Movies - Luc Besson, Who Loves Strong Women

Does anyone not like Scarlett Johannsen? C’mon, she’s adorable! Yet her recent roles have revealed a darker side. “Under the Skin”...wierd! As Black Widow in the Marvel universe...cool and tough! As the A.I. in “Her” and a bad boa in “The Jungle Book” … what a voice! But her breakthrough, the first film that she carried to over $100 million, was in 2014’s “Lucy”, as a girl who is transformed from a victimized drug mule into an evolving and avenging super-being.

It was another hit for French writer/producer/director Luc Besson. He’s been doing this for some time now, and I believe he’s done more than anyone to create the powerful woman archetype that’s come to be in the media, such as on “Game of Thrones”. Angelina Jolie gets props, too, of course, but check Mr. Besson’s resume:

In 1990, he gave us “Le Femme Nikita”, a young criminal turned into a government assassin. The French film was so successful that it launched an American version (“Point of No Return”) and a TV franchise. No one had seen a woman like this before.

In 1994, a teenage Natalie Portman learned to be a survivor in the noir classic “Leon: The Professional.” It was a major film for Gary Oldman and Jean Reno.

In 1997, Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman fought over “The Fifth Element”, in which a model-like Milla Jovovitch was a super-being. This was the most fun of any science fiction blockbuster. Ms. Jovovitch went on to do the “Resident Evil” series of films.

Then there’s 2005’s “Angel-A” (the girl’s, yes, an angel!), the 2006 script for Penelope Cruz and Salma Hyeck’s “Bandidas”,  2010’s fun fantasy “The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec” and 2011’s script for another girl-as-assassin story, Zoe Saldana’s “Columbiana.”

Yes, Mr Besson is a prolific guy. He’s also successfully launched several male-dominated major franchises, including “The Transporter” and the “Taken” trilogy. In fact, he’s virtually a studio unto himself!

I’m very excited to see his next two films, in which, again, we’ll have powerful young women as the main protagonists: “The Lake”, with Sylvia Hoeks, is about some Navy Seals discovering a treasure, and “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets”, with Cara Delevingne, which promises to be a fun sci-fi in the style of “The Fifth Element”. Both are due in 2017. Meanwhile, try some from the list above if you haven’t seen them already!