Working Girls - Yvonne Tasker

Speed - the figure of Annie - as victim/bargaining chip/feisty heroine (dubbed Wildcat) and tomboyish cheerleader - is symptomatic, an indicative composite of agency and passivity

the majority of big budget action films continue to focus primarily on male protagonists and to position women in supportive, often romantic roles.

the increased inclusion of women in action roles has both contributed to and been part of the ways in which the genre has evolved in recent years

action and crime movies have made use of stereotypes and images including the 'butch' type, the tomboy and the 'feisty heroine', alongside the congenitally glamorous and/or sexual action women

the tomboy typically sheds her masculine clothing towards the end of the film, reestablishing her role as a female
this sense of cross dressing within and across genders reinforces the ambiguous gender identity of the female action hero, or rather points to the instability of a gendered system. the ubiquitous check shirts, vests and jeans of the action movie are class based signifiers of masculinity, used to signal the populist transformation of characters

female action hero, distanced from traditional femininity, offers a fantasy image of  (proletarian) physical strength showcased within narratives that repeatedly seek to explain her ( or rather, explain her away). female action heroes are constructed in narrative terms as macho/masculine, mothers or Others: sometimes all three at different points within the narrative.
Maternal recurs as motivation, with female action heroes seeking to protect their children
or
she may be represented as identifying with a father figure, searching for that authority and/or reconciliation with said authority. her heroism is explained and legitimated in relation to a lost or loved father figure. the stereotype of the tomboy is that she must grow up and accept her limitations and responsibilities as a woman.
thirdly, she is portrayed in an exaggerated fantasy figure, the perfect mixture of physical and sexual prowess, able to be independent and need a man to save her within the same narrative I.E Speed.