It’s not that we condone violence, it’s just that we can’t help but root for ass-kicking women in fictional scenarios. This week we want to know, what’s your favorite fight scene?
Heather Hogan: I’ve read/watched all the Harry Potters so many times I’ve lost count, but seeing Hermione Granger unleash her righteous fury on Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabn is as exciting now as it was the first time I saw it. The name calling (“You! You foul, loathsome, evil, little cockroach!”) the way he whimpers when she’s got her wand pressed against his jugular, the moment she turns away when she realizes he’s not good enough for her magic, then — WHAMO! — a full-on Muggle-punch to the face. It still makes me cheer.
Dara Nai: I have to go with Michelle Yeoh in all her scenes in everything, but especially in Super Cop (Police Story 3: Super Cop outside North America.) Voted Greatest Action Heroine of All Time by rottentomatoes.com, and one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World,” Michelle Yeoh is a global goddess of gonad-gutting girl glory.
In the Hong Kong action movie tradition, Yeoh does all her own fight scenes and stunts. In Super Cop, she is a non-stop ass-kicker of bad men, and even jumped a speeding dirt bike onto the top of a moving train. A moving train! During filming Tomorrow Never Dies, Pierce Brosnan called Michelle Yeoh the female James Bond. Fuck that. James Bond is the male Michelle Yeoh.
Emily Hartl: This is a hard one for me because I usually avoid action movies like the plague, so I’m going to go with some good old fashioned hair pulling. I really mean some old fashioned shit, too. Jo vs. Amy in 1994’s Little Women. You bet your lucky stars that I would have gone after Amy like that if she had thrown my manuscript into the fire!
Lucy Hallowell: I was going to go with Anne breaking the slate over Gilbert’s head but then I remembered my Jennifer Garner. I will not bore everyone with my nerdy and embarrassing love for Mrs. Affleck but as Sydney Bristow she kicks some serious ass. In. Every. Damn. Episode. She is perfection and her fight scenes are amazing.
As her dorktastic self, this one takes the cake. Look at her act like she’s not going to take her shoes off and then is like “F it, I want to win” and destroys that pinata.
Grace Chu: Buzzfeed alerted me of a new single and music video by a collaboration of Korean American rappers who hit it big in South Korea. Though pegged as the “new Psy” the collaboration, MFBTY (My Fans Better Than Yours), is far from gimmicky. Check out the video for their single, “Sweet Dream“. Seriously, it’s dope. MBFTY consists of Tiger JK, Yoon Mi-rae (born Tasha Reid) and Bizzy. A few YouTube clicks later and I came across the following video by Yoon Mi-rae, which features her kicking a bunch of dudes’ asses — and bonus: her sword turns into a lightsaber at the end as she swaggers off into the distance, wearing a white tank top and red Adidas kicks.
Ali Davis: I love Haywire. The movie knows exactly when you would like to see Gina Carano kick more ass, and it delivers over and over. The coffee shop fight is great, but the one where she destroys both Michael Fassbender and a hotel room is probably my favorite.
Marcie Bianco: Katee Sackhoff’s first fight (on the rooftop) against the “new” bionic woman!
Punky Starshine: Insult Roberta, she’ll kick your ass. Insult her late mother, her friends will do it for you. Reason #894 why Now & Then is my favorite movie of all time.
Bridget McManus: When cartoon intellectual Wendy kicked the shit out of Cartman’s fat ass on South Park. She beat him up for all of us
Dana Piccoli: Kill Bill is one of my guilty pleasures and it’s chock full of amazing fight scenes. My favorite is between Beatrix (Uma Thurman) and Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah). It’s so brutally violent, yet had these weird almost comedic moments. The fact that Elle is the only member of The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad that Beatrix leaves alive makes it especially powerful.
Trish Bendix: I’ve always loved the scene in Boys on the Side where Whoopi Goldberg busts into Drew Barrymore’s house with her boyfriend and they end up double teaming him and then taping him to a chair with the help of Mary Louise Parker. My favorite verbal assault is when the douche bag druggie says, “What is sex like without a dick?” and Whoopi responds, “I don’t know, man, you tell me.” (NSFW for language and Drew’s boobs. Oh, the ’90s.)
What’s your favorite fight scene?
