1st Review: TANK GIRL

A good comic to movie transition is hard. we have seen it done well (spiderman) and we have seen it done badly (steel). but where exactly does tank girl fall in? the original comic was basically just a series of random events, and last time i checked random events hardly make up for a plot. lori petty plays the tank girl, rebecca, and she is sassy, rude, and kinda sounds like tommy from rugrats. naomi watts plays jet girl, who meets tank while they are both being held captive by the water and power company. see its 2033 and some meteor hit earth... and theres no more water. malcom mcdowell plays the main villain who wants every last drop of water for himself. Squashed in there are mutant kangaroos, a tricked out tank, and ice-t sporting some bad marsupial makeup. so basically tank and jet must stop malcom mcdowell (who's character name i cant remember). its basically heroes versus villains.
Now the film does sport some suprisingly amazing action sequences which are thrown in between each random event. when tank girl first gets a tank there is a very stylized anime sequence that pops out of nowhere and lasts roughly 5 minutes. clips of the comic are scanned across the screen to make up for not having to film more expansive scenes (my theory!) but only two full motion anime sequences are shown. this film has all the makings for a cult classic including it bombed at the box office, the strange style and random events create another universe in itself where anything goes. i would say that this is a comic book film done well. but thats just me.
It mimics the dirty style and industrial art that the comic flashed vividly. the acting is great, and some of lori petty's lines mock spunky action heroes of the 80's (like the ninja turtles). give this one a look at... its colorful, an hour and forty three minutes long, and will keep your attention. but dont buy it unless 1) your a hardcore fan of the source material, or 2) its under 5 dollars. if none of the above relates to you give it a rental.




DVD SPECS
there are no special features on this disc... it is presented in widescreen (YAY!) there are 3 languages on the disc (french, english, spanish) and their respective subtitles. no commentary, no featurette, no trailer this is a very bare bones release.

RATING: RENTAL


- leatherman