Irony of the day: Video game movies a safe haven for female action stars.

I'm not going to turn this into a long essay about gender roles in genre pictures, but I think it's worth pointing out an oddity. In an era where mainstream blockbusters often shunt women to the sidelines or give them poorly written roles awkwardly inserted into the narrative so that it won't be an all-boys club, there is one genre where women thrive: video game films. While the video game industry has been making inroads with female gamers over the last decade (as of 2009, 40% of gamers are female and 34% are women over 18), the fact remains that video games are inherently geared towards young males and their stereotypical interests. Yet, by accident or by design, quite a few notable video game adaptations, including three full-blown franchises, feature female action leads.