Neville survives "Tank Girl" (1995)

[Neville]

Woooaaa... Been very busy these days. Starting what's gonna be the last year of my college studies and watching a lot of stuff. LLast night I picked on TV "Tank Girl", a film adaptation of a cult comic I have never read or cared about. It's such a strange film that it deserves a long comment. Here I go...

The cast.
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Tank Girl............ Lori Petty! Freaky young woman who has the magic ability to change clothes and hair-style every frame. Oh, she drives a Tank, or sort of.

Jet Girl................. Naomi Watts! Looks like there was a reason for her outstanding acting in "Mulholland Drive". She's been in at least as weird as any David Lynch delirium.

Keslee................ Malcolm! McDowell! This man has played more villains than  Dennis Hopper and Michael ironside put together, but if I learned something from this movie is that the guy never gives up. K. is the head of the Water Company, a gigantic corporation that rules the semi-desertic future. Obsessed with the Tank Girl.

The Rippers........... Bunch of unknown actors under disguises by Stan Winston.

The Plot.
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Or so. Tank Girl lives in a future world where a comet hit the Earth turning it into a semi desertic wasteland. Water is the most precious thing here, and the world is ruled by a corporation which controls water. TG lives with a buch of people in the wasteland and they steal water from the Evil Corp. Inc. until they are discobered and killed. That is, except TG and a small child.

TG is sent to Keslee, who is sort of fascinated by the woman fighting ability and tries to make her join his army, but she refuses and manages to escape with Jet Girl. Together, they join the Rippers to defeat Keslee and rescue that annoying little girl.

Comment.
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Alright, 'til here it sounds like the usual "Mad Max" exploit, or a remake of "Adventures in the forbidden zone", but believe me, the execution couldn't be more different. Try to take this movie seriously and you'll get a heart attack. TG is really annoying, always finding new ways of hurting your ears with insane dialogue or your eyes with her freaky clothing. Moreover, the filmaking style is a mixture of MTV filmaking at its best (short cuts, pop music a plenty) plus a great deal of comic-style pictures. I calculated that aprox a quarter of the running time is made up of fast zooms and panoramics over what looks like the original comic book. Welll, I won't blame them for taking advantage of their investment. The truth is that the comic book looks a hell better than the film, and it must have been a real easy way of saving money on settings or CGI effects.

On the other hand, if you like Lori Petty and edgy films, you'll love this one. Want exhibits of bizare humour? Here's a small list:

- In one of the fights between Keslee and TG, she runs out of shells and decides to load the tank cannon with... a six pack of beers!

- An assault to a brothel turns into a musical scene involving a progresively bald madame and a song by Cole porter.

- In order to take pictures of Keslee's army weapons, TG and Jet Girl pretend they are fashion photographers and make the workmen model for a while. Comic-like pics of the result are intercut.

Plus there's a clever but underused gender war subtext, and a great villain by McDowell. Do you need more?

[John]

Did you notice the transforming jet that completely changed its appearance?

Useless piece of trivia: I saw Lori Petty in something just a little while ago (I forget what, might have been Bates Motel) and there was a scene where she bangs on a door and when the person inside asks who it is, she answers "The department of water & power", which is who was after her in Tank Girl.

[Squishy]

Also featuring Ice-T as a Kangaroo-man-thing. Baaahhhhhhhh.

[Neville]

Oh, yes, I saw the jet changing aspect, and the bullets producing sparkles when hitting sand, and the tank drive itself during most of the action sequences.