In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan; Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.LOS ANGELES – Angelina Jolie plays an indestructible CIA officer accused of being a Russian spy in “Salt.” The role allows her to do so much of what she does so well: kick butt and look impossibly sexy doing it.
Jolie truly has carved out her own niche. But many actresses before her have shaken things up as intensely as the big boys, and with a bit of feminine flair:
Sigourney Weaver in “Aliens” (1986): Thanks to this role, Weaver is synonymous with fierceness. But part of the allure of the performance is that she didn’t start out as a bad-ass: She transformed herself into one out of sheer survival and a ferocious protective instinct.
Linda Hamilton in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991): James Cameron does know how to get indelible performances out of strong women. Similar to Weaver, Hamilton’s also already pretty formidable as Sarah Connor in the original “Terminator” from 1984. But that early shot in the sequel of her doing pull-ups in the state hospital – those sinewy biceps pulsating with each repetition – is just a frightening sight to behold.
Uma Thurman in the “Kill Bill” movies (2003 and 2004): The Bride, Beatrix Kiddo — whatever you want to call her, just be sure not to cross her. Like Sarah Connor, Thurman’s character has maternal instinct as a motivating force behind her trail of death and destruction. But The Bride is primarily out for revenge against her fellow assassins who tried to kill her on her wedding day. Her knock-down, drag-out trailer fight against Daryl Hannah is a doozy, but she’s just as capable of taking on a pack of 100 samurai-sword wielding thugs.
Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000): OK, so maybe it’s a bit of a cheat to pick both actresses. But they’re so intrinsically intertwined, it’s impossible to separate them. They need and feed off each other – each is the other’s equal. They’re both strong and feminine, beautiful and intelligent, athletic and crafty. And their fight scenes are lush and hypnotic.
Jane Fonda in “Barbarella” (1968): Sure, go ahead and laugh. But you can only imagine how difficult it is to operate a laser gun effectively while dressed in go-go dominatrix gear. The boots alone would make it tough to run and chase bad guys. Fonda, under the direction of her then-husband Roger Vadim, was all hair and legs and campy sex appeal as a futuristic, intergalactic warrior goddess.
