Tank Girl (000) from Tuna

Tank Girl (1995) was released this week, finally, on DVD. The reason UA/MGM released it was a huge petition drive by fans of the film. I suspect they were reluctant because the film was a critical and box office flop. I bought a cheap used VHS copy years ago, and watched it without benefit of having read any reviews. I immediately fell in love with this film. I can't account for the critical and box office failures, other than the fact that the success of a high camp cult film is partially dependant on timing. The DVD is bare bones, but the film is as enjoyable for me as ever. It uses animated interludes, special effects, series of still cuts, and about everything else you would expect from a comic book inspired film. It starts out high energy, and never pauses for breath. I will let Tank Girl provide the plot set-up in her own words.

"Listen up, 'cause I'm only telling you this once. I'm not bedtime story lady, so pay attention. It's 2033. The world is screwed now. You see, a while ago, this humungous comet came crashing into the earth. Bam! Total devastation. End of the world as we know it. No celebrities ... no cable TV ... no water. It hasn't rained in 11 years. Now 20 people gotta squeeze inside the same bathtub ... so it ain't all bad." 

I guess I'm not a hip enough dude to "get it", but the movie has a cult of ardent supporters. Although no group rates it very high, many female viewers see it as an empowerment picture, and women (5.5) rate the film far higher than men (4.5) at IMDb. Americans also rate it quite a bit lower than others (4.4 vs 4.9), and people under 30 rate it better than people over 30 (5.1 to 4.5). So if you are a male American over 30, like me, the odds are stacked heavily against you, but Tuna is in that category and likes it a lot.

I did like some things about it. 

• Tank Girl has a seriously bad attitude, and has some good one-liners when she is on screen with Malcolm McDowell. She basically gives him the same sensitive reinforcement that Brad Pitt gave to Spacey in SE7EN, never failing to remind him that the quality of his opinions and plans is somewhat skewed by the fact that he's a moronic lunatic. Needless to say, Malcolm is not amused.
• There are some other lines that are very funny. One genetically-engineered kangaroo warrior tells Tank Girl that he used to be manager of a Chief Auto Parts before the holocaust.
• The film has a sense of anarchy which can be appealing, as for example when the entire cast, evildoers and good alike, breaks into a rendition of Cole Porter's "Let's Fall in Love" for no apparent reason. The film embraces that non-sequitur approach throughout. Live action segues into animation sequences. 

• The plotting is uninteresting and mostly ignored. You just have to accept the free-fall fun of the film and not care whether they want to get you involved in the plot.
• Lori Petty has several scenes that consist of nothing but mugging for the camera. She also has the single most irritating voice in the history of womanhood, assuming that the Olive Oyl voice was provided by a man.
• I didn't much care for the college radio station soundtrack. For me, a little Devo goes a long way.
• The F/X were pretty damned cheesy. For example, they should have made the jumping action scenes with the kangaroo guys as cartoons instead of as live action, because there is no limit to how far a cartoon character can jump. But if they were going to keep them as is, it might have made some sense to hide the wires.
• I like a more coherent approach. I guess pure anarchy isn't really my thing.