Tank Girl MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 Content: -3

It is the year 2033 and a meteorite has caused the world to be devoid of surface water. Rebecca (Lori Petty) is a member of a rebel group that steals water from the powerful Water & Power Company. The W&PC, led by Kesslee (Malcolm McDowell), controls water use through violence. When Rebecca's group is caught, she's put to work as slave labor in the water works. With the help of Jet (Naomi Watts), an electronics worker, Rebecca escapes when Kesslee tries to use her as Ripper bait. Rippers are half man, half kangaroo DNA experiments trained to be ultimate soldiers, led by T-Saint (Ice-T). Rebecca, now with a stolen and modified tank, joins the Rippers to rescue a ten-year-old girl from Kesslee and destroy the water company. Taken from an underground comic book, the film intercuts animated scenes and live action with rapid editing. Attempting to draw in the MTV-age crowds, the film falls short and flops as entertainment.

TANK GIRL revels in the irreverent rebellion of both its source as an underground comic and its target audience of post-adolescents. The heroine dresses in punk-grunge style, including multiple body-piercing jewelry, setting her apart from the members of the water company. Like many underground, out-of-the-mainstream productions, the dialogue and action focus on the social taboos of sex and violence. Kesslee demands an underling walk across broken glass barefooted, then stabs him with a device that sucks the blood from the body, filtering the water out for recycling. In one scene, a female rebel trains a gun on a man and orders him to strip, then kisses him. Prior to eating, the Rippers say “let us pray,” leading to a sexually oriented dance which Rebecca and Jet join. Numerous sexual innuendoes, obscenities, and crude language further pollute this “underground” genre film. TANK GIRL misses all the way around.

Preview Reviewer: Paul Bicking
Distributor: MGM/UA Dist., 11111 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025