Unassuming Badass Female Protagonists

by theonemoviebuff | created - 08 Feb 2023 | updated - 26 Apr 2023 | Public

Movies with women in lead characters - but don't underestimate these ladies - they kick a lot of ass around!

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1. Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

53 Metascore

A deactivated cyborg's revived, but can't remember anything of her past and goes on a quest to find out who she is.

Director: Robert Rodriguez | Stars: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali

Votes: 293,799 | Gross: $85.71M

2. Atomic Blonde (2017)

R | 115 min | Action, Thriller

63 Metascore

An undercover MI6 agent is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents.

Director: David Leitch | Stars: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Eddie Marsan

Votes: 206,541 | Gross: $51.69M

3. Kate (I) (2021)

R | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Crime

47 Metascore

A jaded assassin assigned to target a yakuza clan has 24 hours to find out who poisoned her and get vengeance before she dies.

Director: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan | Stars: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Woody Harrelson, Miku Martineau, Tadanobu Asano

Votes: 70,510

4. Anna (II) (2019)

R | 118 min | Action, Thriller

40 Metascore

Beneath Anna Poliatova's striking beauty lies a secret that will unleash her indelible strength and skill to become one of the world's most feared government assassins.

Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Sasha Luss, Helen Mirren, Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy

Votes: 94,828 | Gross: $7.74M

5. Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

R | 114 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

47 Metascore

Three generations of women fight back against those who could take everything from them.

Director: Navot Papushado | Stars: Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh

Votes: 51,176

6. Jolt (2021)

R | 91 min | Action, Comedy, Crime

48 Metascore

A bouncer with a slightly murderous anger-management problem that she controls with the help of an electrode-lined vest she uses to shock herself back to normalcy whenever she gets homicidal.

Director: Tanya Wexler | Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Jai Courtney, Stanley Tucci, Bobby Cannavale

Votes: 35,348

7. Serenity (2005)

PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

74 Metascore

The crew of the ship Serenity try to evade an assassin sent to recapture telepath River.

Director: Joss Whedon | Stars: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alan Tudyk

Votes: 305,692 | Gross: $25.51M

8. Jung_E (2023)

TV-14 | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

52 Metascore

On an uninhabitable 22nd-century Earth, the outcome of a civil war hinges on cloning the brain of an elite soldier to create a robot mercenary.

Director: Yeon Sang-ho | Stars: Kang Soo-youn, Kim Hyun-joo, Ryu Kyung-Soo, Park So-yi

Votes: 10,716

9. Ghost in the Shell (2017)

PG-13 | 107 min | Action, Crime, Drama

52 Metascore

In the near future, Major Mira Killian is the first of her kind: A human saved from a terrible crash, who is cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world's most dangerous criminals.

Director: Rupert Sanders | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbæk, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche

Votes: 227,916 | Gross: $40.56M

10. Æon Flux (2005)

PG-13 | 93 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

36 Metascore

Æon Flux is a mysterious assassin working for the Monicans, a group of rebels trying to overthrow the government. When she is sent on a mission to kill the Chairman, a whole new mystery is found.

Director: Karyn Kusama | Stars: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Sophie Okonedo, Marton Csokas

Votes: 132,781 | Gross: $25.87M

11. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

R | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

90 Metascore

In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in search for her homeland with the aid of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper and a drifter named Max.

Director: George Miller | Stars: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz

Votes: 1,086,522 | Gross: $154.06M

12. Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

R | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

54 Metascore

An augmented human and Sarah Connor must stop an advanced liquid Terminator from hunting down a young girl, whose fate is critical to the human race.

Director: Tim Miller | Stars: Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes

Votes: 193,214 | Gross: $62.25M

13. Red Sparrow (2018)

R | 140 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

53 Metascore

Ballerina Dominika Egorova is recruited to 'Sparrow School,' a Russian intelligence service where she is forced to use her body as a weapon. Her first mission, targeting a C.I.A. agent, threatens to unravel the security of both nations.

Director: Francis Lawrence | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling

Votes: 201,601 | Gross: $46.87M

14. Lucy (I) (2014)

R | 89 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

62 Metascore

A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.

Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Amr Waked

Votes: 534,425 | Gross: $126.66M

15. Salt (2010)

PG-13 | 100 min | Action, Thriller

65 Metascore

A CIA agent goes on the run after a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy.

Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski

Votes: 330,148 | Gross: $118.31M

16. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

PG-13 | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

33 Metascore

Video game adventurer Lara Croft comes to life in a movie where she races against time and villains to recover powerful ancient artifacts.

Director: Simon West | Stars: Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight, Iain Glen, Noah Taylor

Votes: 218,986 | Gross: $131.14M

17. Tomb Raider (2018)

PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

48 Metascore

Lara Croft, the fiercely independent daughter of a missing adventurer, must push herself beyond her limits when she discovers the island where her father, Lord Richard Croft disappeared.

Director: Roar Uthaug | Stars: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu

Votes: 227,150 | Gross: $58.25M

18. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

R | 152 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

76 Metascore

A journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.

Director: Niels Arden Oplev | Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling, Lena Endre

Votes: 223,356 | Gross: $10.10M

19. Ava (IV) (2020)

R | 96 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

39 Metascore

Ava is a deadly assassin who works for a black ops organization, traveling the globe specializing in high profile hits. When a job goes dangerously wrong she is forced to fight for her own survival.

Director: Tate Taylor | Stars: Jessica Chastain, John Malkovich, Common, Geena Davis

Votes: 62,837 | Gross: $0.50M

20. Mulan (2020)

PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

66 Metascore

To keep her ailing father from serving in the Imperial Army, a fearless young woman disguises herself as a man and battles northern invaders in China.

Director: Niki Caro | Stars: Liu Yifei, Donnie Yen, Gong Li, Jet Li

Votes: 159,098



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