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nTitle: Tank Girl (1995)
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nDirector: Rachel Talalay
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nCast: Lori Petty, Naomi Watts, Malcolm McDowell, James Wong, Ice-T, Iggy Pop
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nReview:
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nIt’s been a while since I last saw Tank Girl. I remember,nthe first time I saw it; I didn’t fall in love with it for some reason, I guessnI was too young to really ‘get it’. But this film proves to me once again thatnsometimes the way you look at a film changes with time. As time goes by, younlive through certain experiences and learn certain things that affect the way younsee a film. As it is, Tank Girl is a very subversive film, it’s all aboutnrebellion and going against the proverbial system; which of course is one of mynfavorite themes in film. If you want to read a bit more about subversivencinema, check out this article I wrote called Totalitarian Futures (BigBrother is Watching You!), on that one I mention a series of films that depictn abusive governments and the rebels thatnoppose them. And if you want to read about rebellious characters, then checknthis one out: Viva La Revolution III: 20 Fictional Characters that Beat theSystem; after seeing Tank Girl, I figure she should have been on that list! She’snan extremely rebellious character!
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nTank Girl takes place in the year 2033, on a postnapocalyptic version of earth that was destroyed by a meteor that wiped outnalmost all of humanity. 11 years have passed since this happened, and now a newnform of government has arisen, one that controls all the water and all thenpower and even has it’s own army. This new government system is appropriatelyncalled “Water and Power” or WP for short. The leader of this organization is andictator called Kesslee played by the one and only Malcolm McDowell. He wantsnto own all the water in the land so he can control everyone. He’s made siphoningnwater illegal. But the rebels don’t care about legal or illegal, they only carenabout surviving. In Tank Girl’s ownnwords “as long as they don’t find out, who cares? “ So of course, they steal asnmuch water as they can. Problem comes when the powers that be find out thenrebels have been stealing water. They blow up the rebels hide out, kill as manynof them as they can and take Tank Girl as prisoner. Will she survive livingnunder the oppressive power of the system?
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nWow, so to me this is a hidden gem. Yeah it’s got a couplenof flaws here and there, but damn it I love it anyways. What did I enjoy aboutnTank Girl? Lot’s of things, but first off there’s Lori Petty as Tank Girl whonin my opinion was a fun character, she loves her liberty, she curses like ansailor and she does not care for rules and regulations. Living under rules andnregulations is a complete bore for her; she prefers being the master of her ownndestiny. She’s kind of like Spiderman in the sense that she has a little jokenor sarcastic remark every five minutes. ‘The man’ might be stepping on her facenbut she’s quick with a sly remark, just so she can piss them off. Some might find her annoying? I thought shenwas fun to watch, kept me laughing all the way. For those of you not in thenknow, Tank Girl is based on a comic book created by Jamie Hewlett and AlannMartin, the comic has been in publication in one form or another since 1988. Inpersonally really dig the art work on those comics, Tank Girl a.k.a. ‘Rebecca Buck’nhas a very distinctive look, one that I believe this film did a swell job ofnbringing to life. Lori Petty looks and acts the way Tank Girl should; so thisnis something that the film got absolutely right. Lori Petty is Tank Girl. Lovednthat scene where she first gets into her tank! The tank was pretty awesomenlooking as well by the way.
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nWhen MGM bought the rights to the property, Tank Girl’s journeynto the silver screen began. Various directors were associated with the filmsnadaptation, amongst them Steven Spielberg and James Cameron! Ultimately, it wasnfemale director Rachel Talalay who ended sitting in the directors’ chair. She’snthe director responsible for Freddy’s Dead: The nFinal Nightmare (1991) one of the most profitable films in the Nightmarenon Elm Street
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nI enjoyed how the film is so very much like readingna comic book, I loved the fact that the film opens up with a credit sequencenthat showcases art work from the original comics. The art work from the comics isnfantastic, very sketchy in nature, very detailed. The filmmakers also includednanimated sequences through out the whole film; which by the way reminds me that this film wasna bit of a chore to make; it had many production woes. One of them being thatnat the end of the day, the studio interfered immensely with the look and feelnof the film, this being such a subversive film in nature, of course they wantednto tone down many of the more controversial attributes of the film. The mutantnKangaroo’s that appear in the film for example. One of the more ‘controversial’nthings about the film is that the mutant kangaroo’s or ‘Ripper’s’ as they arencalled in the film are a horny bunch of individuals who are always hitting onnTank Girl and Jet Girl. Ultimately, Tank Girl ends up falling for one of thenRipper’s and you can catch a glimpse of that in the finished film, butnoriginally they had filmed scenes with Tank Girl and the one of the Kangaroo’snmaking out in bed! Ultimately, the studio interfered and cut that stuff out.nThey also cut out more scenes, you kind of get the feeling when you watch TanknGirl that it wasn’t completely finished, the ending feels a bit rushed, leavingnmany questions unanswered. Hell, the last five minutes of the film werencompletely animated! So yeah, it feels like in the end, the film wasnincomplete, almost as if it was taken away from the filmmakers unfinished.
