Great Female Action Movie Heroes

Considering that March is Women's History Month, the timing is right to feature some great roles women have played in action movies. The actresses may not be known by their last names alone, and women may not always open multi-million dollar movies but with girl power ever on the rise the day people turn up at the theater on a Friday night to see a top-billed woman kick some butt is not far off.

Uma Thurman as The Bride in Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2 is a great example of a female action hero. She carries two movies in her quest for revenge and breaks boundaries not only as a female assassin but also as a white expert at Japanese swordplay.

Sigourney Weaver's Lt. Ripley in the Alien series represents the first generation of super bad females in action/sci-fi. Whether she's rocking a pair of tighty whities, commanding a ship or fighting aliens Ripley is always in charge.

Angelina Jolie has broken ground as a female action hero of the current generation, both in her starring roles as Lara Croft and as an assassin in Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Who could forget Linda Hamilton in the Terminator movies, especially the way she beefed up for part 2. Her resilient character virtually guaranteed there would be a female Terminator and we finally got one played by Kristanna Loken in part 3.

Kate Beckinsdale emerged as quite a leader in the field of female action heroes in the 00s with her parts in the Underworld movies. Her character has physical super powers because she is a vampire but also displays mental toughness.

The upcoming decade promises to continue the trend of movies starring tough chicks. Blake Lively as Carol Ferris will duel the Green Lantern in 2011 and later this year Alice Braga joins the other alien hunters in Predators as a tough killer. Maybe one day a woman will become a legendary action hero like Chuck Norris and become the subject of Internet legend regarding her powers. It's not as far-fetched as you might think.