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Everyone loves a good crime story, with the men on both sides of the law starring in thousands
of action films, dramas, and comedies. The genre may be dominated by notorious men, but
from the noir films of the 1940’s to seedy modern thrillers, there are plenty of wicked
women worth admiring, too. Here are Screen Rant’s 5 Badass Female Movie Criminals.
O-Ren Ishii
She’s half-Chinese-American, half-Japanese, ready to take the head off of anyone who mentions
her divided heritage. She’s O-Ren Ishii just one member of the Deadly Viper Assassination
Squad introduced in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Volume 1. After witnessing the ***
of her family, O-Ren mastered the art of the sword – and the art of revenge - disposing
of the men who killed her parents, and eventually taking over the Tokyo Yakuza with the help
of the enigmatic Bill. Considering her background and her resume, it’s no wonder why O-Ren
is so fiercely defensive of her status as the boss, and one of the few “DIVAS” who
met her end with honor.
Phyllis Dietrichson
Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity is one of the most influential noir films of all time,
with star Barbara Stanwyck at the center of the grisly tale of deceit and ***. Stanwyck
plays Dietrichson, a married woman who approaches insurance salesman Walter Neff to take out
an insurance policy on her husband – without his knowledge. It’s obvious that she has
*** on her mind, but Neff simply can’t resist her wiles and winds up aiding her in
the plan. Her cunning and manipulation would have worked, too, if not for the suspicions
of Neff’s boss – the one man Phyllis didn’t get to charm.
Stoney, Cleo, T.T. & Frankie
Imagine this: You’re working at your day job when all of a sudden, a handful of armed
men burst in and hold up the place. Then, to add insult to injury, your boss unceremoniously
fires you for knowing one of the assailants. What do you do? Who do you turn to? In Set
it Off, Vivica A. Fox decides to get even, and recruits her friends - Queen Latifah,
Jada Pinkett, and Kimberly Elise - to tag along for a crime spree, robbing bank after
bank as John C. McGinley tries to keep up with their larceny. It’s a great thrill
ride, but the film is remarkable for the concern it shows its disenfranchised characters, reminding
viewers of the cast’s humanity, and that every crime – and every criminal - has a
story to tell.
Mother Russia
Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-*** 2 isn’t remembered as fondly as Matthew Vaughn’s original,
but the sequel does have one thing going for it: Olga Kurkulina, the Uzbekistanian athlete
and actress behind Mother Russia, the towering henchwoman to budding, untested crime lord
Chris D’Amico. Kick-*** 2 indulges in bad taste for its own sake, but when Kurkulina
takes the spotlight, the film becomes shockingly watchable. Throughout the film, Mother Russia
demonstrates a flair for the dramatic, eventually meeting her end at the hands of Hit-Girl.
But up to that point she puts on an unforgettable show, whether she’s breaking the law or
eating her prison cell mate.
Thelma Dickinson & Louise Sawyer
This classic story of downtrodden femininity turned out to be anything but the lighthearted
romp it was advertised as. When a night of drinking leads to attempted ***, which leads
to ***, the starring women set off on an adventure only ended when Thelma and Louise
drive their Thunderbird off of a cliff. The darker tones of the movie were a large part
of the movie’s success, managing to tell an uncompromising tale of the good and bad
faced by modern women. There are many ways to be badass, but literally taking your life
into your own hands, as our heroines do in Thelma & Louise’s climax, might be the most
badass of all.
Those are our picks for our most memorably crime-loving women. Are there any we missed?
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