Charlize Theron in ‘Atomic’ and other heroines against the machismo of action cinema
Uma Thurman, Scarlett Johanson, Angelina Jolie… On the occasion of the premiere of the film based on the graphic novel ‘The Coldest City’, we review the actresses who have revolutionized the genre (girls with nice back muscles)
● Charlize Theron in ‘Atomic’
● All set for the premiere of Atomic, the new film in which Charlize Theron demonstrates why she is one of the most complete actresses operating today and also why she is one of the most gifted when it comes to executing action scenes. The film is based on Antony Johson’s graphic novel, “The Coldest City” and recovers the entire underworld of spy movies during the Cold War, with its moles, doubles and triple agents, international intrigues and treasonous deaths. He has a rogue spirit, a playful and pulp aesthetic, and drinks from both the immersive universe of the video game and the genre of hard-boiled literature and the most stylized Korean action movies. In addition, it has a soundtrack to the rhythm of eighties milestones that take us from David Bowie to The Cure, through Despeche Mode,
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● Charlize Theron – ‘Atomic’
● One delight after another through a whole display of unbridled, hallucinogenic visual pyrotechnics and with sequence shots of authentic virtuosity and originality that demonstrate that the director, David Leitch, responsible with Chad Stahelski for that great instant classic of contemporary action that is John Wick, is going to give a lot to talk about within the genre.
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● Atomic Cover
● Although Atomic is full of qualities, the true star of the show is a full-fledged Charlize Theron, platinum blonde, ice cold and hermetic, meticulous, precise, and dressed to kill, with endless high-heeled boots that will not They prevent him from moving like an elegant gazelle to leave KO to his opponents. He has already demonstrated his qualities in Mad Max: Fury on the Road (2015), with his iconic Empress Furious, and in Aeon Flux (2005), by Karyn Kusama, and now, with Atomic, he is in charge of reminding us that the action has a new muse.
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● Outstanding heroines
● The truth is that, although we have now crowned her as queen of the action cinema of the moment, the competition in this sense is very hard, and for this reason it is fair to review some of the most outstanding heroines within a genre, that of action, which needs to detach itself from the testosterone clichés and open up to a new contemporary sensibility in which the female figure emerges as a true protagonist. Hopefully Wonder Woman will, in that sense, knock down some walls of prejudice.
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● 1. Sigourney Weaver
● He has faced Alien four times. With that, he has more than earned first place on the list. In addition, she was responsible for the change in gender roles in action cinema by taking charge of a character, Ripley, conceived for a man so brilliantly and forcefully, so iconic. She is the true queen of outer space.
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● 2. Linda Hamilton
● If the eighth passenger was hard to crack, the Terminator was no less difficult. In the second part of the saga, he put on clubs and became a reference icon in the golden age of bodybuilding. After his separation from James Cameron, his career began a progressive decline, partly due to the bipolar disorder he suffered. But your Sarah Connor will always be in our hearts.
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● 3. Jamie Lee Curtis
● Since his discovery in Halloween night (1978) he has not stopped running. Tony Curtis’s daughter was a true heroine in films like Kathryn Bigelow’s Blue Steel (1990) or James Cameron’s Lies Risky (1994) alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. A benchmark of full-fledged seasoned woman.
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● 4. Uma Thurman
● Quentin Tarantino gave her the role of her life in the two parts of Kill Bill, and she prepared herself thoroughly to become the most lethal of the hired killers, picking up the entire oriental tradition of martial arts of the Japanese Sonny Chiba and Hong Kong kung fu expert Gordon Liu. The Bride, the Black Mamba, Beatrix Kiddo. Uma Thurman with katana and yellow tracksuit to remember.
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● 5. Michelle Yeoh
● Surely he was one of the references of Uma Thurman for the preparation of his character, as well as other great figures of oriental cinema from which Tarantino drank so much for his diptych. This is the case of the Japanese Meiko Kaji, who was fixed in the imaginary justice thanks to Lady Snowblood (1973) or the Female Prisoner saga. As for Michelle, it is true that the general public knew her abilities thanks to Tiger and Dragon (2000), but she was already an action heroine in Hong Kong since the eighties alongside idols like Jackie Chan. In movies like Supercops: Blood on the Streets (1985), by expert choreographer Corey Yuen, she was the real boss. Another of his mythical films is Trío heroico (1993), by the great Johnnie To, along with two other spectacular women, Anita Mui and Maggie Cheung.
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● 6. Milla Jovovich
● started out as a cute teenager in Back to the Blue Lake (1991), but the former Russian model soon put her batteries together to become the intergalactic protagonist of The Fifth Element (1997). From that moment on there was no turning back. He put himself in the shoes of Alice in Resident Evil in six films and his face would be forever embedded in the imagination of popular culture.
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● 7. Kate Beckinsale
● Another veteran of a long-running saga. At the beginning of her career she seemed resigned to playing period roles (we saw her in Mucho noise and few nuts, in Emma), then she became a pop generational icon in Como pez en el agua (1997) and The Last Days of Disco (1998 ), together with Chlöe Sevigny. In 2001 it seemed that his career was going to take off thanks to Pearl Harbor, but the dire critics of the film made him take refuge in action cinema with a point of series B. That is, in Underworld and in his role as vampire Selena in eternal fight with lycanthropes during four episodes. There she met her husband until recently, director Len Wiseman, who also embarked on a new version of Total Challenge (2012).
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● 8. Michelle Rodriguez
● Since we met her we have seen her hitting mamporros. It was in Girlfight (2000), Karyn Kusama’s debut feature, in which she played a young woman who was learning to channel her violence problems through boxing. That small independent film gave her different distinctions as a new actress, such as the Independent Spirit Award or the National Board of Review. Most of his papers release strength, nerve and adrenaline from all four sides. We have seen her in The Fast and the Furious: At full throttle (2001), Resident Evil (2002), as a surf girl in On the Edge of the Waves (2002), in SWAT Harrelson’s Men (2003), where she was the only girl in a cast, in Avatar, Machete … She still has a great leading role, but Michelle Rodriguez
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● 9. Scarlett Johansson
● In recent times the once indie muse has specialized in action roles, especially since she got into the role of Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow in the Avengers saga. Surely to take advantage of his great physical preparation he got involved in that psychotronic film by Luc Besson that was Lucy (2014) and this year he became the cyborg with conscience in the high-tech adventure adaptation of the homonymous manga and anime Gosth in the Shell.
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● 10. Angelina Jolie She
● was one of the contemporary pioneers when it came to configuring the powerful and also hypersexualized image of women in action movies. Her first foray was in the movie Car 60 Seconds (2000), but it was from Tomb Raider and her role as Lara Croft when her reign began, which would be extended thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), Wanted ( 2008) and the spy tape Salt (2010).