MovieChat Forums > Underworld: Awakening (2012) Discussion > Is this movie an example of action heroi...

Is this movie an example of action heroines done right or wrong?

posted 10 years ago by emaxwell1313
3 replies | jump to latest

There have often been complaints from audiences that they are tired of action heroines with aggressive attitudes and for whom their ability to kick ass is the selling point. It has been said that pretty girls who know how to fight and wail on large men have gotten dull and boring and too repetitive for anyone to want to see it. it is considered too blatantly unrealistic even for action movies based on comic books and that even in this kind o media stretches suspension of disbelief too far.

And yet movies like this keep getting made. I hear so many people say that they never want to see kick ass heroines like this ever again and want them eliminated from action movies altogether and yet movies with action heroines like this keep getting made all the time. Fans say that most of them want to go back to the days when men like John Wayne and Rambo were doing all the ass kicking. But then why do movies like this get made at all in that case?

So do fans here still think pretty girls who know 5 or more different martial arts and can kick the asses of large men are entertaining and don't require too much suspension of disbelief? And if you do like these kind of badass heroines, is Hit Girl an example of one mostly done correctly or incorrectly?

[–] majandralover30 10 years ago

Some women find it cool to see a woman be so tough. Some men find it sexy. it's also a fantasy fulfilment thing. In my own experience, I like heroines who don't try to be tough but struggle because they have to rise to the occassion. The best example might be the most recent tomb raider game or Sigourney in the very first alien movie. The same thing could be said of superheroes though. Perhaps that is why I enjoy guys like Zorro, arrow, and a couple of others. Cool guys, but also human. These fantasies are cliche, but they have their place. I just wish heroines and heroes would be more human, in the sense of showing them struggling to overcome. If they are going to be like rambo, do what they did with batman and show the struggles they went through.

[–] jonasmart 10 years ago

I think this movie is an example of action heroines done right. First, Selene is a vampire fighting werewolves so it´s plainly ridiculous complaining about how "unrealistic" it is just because she´s woman. It would hardly be more realistic if the vampire protagonist was male. Second, I think most action movies are quite unrealistic regardless of the protagonist´s gender. Because in real life it should be impossible even for a well-trained, badass man (or a woman) to take down multiple armed opponents without getting so much as a scratch, the standard trope in action movies.

And yet movies like this keep getting made.

Many men (including me) find beautiful, badass women sexy, at least on film. I guess some women like it also, but most of them seem to prefer films like Twilight with weak, helpless female protagonists dominated by strong males. It is an irony in that, isn´t it?

[–] UnderworldRocks 8 years ago

There aren't so many female-led franchises, are there?

Think of a few.

Underworld, my all time favourite, starring Kate.
Alien, starring Sigourney.
Tomb Raider, starring Angelina.
Resident Evil, which I used to like but not anymore.