Best Female-Led Action Movies, Films, and Streaming Features of 2021
Forever bizarrely regarded as a genre only for men, Hollywood has always had a problem creating action movies driven by female lead actors. For every Ripley and Sarah Connor, there have been 100 knock-off Rambo’s and John McClane’s. Before 2019’s ‘Captain Marvel’ starring Brie Larson, Marvel had already released eight MCU movies where a man named Chris had top-billing.
The most cursory look at each of the year’s top grossing action movies over the past 25 years reveals just two instances of a movie led by a woman: Twister in 1996 (Helen Hunt) and Wonder Woman in 2017 (Gal Gadot). Frustratingly, those results are a reflection of the sheer lack of quantity of action movies lead by women, with movie studios baselessly wary of achieving box office success without a male protagonist.
With more viewing methods than ever before, we’re currently lucky enough to experience an abundance of action films, and thankfully more than ever are led by women, whether in the lead role or starring in an ensemble cast.
2021 delivered some superb female-led action movies starring Scarlett Johansson, Karen Gillan, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Milla Jovovich, Maggie Q, Megan Fox, Margot Robbie, Regina King, and many other superb actresses.
Please enjoy our Best Female-Led Action Movies, Films, and Streaming Features of 2021.
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1. Kate
It comes together thanks in no small part to its charismatic lead Mary Elizabeth Winstead, a heaping helping of style, and a story that is effective, surprisingly emotional and led by sober feelings of remorse and atonement.
For those just looking for bones breaking, faces getting stabbed, assassins delivering perfect headshots, ‘Kate’ more than delivers. This film is a solid, fun action-thriller in a world filled with subpar ‘Wick’-ian clones.
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2. Gunpowder Milkshake
If you’re going to do an insanely over-the-top, deeply stylized, bullet-riddled and female-driven riff on the “John Wick” movies, you might as well give it a fantastically ridiculous title. Leave all logic and reality at the door and settle in for a violent slice of Netflix original movie entertainment featuring an outstanding cast of first-rate actors (Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh, and Angela Bassett) clearly having a great time shooting up the joint.
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3. Black Widow
Part origin story, part action film, Black Widow is a deeper dive into the forces that shaped Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. And even in a film that should please Marvel fans with its requisite action sequences and detailed plot, it ends up being less about Black Widow’s skills as a trained assassin and, in keeping with the way Scarlett Johansson has played the character throughout the series, more about her soul.
Director Cate Shortland has given us a fast-paced movie with action sequences, character depth, and very subtle social and political subtexts about the way women are seen, treated and exploited in the world.
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4. Monster Hunter
There are monsters, there are explosions and there is Ron Perlman with beautifully feathered hair. This is a film that is all about spectacle, which is driven by star Milla Jovovich. There is no need to ask questions or wonder about certain aspects of the plot: This is another dimension populated with monsters, that’s all you need to know. Monster Hunter asks you to let every fantastical second wash over you.
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5. The Protégé
Maggie Q delivers exceptionally, supported ably by director Martin Campbell and screenwriter Richard Wenk. The Protégé is good action-y thriller-y fun with great repeat value. It falls in that mid-range budget for an action film, maybe just a few notches below the Bourne films, so it’s the perfect popcorn movie outing for the weekend.
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6. Till Death
In spite of its icy backdrop, the part home-invasion chiller, part murder-mystery Till Death could prove to be the actual summer movie you’ve been craving for a while: undemanding, a little silly, but a thoroughly engrossing and handsomely paced edge-of-your seat experience all the same.
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7. Jolt
A gloriously silly gender-flipped version of ‘Crank’, Jolt is the best kind of joyous action-thriller trash.
A B-movie designed by people who knew exactly what kind of enjoyable trash they were making, Jolt is unabashedly silly, sloppily written, and overly reliant on the likability of Kate Beckinsale and fellow cast members Stanley Tucci and Jai Courtney. But it’s also a breezily entertaining reminder of how delightful it is to watch Beckinsale get pissed off.
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8. The Suicide Squad
James Gunn's cynicism may be gone, but not his nastiness. At times, The Suicide Squad feels less like a movie than a mission statement from a director. Behold, look what I can do with a budget and all the comic book characters I can play with. Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is a spectacle to behold, with superb support from Viola Davis as the always cruel Amanda Waller.
But, the unexpected heart at the center of the film via Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2, a sneaky anti-imperialist bent, and Gunn’s wild visual leaps make The Suicide Squad a bloody, gory delight.
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9. The Harder They Fall
The Harder They Fall is a bloody pleasure: a revenge Western packed with memorable characters played by memorable actors, led by Regina King and Zazie Beetz. Each scene and moment is staged for voluptuous beauty and kinetic power.
Jeymes Samuel, who co-wrote, directed, and scored the movie, has not just studied the works of the directors he emulates, but understands what they were doing with image and sound, and feels it.
