There’s always bound to be an argument over which movies were the best when concerning a single actor but in my opinion Lucy Liu has been in some great roles that were in less than stellar movies as has happened to many actors. As a talented actress she’s been able to step up her game immensely throughout the years and has shown that she’s not as easy to stereotype or typecast as anyone else and is bound to turn any role that she’s in to her advantage in a big way. Even those roles taking on her heritage are those that she’ll usually find a way to portray in a manner that makes it all her and very little of what other people might think. Odd as that might sound it’s simple, she doesn’t typically allow stereotypes to stick to her and will act in any way she needs to in order to make something work. It might seem very commonplace and it kind of is, but at the same time it’s a skill that not every person can accomplish.
Here are the five best movies of her career.
5. Kung Fu Panda
Admittedly Viper doesn’t have one of the biggest roles in any of the movies but as one of the Five she does have a decent amount of dialogue that makes her into one of the more caring and concerned of the bunch. In reality she’s not the biggest fan of Po when he comes to the temple but she’s also concerned for his well-being unlike the rest of the group. In terms of skill it’s hard to say how she might rank among the Five as they all add their own area of expertise and in a big way she’s one of the more limited members due to the lack of any limbs. But that doesn’t seem to slow the character down any.
4. Charlie’s Angels
Don’t you just wish that the whole Charlie’s Angels angle had stopped with these movies? They were fun and they were engaging but they weren’t meant to be taken so seriously and there really wasn’t a whole lot of ‘girl power’ to them since they were more like the show while still being updated and more or less given a new look that conformed to the present day and age in which they were made. Fans loved that and it worked in a big way even if the next one, Full Throttle, didn’t tend to get regarded in the same light. When making her own Charlie’s Angels it would seem that Elizabeth Banks didn’t really pick up on what worked in this movie.
3. Payback
This is pretty funny really even though it’s kind of dark and hard to get into since it’s a simple revenge movie. But when Porter, that’s really the only name we ever get for the main guy, comes looking for his money after somehow surviving two shots to the back, he makes a grand and purposeful mess as he goes waltzing into the Syndicate and even goes so far as to threaten hardened mobsters until he gets his money. This scene however, Val with a dominatrix who’s obviously getting off on the danger that’s being represented, is nothing but sheer comedy as one can imagine just how hard it would be to get aroused with a gun being stuck in your face. Hey, everyone’s got their thing.
2. The Man with the Iron Fists
The Black Widows are just flat out nasty when it comes to fighting since no one in this movie seems to expect that much from them. But when you think about how vulnerable a person is once they’re done having sex then you get the point of their attack method and the true danger of it. Some might think that it’s opportunistic and not fair, but in a movie like this the idea of fighting fair goes out the window in a big way since the Lions really didn’t start out in a good way and under their corrupt leader they go out in an even worse way. But it’s easy to think that they didn’t plan on being killed in large numbers right after a pleasant night on the town.
1. Kill Bill vol. 1
O-Ren is just flat out mean. It does come from having to watch as her parents were killed when she was very young, but her reputation in this movie goes from victimized youngling to world-class, cold-blooded assassin rather quickly since she seems to leave her heart in the fire that consumed her parents once she walks down that road. It almost feels as though she should have been able to put Beatrix down, but given that Beatrix was a more well-rounded fighter and the others were a little more specialized, it’s not hard to think that O-Ren overestimated her chances.
It’s hard to believe that Lucy is in her 50s at this point, but she’s still rocking it.
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