The best part of these kind of roles is that they’re just a throwaway — normal, expected, nobody blinks an eye. (The joke there is that her husband, a highly literate lawyer, can’t fight for beans, and she provides a lot of the muscle, but there are no laughs when she starts swordfighting.)

I find them much more refreshing than the star trailers we’re supposed to point at and say loudly, “Look, she’s a woman!”

Figured as much my friend but what fun is the internet without geeky pretentious brain explosions like my comment above? :P

Dunno if you’ve seen “Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey” but if not do so soon! Not only is it one of the better biographies on the man but the last half of the film is nothing but footage from his unfinished The Game of Death. It would have been the ultimate homage/catalyst for modern martial arts cinema. Who knows what the landscape would look like now had it been completed.

On the topic of filmic precursors to the empowerment in Kill Bill I must mention 1973’s Lady Snowblood (trailer) as Tarintino himself has cited it as the primary inspiration for that aspect of his film.

How has Hollywood not made this yet? It practically writes itself!

Thanks for sharing the other side of your daily life Nadya…you’re much more agile than I thought. Plus look at those furry cheeks…so cute! :P

My 2 cents on the female empowerment schtick… As much attention as Tarantino gets for his tough women one can’t forget Geena Davis. In A League of Their Own she set the tone for how to do a strong female lead without making them seem male. Too many times “stong female lead” turns into “actress acting like a cliche male action star…”

In Cutthroat Island and A Long Kiss Goodnight she kicked some serious ass. Both films tanked for a variety of reasons (I still like em dammit) but in the case for A Long Kiss Goodnight critics said “No one buys a Female Action Star in the States” and other such lines. This was the mid 90’s…right before DVD’s allowed for the flood of HK films to be seen by more than movie junkies. It’s still rare to see major actresses take on action roles (but oh how they’ll do romantic comedies till ones eyes bleed…) but at least now it’s possible.

I’d say the catalyst wasn’t just actresses like Davis taking gambles in pushing what audiences will accept in terms of Female Empowerment on film…but more importantly video games. 1996 saw Lara Croft take center stage in Tomb Raider. That was the game to show a female as an action star could work…and to a whole generation of gamers the idea of “playing as a girl” become a non-issue and downright awesome. Street Fighter did the same with having strong women beat the ever loving crap out of guys and later Resident Evil would show a female character taking on zombie hordes. Probably the earliest and most stealth like was Metroid as its iconic lead is in fact of a woman. Something gamers first learned on the ye old NES by surprise.

So if anything it’s all those gamers having grown up and expecting to see kick ass women in their entertainment as a whole that’s pushed what we see now. As great as Kill Bill was…I doubt it would have been anywhere near as accepted by a generation not schooled on video games and eastern cinema.

And for those going “What about Aliens and T2?” True one can’t deny Cameron’s love for kick ass women and they no doubt set the stage for much to come. Still those characters fall into that weird spectrum where they take elements from both sexes and become an mythical hybrid…though I will happily admit Ripley from Aliens was the coolest thing in the world to me as a kid…

A while back, Pedro also decided I was under the impression that Alan Moore wrote The Sandman, and saw fit to correct me… he’s a very helpful backseat driver, is Pedro. ;)

It’s okay. To be fair, I crapped this post out really fast. Came up with the oh-so-clever-and-original “appropriately titled” and “most aptly named film since Snakes on a Plane” bits all by myself the minute Trixie showed me the clip, but then, in perusing other blogs afterwards while writing this masterful bit of journalism, I noticed the same joke in various places. Perhaps I should have been more distinctive in my own wording. Ah well. Color me unoriginal.

pedro soenen: I’m not really sure what your point is. After reading the post you linked to I agree that there are similarities. However the similarities are observations that most people who keep up with film and see this trailer would make. Making a snide comment based on this seems to be either coming from an agenda or a tad dense as I imagine any worthwhile post on this film would note these facts.