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10. Pixie
‘Pixie’ is a jaunty, Tarantino-esque contraption, loaded with double and quadruple crosses, genre-mashing diversions and loads of idiots dying sudden, violent deaths.
The film simply wouldn’t be much, without Olivia Cooke’s quick-witted performance. She’s formidable and disarming at the same time, all the time.
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11. Free Guy
Over the years, Hollywood has notoriously struggled with video game movies; Free Guy is the most creative, heartfelt and perhaps best video game movie so far, the film is fresh and original enough that anyone can enjoy it. It’s uproariously fun, delightfully charming and unexpectedly sweet, with Jodie Comer’s standout performances as both Millie and her alter-ego Molotovgirl, and Ryan Reynolds perfectly in his element balancing action and comedy.
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12. The Tomorrow War
The Tomorrow War is a big, dumb, beautiful blockbuster starring Chris Pratt as a time-traveling ex-soldier science teacher battling aliens who look like giant killer lice. Thankfully, it also features an incredibly compelling counter-performance from The Handmaid’s Tale’s Yvonne Strahovski, acting rings around Pratt. I appreciate a film that takes big swings, and The Tomorrow War is the Babe Ruth of narrative conceits. Never before has a streaming release so capably evoked “Summer blockbuster.”
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13. F9
Is F9 the best blockbuster ever? No. Is it absolutely perfect? You bet. If you wanted to teach a course on the platonic ideal of the big-budget, distinctly Hollywood-born action blockbuster, F9 could furnish the whole syllabus.
Led by Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty, the series most compelling ongoing character, it features standout performances from the long-absent Jordana Brewster, new-ish crew member Nathalie Emmanuel, another cruel and brutal turn from Charlize Theron’s villain Cipher, and arguably the cameo-of-the-year from Helen Mirren.
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14. Zack Snyder's Justice League
This film is gorgeous, massive in scope, well-written, and superbly acted. It goes beyond being a Michael Bay-explosion fest and definitively transcends action and destruction porn. This is a real movie. Every single issue with the original release is fixed—everything from pacing, cinematography, acting, characterization, and even the film’s score.
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15. Army of the Dead
Snyder’s best movie since his debut, the zombie film “Dawn Of The Dead” (2004), Army Of The Dead is tremendously compelling and deftly navigates a lot of different tones, even if it quickly leaves more interesting ones behind. Led by Dave Bautista, the film’s best performances come from Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera, and the always hilarious Tig Notaro.
Largely captivating and thrilling, for all its gore, darkly twisted comedy, and delicious tension— surely something audiences will walk away satisfied with—there’s also a minor but palatable sense of loss and melancholy.
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16. Boss Level
It’s a violent lark playing fast and loose with its science fiction so that star Frank Grillo can have a blast, lifted by the quality of Michelle Yeoh and Naomi Watts.
With sardonic narration dripping with the frustration that comes from constantly waking up to deadly assassins ensuring death arrives before 1:00pm each day, it never tries to be something it’s not.
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17. Mortal Kombat
The Mortal Kombat reboot nails every neck-snapping reason people love the series. Heart-ripping? Yes, there’s heart-ripping too, as well as long-time character favourites Sonya Blade (standout performer Jessica McNamee) and Kano (Josh Lawson).
That go-for-broke violence has always been a core component of Mortal Kombat, and this reboot succeeds because McQuoid and his team remember that, and have the self-awareness to acknowledge it. It isn’t a flawless victory, but it is lizard-brain fun.
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18. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spectacular is the word for the martial-arts action in ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.’ As the first Asian hero in Marvel history, former stuntman Simu Liu is action poetry in motion. Meng'er Zhang’s Xialing and Awkwafina’s Katy bring much needed charisma to the movie, allowing Liu to offer a performance that rises above the lack of depth offered by some of Marvel’s lead characters.
Hawaii-raised director Destin Daniel Cretton makes the move from indies to blockbuster without a stumble. There's nothing he won't throw at the screen to keep our pulses pounding. And pound they do.
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19. Red Notice
If you’re looking for something realistic with true emotional relevance, well, then director Rawson Marshall Thurber’s action-comedy isn’t for you. There are touching tidbits sprinkled throughout, but what you get is the high-octane action and incredible stunts for which Gal Gadot has come to be known in her Wonder Woman performances. In terms of action and story, the action flick is precisely what one might expect going in, but even more fun than you are probably hoping for.
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20. The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard
The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is driven by a scene-stealing performance from Salma Hayek, also one of the standout performers in Marvel’s 2021 ensemble ‘The Eternals’. Directed by Patrick Hughes, this comic book-energy spy adventure, gorgeously captured by cinematographer Terry Stacey and keenly scripted with barbed laden dialogue from Tom O’Connor, Brandon Murphy, and Phillip Murphy, is heavy on blood, guts, action, and star power.
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