Review for Tank Girl (Limited Edition Box Set)

Introduction

I have to redefine my terms. I’ve always thought of Tank Girl as a bad movie, and believe me this film is ripe for criticism. This is also a film that I watched on release at the cinema. I enjoyed it enough to buy the VHS, which I quickly double-dipped to DVD once the technology existed. Once Blu-ray came along, I kept my eyes open for a Region B compatible Blu-ray, and when a UK release didn’t happen forthwith, I had the German Mediabook release pre-ordered. When the UK finally got with the program, and Eureka Entertainment solicited the Blu-ray release here, I eagerly requested a check disc, and having watched it last night, I’ve just gone and placed an order for a retail copy of the same. Now is this really a bad movie, if I spend so much money on it, if I re-watch it more than most of my collection, and when it comes down to it, if I enjoy it so much?


It’s the year 2033, a comet has struck and wiped out much of the planet, and water is a scarce commodity. Rebecca and her commune eke out a living in the arid wastes by illicitly siphoning off water, but the Water and Power Company want to hold onto their monopoly. In an attack, Rebecca’s home is destroyed, her loved ones murdered and she is taken prisoner.


Water and Power’s CEO, Kesslee thinks a woman with Rebecca’s lethal skill would be a good recruit, but he has to break her spirit first. When torture doesn’t work, he decides to use her as bait for the Rippers, mysterious and bestial warriors that raid Water and Power. That plan backfires brutally, but it does mean that Rebecca is free to seek revenge. It doesn’t hurt that she’s come into possession of one of Water and Power’s tanks.

The Disc

Tank Girl gets a 2.35:1 widescreen 1080p transfer on this disc, with the choice between DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround and PCM 2.0 Stereo English, with optional English subtitles (there’s no option in the menu for the subtitles, you’ll have to use your remote to turn them on and off). I found the surround track to be nice and immersive, making the most of the action and the eclectic music soundtrack, while keeping the dialogue clear throughout. From my recollection of the Koch Films Blu-ray, I suspect that we have a new transfer here. It’s filmic enough, with the grain looking natural and organic if subtle, but I appreciated the clarity a little more in this version, the colour seemed more vibrant, and the print seems to have been cleaned up when it comes to minor dirt, although there is still some flicker in a rare scene.

The images in this review were kindly supplied by Eureka Entertainment.

Extras

You get one disc in a BD Amaray style case which uses the original poster artwork for its sleeve, and has some comic art on the inside. This slips inside a rigid slipcase with newly commissioned artwork by Tank Girl cover artist Greg Staples. This also has room for the substantial booklet. There is a blurb sheet held on the case by cellophane, but which can be kept in the slipcase too.


The disc boots to a static menu. This release offers a bit of everything when it comes to Tank Girl on Blu-ray, including those extra features from the original US Shout Factory release that the Koch Films release partially cloned. There are a couple of newer featurettes from a more recent Australian release from Umbrella, and couple of newly commissioned featurettes for this Eureka release.


Audio Commentary with director Rachel Talalay and actor Lori Petty
Girl U Want: Lindsay Hallam on Tank Girl (11:59)
Not a Bedtime Story: Greg Staples on Tank Girl (11:59)
Baseball, Tanks and Bad Tattoos – Archival Interview with Lori Petty (22:37)
Too Hip For Spielberg – Archival Interview with Rachel Talalay (23:53)


Creative Chaos – Archival Interview with Production Designer Catherine Hardwicke (18:08)
The Shape of Ripper – Interview with Actor Doug Jones (11:31)
(Tank) Girl Power – Video Essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (10:51)
Archival Making of Featurette (5:04)
Trailer (1:35)


The limited edition release restricted to 2000 copies will get a hardbound slipcase with new artwork from Tank Girl cover artist Greg Staples, and a 60-page collector’s book with an introduction from Tank Girl co-creator Alan Martin, and writing on the film from Stacey Abbot, Susan Kerns, and Kieran Foster.

Conclusion

To hear the studios talk, it seems that the advent of female comic book characters carrying movies is just a modern thing; that movies like Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman are just recent developments. The fact of the matter is that female led comic books have been adapted to film right from the beginning, maybe even earlier than you’d think. Films like Barbarella and Modesty Blaise date from way back in the sixties, there were films like Supergirl and in 1995, this Tank Girl adaptation came along. The less said about Catwoman the better, but you’ll note one thing in common. These films never really set the world on fire. In a patriarchal film industry, it’s a rare film that has a female protagonist, even now. You need creators with enough clout to do their own thing without studio interference, and it’s the directors like James Cameron, Katherine Bigelow, and Luc Besson who give us memorable female lead characters in action films, not the studios.


The studios like to stick their oar in and wreck such films, as you’ll learn if you listen to the commentary on this disc, and watch the extras. This isn’t the Tank Girl that we were supposed to get, and it does tell in the final product. Tank Girl is a disjointed, chaotic mess of a film, with questionable continuity and an uneven tone. Having said all of that, Tank Girl is still a visual feast, an energetic, post apocalyptic romp with oodles of chutzpah. It’s one of the earlier film representations of female empowerment, with a positive, quirky and non-conforming main character. It’s no wonder that over the last 30 years, Tank Girl has transformed from a forgettable flop in a year of flops (it was also the year of Stallone’s Judge Dredd) to a veritable cult classic.


Tank Girl has pace, it has energy, and it has memorable characters. I don’t think I will ever get over the idea of Ice-T as a kangaroo, while Malcolm McDowell really gets his teeth into Kesslee in a way that he failed to do with Soran in the previous year’s Star Trek Generations movie. For good or ill, Tank Girl is a comic book made three dimensional, and some of its more bizarre diversions (the Cole Porter number) can be forgiven given what it tried to achieve.


Tank Girl isn’t really a good movie, but it’s the kind of bad movie that I will choose to watch over and over again. I’d call it a guilty pleasure, but I feel no guilt in choosing to watch this film. It’s fun, which when you think about it, is what you really need from a comic book movie. I can’t wait to get my hands on the retail release of this film, as that artwork, and the prospect of a 60-page collector’s booklet needs to be in my collection. You also get so much more in terms of on-disc extras compared to that 4-year old German release that it makes sense to double-dip. Eureka Entertainment’s Tank Girl can be had direct from Eureka Entertainment, and from mainstream retailers.