Tank Girl (1995)

Written by CinemaSerf on April 14, 2023

Malcolm McDowell is the megalomanic "Kesslee" who in a post-apocalyptic Earth is determined to control the most important substance left to man. Water. Meantime, a rag-tag collection of miscreants consisting of the eponymous, "Harley Quinn" style character (Lori Petty), "T-Saint" (Ice-T) and "Jet Girl" (Naomi Watts) who are marauding around with a tank and a jet decide together with some angry kangaroos and "Booga" (Jeff Kober) that vengeance will be their's. What now ensues is a really derivative, repetitive and frankly rather dull semi-animated action adventure that rehashes just about every theme in the book and over-relies on the characterisations that are seriously under-delivered by a cast that are simply not up to the task. McDowell just hams it up the whole time and the dialogue is beyond banal. Rachel Talalay could have done so much more with the sort of "Mad Max" elements of the story, but instead allows this to just drift into a puerile, attitudinal, drama that offers little to engage and a suite of visual effects that we have seen loads of times before. There's a brief appearance from Iggy Pop and the "rippers" bring a certain, welcome, randomness to this otherwise really rather uninspiring flop. Sorry, but I wouldn't bother if I were you.