It all pretty much started at the beginning of the year, with 2002�s favorite femme fatale Nicole Kidman making her post award-winning appearance as a Russian con-artist in Birthday Girl. Following the ex-Mrs. Cruise, former child Actress Diane Lane got her early Oscar buzz (which would get her a nomination) as the happily married adulteress wife of Richard Gere in Unfaithful. Also early in the year, the foreign market had it�s taste for theme of death and women in Mexico�s Y Tu Mama tambien.
After seeing Nicole Kidamn put the fear of God (and mail-order-brides) into Ben Chaplin and Diane Lane having an affair to dismember, we were prepared to see the summer allow women to put up a fight for themselves in the summer blockbusters and hopefuls. While Kirsten Dunst made herself the object of rescue for everyone�s favorite arachnid-in-tights in Spider-Man, Natalie Portman proved that a politician can hold office as well as a weapon and defend an empire through more than just paperwork in Star Wars � Episode II: Attack of the Clones. We caught glimpses of bad girl facing death along side tidal waves in Blue Crush and facing death head-on alongside Milla Jovovich in Reisdent Evil. And of course, the sultry Kelly Hu as the cunning sorceress in the Conan-esque Mummy spin-off The Scorpion King. But it wasn�t all fun and games through action adventure. The emotional and graphic We Were Soldiers showed us for once not just what happens behind enemy lines, but the emotional turmoil of the wives at home fearing the worst of their husbands overseas.
Of course, when these uber-women weren�t trying to face death, they were trying to protect themselves from it, as seen by Jennifer Lopez in the lackluster anti-man movie Enough where Miss J.Lo had to learn the art of defending herself from an abusive spouse. And it wasn�t all divine for Ya-Ya sister Ashley Judd, avoiding death-calls by escaping a nervous breakdown in her summer chick-flick.
Suddenly, the winter came, and even fantasy films couldn�t fully escape the fear of death. Little Emma Watson was nearly scared to death in the follow-up Harry Potter blockbuster and Liv Tyler got a reminder of her immortality in the second installment to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Soon, the Oscar hopefuls emerged and we got to see the tragic life and death of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. And what better way to follow-up tragedy than through dark musical humor of Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones along-side the other merry murderesses in Chicago. These deadly women showed men who was boss and not to piss them off because a simple tap dance can turn murder into art� or in the case of Cameron Diaz�s pick-pocket in Martin Scorsese�s long awaited Gangs of New York, art into murder. Finally, the year came to a close with the three suicidal ladies of Stephen Daldry�s brilliantly somber The Hours, bringing us back where we started with Nicole Kidman (here, in an unrecognizable Oscar-nominated performance as melancholy writer Virginia Wolf).
Women may be delicate flowers, but remember, even roses have thorns, and no film year could remind us of it more than 2002, when life and death were everywhere� in the hearts of women.
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