Tank Girl (1995)

March 20, 2025 9:46 AM

After a comet disrupts the rain cycle of Earth, the planet has become a desolate, barren desert by the year 2033. With resources scarce, Kesslee, head of the powerful and evil Water & Power Corporation, the de facto government, has taken control of the water supply. Unwilling to cower under Kesslee's tyrannical rule, a pair of outlaws known as Tank Girl and Jet Girl rise up, joining the mysterious rebel Rippers to destroy the corrupt system.
posted by bunderful (15 comments total)

So did this movie pretty much end Lori Petty's film career?

I haven't seen it since it came out...30 years ago, but I remember thinking it was a movie I really wanted to enjoy but just didn't fail short of doing so. I also remember the shower scene feeling kind of gratuitous. I should give it a go again, but the let down in the original viewing is just holding me back.
posted by Atreides at 12:31 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

I remember there was a costume contest for this at my local coffeehouse, when it first came out, but no theaters nearby were showing it, so wasn’t till dvd that I got to see it. Was interesting to eventually collect the original comics and find just how closely they hewed to the original material.
posted by funkaspuck at 1:24 PM on March 20

I really love an extravagantly weird, lavishly produced, 90s cult film. This makes a fun companion piece to like... Johnny Mnemonic and the Super Mario Bros movie from around the time, if you're into this kind of thing. Kind of a swing-and-a-miss as films, but feature a lived-in, textured visual style, some fun cartoonish performances, absurdist dream logic, and set pieces with really exquisite stagecraft of a kind that movies don't really do anymore. Real commitment to a bit that basically nobody asked for.

I love them, but I do restrain myself from going around recommending them to innocent people, ever since an ill-conceived movie night in college for which my friends still haven't forgiven me, 20 years later.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 1:50 PM on March 20 [10 favorites]

So did this movie pretty much end Lori Petty's film career?

I don't know, but it definitely ended my ability to get my friend group to see a movie of my choice back in the day.

On review, yes, Phobos the Space Potato, what you experienced.
posted by Naberius at 2:19 PM on March 20 [3 favorites]

Good God this was awful. I went into the theatre all jazzed up with anticipation. I left deflated and dejected. It was the emptiest film I saw that year.

GAH.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:18 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

I barely remember the movie, but I remember it had a good soundtrack.
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:26 PM on March 20

I'm gonna go out on a limb on this one, I think time has been kind to Tank Girl. Largely dismissed at the time, including by me, but I think it remains a beloved cult film for a younger crowd. To be clear, I don't like the film but I recognise people's love of it. I bet maybe most people watching it now, and loving it, never read the comics it was based on. I'm OK with that. The soundtrack probably helps.

So did this movie pretty much end Lori Petty's film career?

I'm not sure anybody really pegged her for great things. She had a good turn in League of their Own but she was in that Paulie Shore movie, In the Army Now before Tank Girl.
posted by Ashwagandha at 3:31 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

If I recall correctly Petty's career was curtailed because she told Harvey W to fuck off to his face and he had her blacklisted.

She mentioned it in a podcast decades ago but doesn't want to dwell on it.
posted by Faintdreams at 3:51 PM on March 20 [6 favorites]

This is a pretty lame movie, but I remember my girlfriend at the time and I were both really stunned by Naomi Watts. I don't know if this was before or after the Children of the Corn movie she was in, but it was another thing where it was like, "What in the world is this person doing in this fucking film?"
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:13 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

I love this movie. I own it. I own the soundtrack (compiled by Courtney Love because the mid-90s were a wild time where rock stars would curate soundtracks to movies). I have seen it multiple times.

I can't really tell you anything that actually happens, other than Lori Petty is having fun. Iggy Pop and Ann Magnuson are in it so I have declared it a "punk" movie (like pornography, you know a punk movie when you see it. Iggy Pop helps).

This movie is total nonsense but it means it. I appreciate that about it. I wouldn't call it good but I have such strong affection for it. It's basically 1995 in a bubble.

Rachel Talalay is from Baltimore (John Waters officiated her wedding!) so I get what she was doing here. I wish she'd direct more feature movies but she's had a good career directing for TV.
posted by edencosmic at 4:49 PM on March 20 [4 favorites]

I also unabashedly love this movie. There's a lot of weird goofy shit going on, the plot is barely coherent, but it survives on vibes and the immeasurable performances Lori Petty and Naomi Watts bring. Is it good? Subjective. I'll still take it over any of the modern overly-focus-group-tested, play-everything-safe style that so much modern cinema aspires to.
posted by mrgoat at 5:08 PM on March 20 [6 favorites]

Team Jet Girl!
posted by sammyo at 7:39 PM on March 20 [4 favorites]

same mrgoat
same

also the soundtrack is great (Paul Westerberg & Joan Jett covering Let's Do It? put it in my ear holes)
posted by kokaku at 8:29 PM on March 20 [1 favorite]

As an adaptation of the comic, it misses the mark in plot, character, and tone but still manages to maintain the edge of anarchic joy that's in the source material. I still hold out hope for an Enter the Spiderverse style adaptation of the comic...

I watched this as a rental as a teenager and against all odds, my mother who happened to be in the room really loved it and continues to have a fondness for the movie. After I got over my "this isn't a great adaptation" grumbles, I joined her in appreciation for this film. I don't think either of us can quite articulate why we like the film, beyond just vibes and the endless charisma and charm of Lori Petty. She really carries the whole film and it's a crime that she didn't get to have the career that matched her on-screen presence.
posted by slimepuppy at 4:03 AM on March 21 [4 favorites]

I barely remember the movie (it's been a long time), but I'm just going to brag that I know Tank Girl. Not Lori Petty. Tank Girl. An actual human who embodies that character.
posted by adamrice at 4:33 PM on March 21 [1 favorite]