nI enjoyed how the film is so very much like readingna comic book, I loved the fact that the film opens up with a credit sequencenthat showcases art work from the original comics. The art work from the comics isnfantastic, very sketchy in nature, very detailed. The filmmakers also includednanimated sequences through out the whole film; which by the way reminds me that this film wasna bit of a chore to make; it had many production woes. One of them being thatnat the end of the day, the studio interfered immensely with the look and feelnof the film, this being such a subversive film in nature, of course they wantednto tone down many of the more controversial attributes of the film. The mutantnKangaroo’s that appear in the film for example. One of the more ‘controversial’nthings about the film is that the mutant kangaroo’s or ‘Ripper’s’ as they arencalled in the film are a horny bunch of individuals who are always hitting onnTank Girl and Jet Girl. Ultimately, Tank Girl ends up falling for one of thenRipper’s and you can catch a glimpse of that in the finished film, butnoriginally they had filmed scenes with Tank Girl and the one of the Kangaroo’snmaking out in bed! Ultimately, the studio interfered and cut that stuff out.nThey also cut out more scenes, you kind of get the feeling when you watch TanknGirl that it wasn’t completely finished, the ending feels a bit rushed, leavingnmany questions unanswered. Hell, the last five minutes of the film werencompletely animated! So yeah, it feels like in the end, the film wasnincomplete, almost as if it was taken away from the filmmakers unfinished.
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nPersonally, I dug the animated sequences in the film, but don’tnask Jamie Hewlett (one of Tank Girl’s creators) about them, to Hewlett makingnthe film was a “horrible experience”. According to Hewlett, the many animatednsequences in the film are there because the filmmakers supposedly forgot tonfilm about ten major sequences! So they had to add these sequences through thenuse of animation so the film wouldn’t feel incomplete; but honestly? I lovednthose animated sequences; they go very well with the films pulpy comic booknorigins! Plus, the animated sequences were very well achieved, they have thesenawesome angles, I really dug them. And so what if they were placed their to fill in for unfilmed shots? They turned out pretty cool in my book. Thenanimation gives the film a unique feel that aligns perfectly with the kindnof punk attitude that a film like Tank Girl has. Another thing I dug about TanknGirl was how many old school filmmaking techniques they employed to make it. RachelnTalalay used every trick in the book: matte paintings, make up effects and the use of excellent looking miniatures!nIt reminded me of why I love practical effects as opposed to computer generatednones.
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nAnd yet another positive thing I can say about Tank Girl isnthat Stan Winston created the Ripper’s! Reportedly he liked this project sonmuch that he did the mutant kangaroos for half the price he normally charged! Whatnelse? Oh yeah, Ice-T plays one of the mutant Kangaroo’s! Also, Naomi Watt’snplays ‘Jet Girl’, a girl that plays the polar opposite of Tank Girl. Tank Girlnis the wild one who doesn’t follow the rules while ‘Jet Girl’ works for thensystem. She plays by the rules; she thinks that the more you follow the rules,nthe less the system will mess with you. Thankfully, Rebecca helps her seenthings differently, she helps her find the ways of liberty or death! Of daring to live life on the edge! Tank Girl teachers Jet Girl to dare! It was interesting to see Naomi Watt’s in one of hernearliest film roles. Malcolm McDowell as the villain was interesting justnbecause he’s Malcolm McDowell, but his character uses this cool glove that hasnthese blades that come out of it, cool gadget. He also has a holographic face?nYou’ll see what I mean. And another cool thing about the movie: James Wong isnin it as a crazy inventor who works for Water and Power! He’s the guy whoninvents the glove thingy; any film with Lou Pan in it goes up a couple ofnnotches for me in the cool-o-meter. Hell, even Iggy Pop cameos!
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nJet Girl in her Jet
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nThe film even has this really awesome 90’s soundtrack!nUltimately, hearing this soundtrack filled with all that alternative music gotnme quite nostalgic for that era. Yeah, it reminded me of when I was a teenager,nlistening to all those cool bands that I still listen too by the way! Thensoundtrack is sprinkled with Bjork, Devo, Hole, Bush, Portishead, Joan Jett,nBelly, Ice-T and Veruca Salt! I know I’m going to be hunting down thisnsoundtrack as soon as I can; it’s one of the memorable ones. So as you can see,neven though Tank Girl was a very troubled production, I still think that RachelnTalalay and crew got away with a fairly decent movie. Too bad it died a quickndeath at the box office. Too bad the studio didn’t back it up as much as itnshould have. You feel like the film is bursting with ideas and that they didn’tnall make it to the screen. But hell, if even with all these troubles younmanaged to make a decent looking picture then you are too be commended Mrs. Talalay!nTank Girl in my opinion is a hidden gem of apocalyptic cinema worth revisiting.nHighly recommend it.
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nRating: 4 out of 5
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