Ensofter
Overrated and overhyped
PlatinumRead
Just so...so bad
Helllins
It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.
SnoopyStyle
The world has been devastated by a comet and most of the water is gone. Kesslee (Malcolm McDowell) and the Water & Power Corporation control 95% of the remaining water. Rippers are mysterious mutants killing and pillaging without leaving a trace. Rebecca Buck (Lori Petty) live in a small isolated community. W&P attacks and Rebecca is taken prisoner. She befriends scared mechanic Jet Girl (Naomi Watts). They try to use Rebecca as bait for the Rippers. Jet Girl musters up the courage and steals the jet to join her. She steals a tank and becomes Tank Girl. They discover that her young friend Sam was sent to work in the sex club Liquid Silver. After a failed rescue, Tank Girl and Jet Girl stumble upon the Rippers' hideout. They turn out to be mutated kangaroo-human supersoldiers.Tank Girl may be the lead but I love Jet Girl. Lori Petty is possibly the perfect Tank Girl. She has the great irreverent energetic wildness. This is a campy comic book movie. It doesn't get campier than kangaroo hybrids but this movie won't be restrained by that. It is broadly amateurish and unrelenting cheesy. It's no masterpiece but it's awkwardly fun. Jet Girl does put this over the top for me and it's probably the first film I noticed Naomi Watts. It's likely years later that I realized that it was Naomi Watts after she got big. It also has some good music. There is simply nothing like this movie.
Predrag
The movie is based on the comic "Tank Girl". What happens when the water dries up and what is still out there is controlled by Water and Power? Well, a quick witted heroine and her awesome sidekick. This movie is a fun romp, great music and the acting is right on. Lori Petty was the perfect pick for the part of Tank Girl, her sense of timing is great and the one liners keep coming. Rising against oppression has never been so fun.However there is a dark undercurrent as well, a child is stolen and Tank Girl is off to rescue. Lori Petty is perfect in her role. And her side-kick Jet (I've forgotten her "real" name) is wonderful too. I really identified with Jet and find that Tank Girl and Jet's examples of independent, pro-active thought and action are inspiring. The movie is incredibly fast-paced, the visuals are very there, and the story is entertaining at all points. Lori Petty embodies Tank Girl, Naomi Watts shines in a pre-fame role, Malcom McDowell is (as always) the perfect villain, and even Ice-T, in one of his first acting gigs, does pretty well behind Stan Winston's (incredible) make-up. While the plot isn't entirely original either, it doesn't really matter. The props and outfits, plus entertaining dialogue makes up for it entirely. I also loved how it sticks to its comic-roots and uses comic panels to add extra flair.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
jaywensley2004
I hadn't seen "Tank Girl" since its theatrical release, then it showed up on Netflix and gave me a chance to remember what a fun ride it is.The movie isn't and doesn't try to be a great film. Instead it is as campy as a great Thrift Store, and reminds me that for almost a decade it stood in my mind as the most comic-book like movie actually derived from a comic book.There's also a great soundtrack, wonderful animated sequences from the comic and most importantly Lori Petty giving every actor ever a lesson in owning a role.Lori Petty is the best of many reasons to see "Tank Girl." She is a delight as the brazen, brassy, ballsy and bratty heroine who accomplishes the anarchist's wet dream of taking down the power. That voice, that grin, that swagger; Lori Petty/Becky (aka: Tank Girl) is enjoying a good-time death wish. I could watch and listen to Lori Petty pi$$ off Malcolm McDowell all day.As a special treat, keep your eyes on the t-shirts. Among the many costume changes Ms. Petty sports is a....oh, that might constitute a spoiler.
Scarecrow-88
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.
