It was a Sunday in April 1995, and that I would find this Tank Girl Movie I saw advertised. I though Tank Girl being a bad ass woman would also be sexy, as I was into that sort of thing. I had to drive about 30 miles to find a theatre that still had it, and finally I found one in another State. Obviously this being a couple weeks after Tank Girl came out, this meant the movie did not do well. I watch Tank Girl and did not realize I was watching the same Lori Petty who played "Kit" the sister of the Baseball Star in "A League Of Our Own". Despite being a badass chick who always rode a Tank, Tank Girl herself was far from sexy. The hair the, tattoos, and the way she dressed, and other things about her were just too manly to be sexy,to me. The movie also interjected Cartoons of Tank Girl throughout, that at times were sexy, but most of the time were not.The movie was really not very entertaining either and featured the typical cliché bad guys, who were, about as predictable as watching clock movement. This movie did not feature any deep thinking, or any original ideas, and was simply meant to entertain us with snappy and sometimes "Off The Wall" one liners from the Tank Girl throughout, which gets old after a while. There is also interspecies issues in the movie, and the less I think about those...the better. I was kind of falling asleep in the theatre. when I noticed that one of women in the movie was changing, that being Jet Girl played by Naomi Watts (with dark hair). At that point without giving too much away, Jet Girl goes from a mumbling, mousy under-confident, and quite unattractive, glasses wearing woman to extremely sweet looking and pretty and at that very same moment...shockingly sadistic and brutal. This contrasting change-over that indicates the prettier, the more brutal, was very shocking and for me super sexy!Jet Girl's changeover is the one thing, I will always remember about this movie.

You would think that a movie based on a harum-scarum comic book series, taking advantage of a punk-rock aesthetic would be an interesting premise. The titular hero is played by Lori Petty who up to that point was known for playing Geena Davis's annoying kid sister in A League of Their Own (1992). Here she's a zany post-apocalyptic scavenger, turned western-style avenger. After her commune is massacred by W&P, a pseudo- fascist corporation of ill-repute, she and fellow survivor Sam (Stacy Linn Ramsower) are captured, separated and tortured. Tank Girl escapes the clutches of the evil Kesslee (played in full check-collecting mode by Malcolm McDowell) and tries to save the young Sam with the help of Jet Girl (Naomi Watts), Sub Girl (Ann Cusack) and The Rippers who are basically mutant kangaroos led by Ice-T in heavy makeup.Despite the inherent ridiculousness of the characters, nonsensical story elements and, I kid you not, an extended musical rendition of Cole Porter's "Let's Do It," Tank Girl could have been an interesting counterculture movie. The comic books the film is based on are considered far-left staples of Thatcher Era England, featuring an ultra-violent anti-hero with (gasp) fluid sexuality. While I credit the movie for being infectiously post-feminist, when compared to it's source material, it simply doesn't go far enough.Now granted the collection and subsequent bastardization of Tank Girl IP was followed by the movie licencing of The Mask (1994) a property similar in aesthetic and humor. Similarly the source material was watered down but what The Mask lost in macabre bite, it more than made up for in cogent storytelling. Let's not forget that the editing in Tank Girl is sloppy and slow, the cinematography reaches the slumping capstone of a sub-par music video and the art design, while lovingly anarchic can't help but feel lo-fi, and not in a good way. It's just a garish, slowly paced, sophomoric and pointless film that could have been something but is plagued with half-measures.

With water a scarcity, a smart-mouthed young woman fights against the evil corporation in charge of the entire world's water supply in this dire dystopia comedy set in the not-too-distant future. The film is based on a popular comic book series with comic book illustrations incorporated well into the action; the sets and costumes are also delightfully imaginative and same goes for a water bottle weapon that sucks all liquid out of a person. The dialogue is surprisingly witty too with our heroine frequently giving lip in the face of adversity. Energetic as Lori Petty is in the lead role though and memorable though her lines may be, she nevertheless comes off as rather obnoxious overall. She does not have much respect for anyone, regardless of whether they are her adversities or not, and she comes off especially abrasive by contrast to her sidekick, played in an unusually dowdy manner by a young Naomi Watts. As a narrative, the film only really ever half-succeeds too. It all starts off rather promising with the water shortage concept and the offbeat notion that a hardly muscular girl could be humanity's greatest hope, but everything turns into chaotic action towards the end and interesting as the mutant kangaroo characters are, they come off as deserving of a film of their own rather than being written off as merely genetic engineering gone awry. It is easy to see why such a haphazard film as this drew negative reviews upon initial release. No, it is not nearly that bad, but whether the film's scattered virtues amount to a positive experience is likely to vary per viewer.

Fun cult film is primarily a treat due to Lori Petty's lively, spirited defiant punk-dressed heroine who will not bow or cater to Malcolm McDowell's power-drunk water overlord and his army of suits (Water and Power is the name of McDowell's "company") desiring all of the worlds' liquid for himself. Well Petty's heroine loses her sister-like gal, 10 year old Sam, to, and her friends are killed by, McDowell's men when they raid their compound (basically a two story dump with a working greenhouse and water supply siphoned from the ground they currently live). Taken in as a slave for manual labor, McDowell fancies her fighting spirit and wants to break her like some mustang, but Petty proves to be a task he can't seemingly succeed in vanquishing. Soon another mistreated plane mechanic played by a young pre-star Naomi Watts joins forces with Petty, becoming Jet Girl (after she commandeers a jet plane) and Tank Girl (after she commandeers a tank) once they are able to be free thanks to an attack by a group of rebellious "rippers", known for explosively and unpredictably raiding W&P plants across the desert. Each time a plant is attacked, McDowell's losing more men and resources to attain all the water he so desires to remain in such power. What McDowell doesn't realize is that these rippers are genetically engineered "men-rabbits", an example of military attempts at creating a type of supersoldier. Fun actors in the bunny makeup include Ice-T, Reg E Cathey, Jeff Kober (accustomed to villain scumbag parts, his turn as a "dog moved up to human status", an innocuous, child-like member of the rippers, is a nice surprise!), and Scott Coffey. Petty and Watts (who is a nervy, timid sort, awoken to action and eventually gains guts and courage thanks to her time with Petty) make for a neat team, with a lot of girl power mojo working in this film's favor. The comic vignettes really kind of annoyed me because they sort of take me right out of the movie and situations that progress the plot (they are at times inaccurate to what is truly happening or embellishes elaborately something that certainly isn't happening) but with the tone and middle finger approach to conventional storytelling and characterization it seems to fall in line. Petty's throw-caution-to-the-wind performance and character keeps the film quite energetic and off-the-cuff. McDowell's corrupt, megalomaniacal slime is the perfect opposition for the kind of character Petty portrays. The alt rock music, the punk look and attitude, and the emphasis on "kaboom is the way to set things right" all play a hand in the cult appeal of "Tank Girl". The action scenes and the editing are a bit all over the place so the direction isn't exactly a knockout, but Petty is indeed a firecracker that sparkles up the proceedings excitedly. That said, the dialogue isn't exactly peachy keen and there's even a song and dance number to Cole Porter located at a dustbowl brothel (that looks as if it was designed by someone inspired by Gilliam's "Brazil") as Petty orchestrates and conducts even though McDowell's W&P army is out to get her. If you are looking for something out of control and bonkers, then this could be right what you need to waste a little time.