Tank Girl (1995)

Directed by Rachel Talalay. Starring Lori Petty, Naomi Watts, Malcolm McDowell, Jeff Kober, Ice-T, Reg E. Cathey, Don Harvey, Scott Coffey, Ann Magnuson, Stacy Linn Ramsower. [R]

Indie post-apocalyptic comic series (created by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett) gets the big screen treatment, depicting a derivative future scenario of totalitarian/wasteland clichés and tiresomely self-conscious behavior. Petty is the rebel grrrl title hero, but there’s no real character here; she’s just a lot of bad attitude, worse one-liners, offbeat fashion choices, and posing. She joins forces with Watts’ shy mechanic and a group of human-kangaroo mutant hybrids called Rippers to fight back against McDowell’s evil corporation that controls the extremely limited quantities of water. A one-note movie, and that note gets pounded relentlessly until the filmmakers’ overcaffeinated, pseudo-hip “style” (a mix of live-action, comic book graphics, and animation) becomes numbing. It’s supposed to be the year 2033, yet the movie contains a handful of inexplicable 90s pop culture references (at one point, Tank Girl mentions…”Baywatch”??), which dates the material even more than its alternative rock-heavy soundtrack. Has predictably acquired a small cult following, but those unattuned to its confused identity and mishmash production elements are likely to find the movie to be an interminable experience. Iggy Pop and James Hong both make brief appearances.

31/100