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 murder 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 murder.
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 murder 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-Ass 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-Ass 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 rape, which leads to murder, 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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