Redbox

Redbox : Sigourney Weaver in 1986′s Aliens wasn’t the first action woman in film–tough chicks with guns had been a staple of drive-in exploitation and blaxploitation flicks for decades. (It’s no coincidence Aliens director James Cameron came up through the ranks of Roger Corman’s B-movie mill.) But the moment Ellen Ripley learned how to lock and load a pulse rifle it signaled the mainstreaming of the female action hero.

Angelina Jolie carried the torch in the ’90s with the Tomb Raider movies, and in 2003 and ’04 Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino brought Asian-style cinematic female empowerment (and sword play) to American screens with Kill Bill.

But the past year has also seen the rise of a new kind of action lady: The hipster powerhouse with neon hair and deadly blades, a la Knives Chau and Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and of course that foul-mouthed, possibly sociopathic, instant grrl-power icon, Hit Girl in Kick-Ass. Not only will they slice, dice and stomp you, but they probably have better taste in music.