Yes, women can kick butt, now shut up!

[J.R.]

One of the most annoying things about reading reviews of, watching entertainment reports on, etc., of any film whose whose protagonist is female is the obligatory, "This proves women can kick butt too," or "Move over, guys, it's the ladies' turn!". What the hell? They talk about it like a female hero is a new concept. I don't really care what gender the hero is, as long as the movie is good. Just venting.

[Ken Begg]

It certainly isn't beyond belief that a woman, if properly trained and mean enough, cpuld hold her own in a fight.  For the record, though, I find the constant sight of willowy hundred pound females whooping ass on guys double their size increasingly tiresome.  The rule in fights is that a good big guy beats a good little guy.  This applies to women too, and since most women are smaller than most men, that means the woman would need to be much better at fighting is she's to win.

As for movies proving that "woman can kick ass," well, they don't.  They prove you can make movies where women kick ass.

[lester1/2jr]

if you like women kicking ass definately check out "Undaunted Wu Dang" if you get the chance.  It's a mainland (not Hong Kong)kung fu  feature with an extremely high level of actual martial arts.  Not quite like anything you've seen before.  The female lead is incredible.

[XxSilverHxX]

I get tired of when on tv they have a female say she is just as good as a male and they always let her win....that is old....And I don't find a female lead hero as interesting as a male hero.

[Flangepart]

....Two words : "G.I. Jane". I hate movies that ignore reality, with out bothering to set rules that make it possable. (She's a robot, alien , sprit being, whatever). Buffy the V. Slayer just does not look crediable to me. A vampire chick, okey, change the biology, change the expectations. But an other wise normal human....

[Lee]

I remember when CT,HD came out all the critics were talking about how "the women are great fighters in this movie", like that's anything new. It's happened in U.S. movies and it sure as hell ain't new for Hong Kong movies(Angela Mao was doing it in the '70's and it wasn't really new even then.). Having women in the lead role rarely doen anything for me(unless they are really hot!). Why? Beacuase they are basically all the same! The whole deal is about how the women are just as good or trying to prove they are better than the guys(but anybody with since knows in real life the guy she's fighting would knock the s**t out of her.). Besides I find the movie funner to watch( and more believable) when the star has the talent that the character posses. Tarantino, you ain't gonna make me believe for a single second that Uma is a martial artists you idiot.

[a woman]

Hmm, I see action movies where the male hero gets out of unbelievable situations (like being sprayed by bullets from the mass of bad guy thugs - nary a nick on our hero, but he squeezes off a killer shot with every round).  Spiderman's swinging around on self-spun webs without plummeting to an ugly death, Aragorn hews his way through dozens of orcs without getting seriously wounded.  I think it comes down to:  what myths do you want to believe in and have displayed for you?  

For some reason some guys in this society like to see a woman dominating over men.  I think Buffy gets to be a little bit much with the way that all men are pretty much emasculated on that show.   I don't necessarily  want to see Buffy get beaten up by a man, but it would be nice to see Spike spurn her in this coming season - "you're beneath me."  Buffy is supposed to be a superhero by the way, characters like (pre magical) Willow and Tara are completely vulnerable to all the usual Sunnydale dangers from bullets to werewolf/vampire/goddess attacks.

For what it's worth, I know I couldn't take any male over the age of 13 in honest one-on-one hand-to-hand combat.  However a woman, like a man, is capable of using her wits and also fighting dirty, acting crazy, etc..   I've been jumped by a strange man and I got out of it OK through such tactics.   Sort of the Bugs Bunny way of escaping trouble but hey it worked.

[Akira Tubo]

When I watched, Spiders (check it out on Jabootu.com!) I mentioned something like this.

The heroine, who had been a mousy little thing to that point, suddenly went all "Vasquez" and beat the crap out of a highly trained, government Sp00k twice her size.  Her physical prowess needed to be established earlier, perhaps by showing her practicing martial arts.

I'm not buying anyone who looks like a wimp, man or woman, as an ass-kicker unless it's established and/or handled credibly.  For example, I bought Vernon Wells taking on Arnie in Commando because the movie let us know he was a highly-trained, crazy sonofab***h, and the movie was ridiculous anyway. :)

[Fearless Freep]

>Hmm, I see action movies where the male hero gets out of unbelievable situations (like being sprayed by bullets from the mass of bad guy thugs - nary a nick on our hero, but he squeezes off a killer shot with every round).

Hmm..that seems to be covered under Law #16 - Law of Inverse Accuracy

The accuracy of a 'Good Guy' when operating any form of fire-arm increases as the difficulty of the shot increases. The accuracy of the 'Bad Guys' when operating fire-arms decreases when the difficulty of the shot decreases. (Also known as the Storm trooper Effect) Example: A 'Good Guy' in a drunken stupor being held upside down from a moving vehicle will always hit, and several battalions of 'Bad Guys' firing on a 'Good Guy' standing alone in the middle of an open field will always miss

From "Laws Of Anime"
http://www.bright.net/~nyla/animelaw.html

[J.R.]

And the hero will always knock someone out with a single punch, yet he/she can take an unbelievable beating and keep on going. Any grenade thrown at the hero has a seemingly endless fuse, yet any explosive he/she throws detonates immediately and throws  out huge flames, even though grenades are meant to spread shrapnel.

[Flangepart]

....In principal, i can buy a woman shooting as well as a man, as the gun does the hard part, she just has to point it the same was a man does. Same with cars. ....In prolonged hard raceing, like NASCAR and Indy, fewer women will have the stamina and sholder strength to keep at it for a long race. Still, it can be done.         (Lady and Gentleman, start your engins!, as per the latest Nascar event.)
....Not  a bad point about the unrealistic hero abilites, "A woman". I guess its always about the divideing line between daydreams and believeability. Women have differant talents then man, as well as among them selves. The general reality of sexual differances is not a matter of one being superior to the other, just in realising the compatable balance of strength and weakness that makes the human race tick.
....Or am i pontificating agine?

[J.R.]

I could go the rest of my life without seeing "girl" spelled as "grrl".

[peter johnson]

emma peel/diana rigg in the original tv avengers was not only credible within the fantasy context of the show. but let herself get beat up every now & then in order to stage a stunning comeback.  if you haven't given these old woman-kicking-major-man-butt tv episodes a chance, you're missing out on some very fun viewing
pardon all lower case bad punctuation etc. -- broken hand/cast etc.
peter johnson

[Andrew]

> pardon all lower case bad punctuation etc. -- broken hand/cast etc.

Peter, doing some damage to ourselves are we?

I am healing up after one of the unit's monthly grudge games.  This was played on a racquetball court, with four volleyballs in play.  The goal was, while crabwalking (no standing or kneeling), to put a ball in the opposing team's goal (a large plastic trash can).  There were no other rules.

The previous goal I had tackled the CO (he was proving dangerous).  The second time I got him, I couldn't get one of his arms wrapped up.  He started punching me in the shoulder and outer arm, trying to find a nerve to make me let go.  Well, somebody hit us from behind and his last punch was way off.  I took it on the right eye.  Split me open (I'm going to have a scar), but we kept at it.  With the sweat and blood running down my face I looked like Rocky.

The next game, I had a hold on, I think, one of the Sgt's from supply and one of the Admin Marines, both with opposite sides of my body (one arm and one leg each).  They wrenched hard to get away (opposite directions) and my shoulder made a neat sound.  That has been sore today.

I got that Admin Marine back.  Tackled him when he had a ball and just held him down hard.  Took the ball from him and passed it off though.  He started gagging and retching from exerting himself too much to get away.  I let him go at that point.

Most of the time I tried to lock my legs around one opposing player and get another in a headlock.  That worked pretty darn good for tying up two of their guys.

[J.R.]

And then there's Pam Grier. She was always a normal person out for revenge. She could beat guys up, but it was always a down-and-dirty fight and she would usually lose against trained thugs and the like. And a gun in the afro always does the trick. I'm actually thinking of reviewing Foxy Brown for a reader submission. Lotta Gratuitous Breast Shots there.