandum.

4) Yu Shu Lien - played by the dynamic Michelle Yeoh is the heroine character from 2001's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She is a kung-fu master who, along with her partner, a Wu-Dan Master, Li Mu Bai, have attained the status of warrior legends. She is in the influence on a young girl to follow in her footsteps as a warrior, but the girl is mixed up and goes about attaining enligtenment through trecherous methods. She is eptime of discipline and calm in the movie. Her martial arts skills are so smooth and dance-like. She can literally run on air and at one point, she catches a blow dart out of mid-air. Pretty sweet moves. I wouldn't want to tangle with her. Check out her first encounter with the trecherous girl who has stolen Li Mu Bai's sword. Not only does she have some kick-ass moves and one-liners, "Get down here!", the background music is also sweet. Taiko Drums....

3) Sarah Connor - Not the Sarah Connor from the first Terminator, more the Sarah Connor from the sequel. Played with total conviction by Linda Hamilton, she is number 3 on the list. She's been locked up in an asylum, removed from her son's life, and no one will believe her that there is an indestructable robot from the future out to get her and her son. She's pissed, to say the least. When she finally gets out of the asylum, with the help of her son, John, and a revamped, good-guy Arnie, she is ready to kick some ass. A couple of the scenes in the mental asylum give us glimpses of Sarah's potential to be a total badass chick, but she really gets going when she decides to go on a one-woman assassination mission and kill the guy she feels is responsible for Judgement-Day (in the future). She nearly gives in to her killing side. This cool video, that someone made, is a little music video of kickass clips of Sarah Connor from T2. Enjoy!!!

2) Beatrix Kiddo (AKA The Bride, AKA Black Mamba) - is the heroine and main character in the Kill Bill movies. She kicks so much ass throughout these two movies, that is hard to pinpoint her best badass moment, but after some thought, it has to be the scene in Volume 1 when she takes on the entire Crazy 88s, a masked kung-fu gang of thugs and killers that works for fellow former assassin in the Deadly Viper Squad, O-Ren Ishii (AKA Cottonmouth). She not only enacts her revenge in a systematic fashion, but does it in bloody, Tarantino glory. Uma Thurman displays an uncanny ability in her battle with the Crazy 88 to take on an entire army of badies and easily (and bloddily) dispatch of them. It's an iconic scene for women wanting to kick ass everywhere. Here is the clip below!

And the number 1 Badass chick in movies...
Lt. Ellen Ripley - from Alien, Aliens, Alien3, and Alien: Resurrection. Not only is she one of film's greatest survivor characters, but she kicks a ton of ass along the way. No where is this more apperant than in the final 30 minutes of Aliens, the second film in the series. Ripley, after most of her crew is totally wiped out, takes it upon herself to rescue a little girl from the clutches of the evil Alien monsters, and more importantly, the Queen Bee. In this part of the movie, Ripley becomes a one-woman wrecking crew, combining a flam-thrower, machine gun, and grenade launcher into one weapon and stepping confidently amidst the egg pods being layed by the GIANT Queen alien. Ripley is not to be messed with this time around. The fight continues, even after she thinks she has safely rescued the little girl. Back on her space ship, she must then battle the Queen women to women. The famous line, "Get away from her, you BITCH!" is screamed as Ripley beats the Queen and blasts her out of an air lock. Total badass. Here's a scene from Aliens. Enjoy!