Fantastic Femmes

Fresh-faced bevy of brunette babes steal thunder in male-dominated actioners

Aug 12, 2015 06:00 am

Hollywood actioners are mainly dominated by the men, but that doesn't mean the roses among the thorns in these flicks are not shaking things up on their own terms.

Fantastic Four's Kate Mara leads the bevy of fresh-faced brunette babes who are stealing the show from their male co-stars...

1 KATE MARA

WHO SHE IS

This former US child actress made her showbiz debut in 1997.

However, unlike her younger sister Rooney, who broke out with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in 2011 and earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination in the process after six years on the scene, Mara, 32, has yet to grab her big-screen break.

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But the tide is turning for her.

The self-professed introvert who told Flare magazine that she embraced acting "to step out of her shell" is rising up the ranks after winning rave reviews for playing intrepid reporter Zoe Barnesin the political drama House Of Cards.

BREAKOUT MOMENT

The new US$122 million (S$169m) Fantastic Four, which is showing in cinemas, has been clobbered by critics and labelled a bomb, with US box-office earnings of only US$26m in its opening weekend.

But so what? At least scoring the lead as superheroine Susan Storm has put Mara on the world map. Her time to start hogging the limelight has come.

WHY SHE TRUMPS THE MEN

Director Josh Trank makes Susan the voice of reason, the gel that holds the group - comprising science geek Reed Richards (Miles Teller), Reed's best friend Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) and Susan's hotheaded adoptive brother Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan) - together.

When Reed deserts the team after discovering they have all become "freaks", she's the one who tries to find a cure for their "illness" and she brings him back to their science lab to help fix their dilemma.

Being the lone female has its privileges, especially when you are attractive and bosomy and willing to pose topless for Esquire magazine.

While people have made fun of Mara's inconsistent Fantastic Four hairdo in the film, she's the one getting the lion's share of publicity during the movie's promotional tour.

2 HANNAH WARE

WHO SHE IS

This English model signed up for acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre And Film Institute in New York after deciding not to take up a second degree in architecture. Her first degree was in fine arts.

She was soon given the role of Kelsey Grammer's drug-addicted daughter in the Golden Globe-winning TV series Boss. Ware also had bit parts in Shame (2011) and Oldboy (2013), followed by a lead role in drama series Betrayal in 2013.

BREAKOUT MOMENT

The 32-year-old is still considered an unknown, but come Aug 20, her name will be plastered all over the billboards for her starring role in Hitman: Agent 47, a reboot of the 2007 movie headlined by Timothy Olyphant.

The action thriller is adapted from the popular video game of the same name.

Although it may be about the titular genetically engineered assassin (Rupert Friend), it also revolves around Ware's enigmatic killing machine, Katia van Dees.

WHY SHE TRUMPS THE MEN

Ware's character is not part of the game but a totally new creation for the movie, so it was "liberating" to explore the mystery surrounding Katia, she told Collider at the San Diego Comic-Con.

She has several cool kick-ass scenes that set her up as an action heroine and she even gets to beat up her other male co-star, Zachary Quinto.

3 ALICIA VIKANDER

WHO SHE IS

Since making her Hollywood debut three years ago opposite Keira Knightley in Anna Karenina, the former ballet dancer has chalked up a whopping 11 movies, such as The Fifth Estate (2013), Testament Of Youth (2014), Seventh Son (2014) and Ex Machina (2015).

The 26-year-old is also becoming a darling in the fashion world and is the new face of Louis Vuitton.

BREAKOUT MOMENT

Vikander will be strutting her stuff in Guy Ritchie's retro action comedy The Man From U.N.C.L.E, opening here on Sept 3.

This reboot of the 1964 TV series sees the Swede playing Gaby Teller, the key to stopping an international criminal organisation from world domination.

WHY SHE TRUMPS THE MEN

Gaby has two hunky and dapper U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement) agents Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) as her "bodyguards", but you won't be able to take your eyes off the leggy beauty.

Vikander looks stunning in the vintage costumes - premium eye candy for both male and female moviegoers.

Her hot streak continues with four other high-profile films on the horizon, including The Light Between Oceans (opposite her real-life boyfriend Michael Fassbender), Eddie Redmayne's Oscar bait The Danish Girl, Burnt with Bradley Cooper and the next Bourne sequel with Matt Damon.

4 REBECCA FERGUSON

WHO SHE IS

The gorgeous Swede, 31, is best remembered as the queen who was rescued by Dwayne Johnson in last year's Hercules. Other than that, the former model has appeared on the small screen, in The White Queen (2013) and The Red Tent (2014).

BREAKOUT MOMENT

She is no longer just a pretty face or a damsel in distress, thanks to Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise, who handpicked her for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, now showing in cinemas. She was filming The Red Tent in Morocco when she received a call to meet with director Christopher McQuarrie and Cruise in London, and within 24 hours, she won the part of mysterious double agent Ilsa Faust.

WHY SHE TRUMPS THE MEN

Ferguson has impressed critics and moviegoers alike, even stealing Cruise's thunder.

Unlike his earlier female co-stars in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Ilsa isn't a love interest or someone who needs rescuing.

She is actually as resourceful and as lethal as super spy Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and is vital in helping him take down the mastermind behind terrorist group The Syndicate.

"This action film series is Cruise's baby, so he's learnt the whole process. He tutored me through those (action) scenes," she told the Daily Mail. "I saved him about three times in the film - that was satisfying!"

Cruise's team is played by Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames, but it is Ferguson who commands as much screen time as Cruise.

She trained in pilates, martial arts and motorcycle riding to do all her own stunts.

She's definitely a contributing factor to the US$265m success of this fifth instalment, and is currently in the running to star in another male-dominated flick, the Marvel superhero movie Gambit, opposite Channing Tatum.