I. . . honestly am not sure what to say about this movie. Having never read any of the comics, I don't know if it's a faithful representation. If it is, I'd say the comics are kind of incoherent.
It takes at least the first third of the movie before Lori Petty actually gets herself a tank. That third does effectively establish Malcolm McDowell and his "Water and Power" district as a bunch of scumbags who enjoy varied forms of torture and murder. It also establishes Tank Girl as a big Doris Day fan. Maybe this was their version of Stanley Ipkiss as being really into Tex Avery cartoons.
Speaking of which, there's a scene that turns into a musical number. The Mask had the bit at the nightclub with swing dancing and Cameron Diaz (or maybe the "Cuban Pete" segment with the police is the better comp), so maybe this was just a thing for '90s comic adaptations. The Rocketeer had a fancy nightclub scene, too, although I don't remember a lot of singing.
Tank Girl's version is a little odd as it comes during what is ostensibly a rescue mission/escape attempt, and stalls that long enough the rescue mission fails miserably, as the person they came to save gets captured by someone else. Honestly, Tank Girl might have a hyperactivity disorder, and if so, the movie definitely reflects that, because I can't figure out what the heck she's thinking sometimes.
Why, for example, during the big attack scene at the end, is she paragliding behind her tank? She could be inside it, especially since she apparently has the only tank Water & Power had, since they seemingly have nothing else that poses any threat to it. You'd think I'd be more used to such decisions from reading Deadpool, but I can usually at least see some form of logic in his decisions, questionable as it may be.
I will say the movie certainly gives a good sense of a post-apocalyptic world where the survivors have latched on to what bits and pieces of culture or entertainment they can find. Water & Power has a fairly homogeneous depressing industrial vibe, but everyone else is living in weird cobbled together hodgepodges of whatever's handy. Old bowling alleys, fridges that would look ancient now, let alone in 3 centuries.
As far as '90s comic movies go, put it well behind Rocketeer or The Mask, but ahead of such luminaries as Barb Wire, Steel, or either of the Schumacher Batman films. Yeah, Schumacher had higher production values and a consistent creative vision, but when that vision is shit, well, just look at Zack Snyder. Having a vision doesn't make it a good vision.
2 comments:
The original comics are... not incoherent as such, but they are punky art objects more than narratives. There are stories, but they are more jokey. They read more like UK kids' humour comics -- with more sex, violence, and swearing -- than other genres. I have no experience at all of US humour comics, so I don't know if they are the same sort of thing.
Probably a comedy anthology film would have been a better approach than what they did, but I suppose comics adaptations were still sort of finding their way when it was made, so messing around with format wasn't something they did back then.
I have seen the film, but I don't remember whether I liked it or not. I seem to have rated it 4/10 on IMDB, so I suspect not.
The comedy anthology approach would have been interesting. Definitely would have saved them trying to make a coherent plot if they could just do a series of short films one after another.
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