Tank Girl is a visually interesting flick with a story that doesn’t hold, ahem, water. The performances from Tori Petty and Malcolm McDowell are both fun but everything else is a mess including editing which gets pretty annoying after some time.
Genre(s): Action, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Shout Factory | R – 103 min. – $24.97 | November 19, 2013
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Rachel Talalay
Writer(s): Alan Martin and Jamie Hewitt (comic book); Ted Sarafian (written by)
Cast: Lori Petty, Ice-T, Naomi Watts, Malcolm McDowell
Theatrical Release Date: March 31, 1995
DISC INFO:
Features: Commentary, Featurette, Interviews, Theatrical Trailer
Number of Discs: 1
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.35
Subtitles: English
Disc Size: 43.3 GB
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A
THE MOVIE – 2.25/5
Plot Outline: The year’s 2033 and since a humongous meteor hit earth, the world just hasn’t been the same. No movies, no cable television, no water! A mega-villain, Kesslee (MALCOLM MCDOWELL), the leader of Water & Power, holds the world in his grasp since he controls all the water… or so he thinks. Two colossal enemies stand in his way: 1. The Rippers – an army of half-men/half-kangaroo people whose sole purpose is to bring down Water & Power and 2. a chick with a tank and tons of attitude – aka Tank Girl (LORI PETTY). Kesslee had better get a grip on reality and his water jugs because not even a run in her stockings is going to stop her from saving the world.
Quick Hit Review: Tank Girl is one heck of a unique movie, I’ll give it that much. Directed by Rachel Talalay (Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare), