Ladylike ultraviolence
October 26, 2019 12:04 PM   Subscribe

For reasons, I would like to watch some media with women being brutally protective (vengeful works too). I got back from Terminator Dark Fate last night and it was exactly what I needed right now on this theme. Feed me please.

Relatively recent is a plus, I've seen Kill Bill. Also plus for object of protection or vengeance being women or children, more Panic Room than The Brave One if we wanna get Jodie about this.
Thanks in advance for not whatabouting me on this, if it's not your jam click on.
posted by Iteki to Media & Arts (44 answers total) 40 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wonder Woman!
posted by nantucket at 12:07 PM on October 26, 2019 [3 favorites]


Aliens, for sure.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 12:09 PM on October 26, 2019 [9 favorites]


Best answer: Mad Max : Fury Road (2015) a fantastic movie by any measure.
posted by artificialard at 12:11 PM on October 26, 2019 [45 favorites]


See TVTropes for this: Mama Bear. TVTropes is a terrific place to get lost clicking around, so pick one and watch before wasting hours navigating trope to trope (like me)!
posted by artlung at 12:18 PM on October 26, 2019 [5 favorites]


Atomic Blonde
posted by miratime at 12:19 PM on October 26, 2019 [13 favorites]


Salt is good for this. It's no Fury Road, but it scratches the itch for me.
posted by girlpublisher at 12:19 PM on October 26, 2019 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Gina Carano in Haywire may meet your needs. I could watch her beat up Michael Fassbender all day.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:28 PM on October 26, 2019 [9 favorites]


Jennifer Lopez in Enough.
posted by reshet at 12:33 PM on October 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


ms 45....cw:rape
posted by brujita at 12:42 PM on October 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


There's a woman named Amy Johnston, who grew up in a martial arts family and is now a stunt woman and fight double, and in the past few years she's gotten to be the star of a few movies herself:

Female Fight Squad (2016) - A former fighter reluctantly returns to the life she abandoned in order to help her sister survive the sadistic world of illegal fighting and the maniac who runs it.

Lady Bloodfight (2016) -- Upon arriving in Hong Kong, an American woman is beaten up and mugged by thugs. She's taken in by a martial arts master who trains her for a formidable fight competition known as the Kumite.

She has her own website and she's also the author of "How to Stunt In Hollywood", which is a collection of interviews and advice from her and people in her line of work. I'm honestly surprised that no one has built a franchise around this woman yet, as she is both quite beautiful and looks fierce as hell in combat.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 12:42 PM on October 26, 2019 [4 favorites]


French cult film Baise Moi.
posted by erattacorrige at 1:14 PM on October 26, 2019 [2 favorites]


Lady Snowblood is old, but a cornerstone of the genre, inspiring many offspring such as Kill Bill and Park Chan-wook's Lady Vengeance. Very violent, heroine avenging her mother's rape and death.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 1:14 PM on October 26, 2019 [5 favorites]


You're Next (produced by MeFi's own Keith Calder) is about a wealthy family's anniversary party being attacked by killers... who have made a critical mistake in underestimating the young fiancee of one of the family's sons.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:24 PM on October 26, 2019 [7 favorites]


Haywire is one of my all-time favorite lady revenge movies. Plus she does all her own stunts!
posted by unknowncommand at 1:38 PM on October 26, 2019 [4 favorites]


It takes a while to get there but the payoff in Death Proof fits the bill very well.
posted by rdnnyc at 2:04 PM on October 26, 2019 [3 favorites]


Heathers
posted by brookeb at 2:06 PM on October 26, 2019


Revenge is a very bloody rape-revenge movie, but I found it very satisfying and less exploitative than most of the genre, probably because it was directed by a woman.
posted by noxperpetua at 2:26 PM on October 26, 2019 [3 favorites]


Response by poster: FURY ROAD! Of course! That's the objective correct answer, thank you!
And thanks you for all these great responses, keep them coming, I will be working my way through them but tomorrow I will be watching Fury Road, Peppermint and Haywire, and next up will be You're Next and some of the Amy Johnston stuff. Both look really interesting and new to me!
posted by Iteki at 2:29 PM on October 26, 2019 [3 favorites]


Gina Carano in Haywire may meet your needs. I could watch her beat up Michael Fassbender all day.

Should've been the whole movie, TBH.

Sounds like the recent Ready or Not might work for you. Red Sparrow involves a lot of brutal female violence of the self-rescuing variety--I enjoyed it, but the framing is somewhat exploitative and there is some sexual assault.
posted by praemunire at 2:48 PM on October 26, 2019


Juliette Lewis in Natural Born Killers.
posted by Autumnheart at 2:54 PM on October 26, 2019


Korean movie "Lady Vengeance" ....so disturbing. Like Oldboy in terms of ?!?!?!.
posted by bquarters at 2:57 PM on October 26, 2019 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Furie (2019) is a Vietnamese action film on Netflix about a mother trying to save her daughter from kidnappers.
posted by cazoo at 3:11 PM on October 26, 2019 [2 favorites]


Haven't seen it yet but want to watch I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore because it seems like this.
posted by gaybobbie at 3:17 PM on October 26, 2019


Stumptown is a new show on ABC/Hulu. The main character is a woman veteran who kicks ass to classic rock.
posted by elmay at 3:57 PM on October 26, 2019


Nthing Fury Road, Aliens, and Wonder Woman.

Jessica Jones: fierce and unexpected, surprising protectiveness.
Orphan Black: all about the sestras
posted by lemon_icing at 4:47 PM on October 26, 2019 [3 favorites]


The films featuring Jeeja Yayin might be worth a look if you're wanting martial arts action. Some fight scenes: Chocolate, Raging Phoenix
posted by juv3nal at 5:21 PM on October 26, 2019


Long kiss goodnight. Not for 100% of the movie, but certainly the last quarter.
posted by unknown knowns at 5:24 PM on October 26, 2019 [6 favorites]


Hard Candy (2005)
posted by tinker at 6:01 PM on October 26, 2019 [2 favorites]


If you’re looking for an analysis of “women in action films” tropes and how Fury Road subverts them, Innuendo Studios Bringing Back What Was Stolen is really good.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:19 PM on October 26, 2019


Atomic Blonde
posted by snwod at 8:35 PM on October 26, 2019


Daryl Hannah delivers some terrific moments in the not great, not terrible hitman flick The Job.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 8:37 PM on October 26, 2019


Elastigirl in The Incredibles
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:46 PM on October 26, 2019


Strange Days. Fried Green Tomatoes (no sustained ultraviolence, but fits the other requirements). Seconding Jessica Jones, too: An excellent comic book and a pretty addictive TV show (and I've loved Krysten Ritter since "Don't trust the B").
posted by jenh at 8:58 PM on October 26, 2019


The Sellout is a fanvid with multiple sources that I think addresses what you're looking for.
posted by suelac at 9:13 PM on October 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


I like Out of Sight

Also kind of Spy
posted by riddley at 12:24 AM on October 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


Catfight is a film from 2017 in which Sandra Oh and Anne Heche play obnoxious rich arseholes who knock absolute lumps out of each other in a series of amazing fights at two year intervals.
posted by Lluvia at 12:44 AM on October 27, 2019


Thelma & Louise
posted by bardophile at 11:59 AM on October 27, 2019


The Luc Besson film Lucy has Scarlett Johansson kicking tremendous amounts of ass, it’s daft but I enjoyed it.
posted by tomcooke at 1:21 PM on October 27, 2019


Another Luc Besson-adjacent choice: Columbiana.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 4:44 PM on October 27, 2019


Some anime suggestions:

Jormungand - the MC is a female international arms dealer, who travels with her own paramilitary squad of bodyguards. It’s equal opportunity mayhem as she works towards her ultimate goal. She and her bodyguards, which include a woman, are brutally protective of each other. And everybody who’s watched Jormungand remembers this song.

Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit - it’s a fantasy set in a mythical Asian setting, the protagonist being a female bodyguard tasked with protecting a boy from assassins sent by the emperor. The anime adapted the first volume of a series of novels, some of which were also adapted as a TV drama series.
posted by needled at 7:29 PM on October 27, 2019


Hanna
posted by Rat Spatula at 7:35 PM on October 27, 2019


Not sure if it qualifies as vengeful but Michelle Yeoh’s action oevre is littered with kick-ass action set pieces. She carries the 1994 film Wing Chun. Double your pleasure with Cynthia Rothrock In Yes, Madam, or triple it with Anita Mui and Maggie Cheung in the deeply weird Heroic Trio.
posted by Eikonaut at 10:07 PM on October 27, 2019


Birdbox
posted by BusyBusyBusy at 8:44 AM on October 28, 2019


The Villainess (On Hulu I think) it has a The Raid level of violence.
posted by subocoyne at 12:26 PM on October 28, 2019


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