Claire Danes (voice only, English version) as San in “Princess Mononoke”
There are other tough heroines in animation —we’re not forgetting the likes of “Brave,” and “Mulan” or indeed Wyldstyle from “The Lego Movie”— but erm, well… did any of them survive being thrown to wolves by craven parents? Then get raised by said wolves to become a warrior Princess who identifies as a wolf? Then wage war on humanity, personified by Lady Eboshi (herself pretty damn kick-ass, though less of a heroine)? No? Well then. San, the titular character (though not the lead) of our favorite of all the great Hayao Miyazaki movies takes the cake for us. Only the trailer available, but you do get a glimpse of her fab facepaint/mask/wolf pelt/dagger ensemble.
Emily Blunt as Rita Vratasky in “Edge Of Tomorrow”
No wonder that people are campaigning for Emily Blunt to play Captain Marvel after her turn as the most recent addition to our list, in Doug Liman’s undervalued summer sci-fi “Edge Of Tomorrow.” The British actress had already proven her versatility, but she absolutely walked away with the movie (even as Tom Cruise gave his best performance in ages), effortlessly convincing as both the hardened ‘Full Metal Bitch’ soldier, and the scared, ordinary woman who only got that way by dying endlessly. Even if the film never quite caught on with audiences, it should be a career redefining role for the actress.
Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl in “Kick Ass”
There’s ever so much that doesn’t work in Matthew Vaughn’s superhero semi-parody “Kick Ass,” but one of the things that really does is Chloe Moretz and her gleeful embodiment of psychotic purple-haired tween assassin Hit-Girl. Cutting or blasting her way through swathes of villains to the tune of The Banana Splits or Joan Jett, Moretz (then aged only twelve) more than pulls off the combat, but also, in her relationship with Nicolas Cage’s Big Daddy, gives the picture what little heart it has. The less said about the dire sequel the better, obviously.
Anne Parillaud as Nikita in “La Femme Nikita”
Luc Besson could have been the patron saint of this list, but one shouldn’t mistake his gun-toting, ass-kicking but never less than male-gazey drop-dead-sexy protagonists as an instance of feminist credentials. But you can trace all the Lucys and Leeloos and revenge-bent Zoe Saldanas (“Colombiana”) as well as Bridget Fonda in the subpar US remake and even his take on Joan of Arc, to the ground zero of 1990’s “La Femme Nikita,” Besson’s first foray into the subgenre. Parillaud’s sine qua non assassin in a cocktail dress is hot, dangerous and infinitely resourceful, but we do like that there are moments, even during this centerpiece action scene, at which even she loses hope.
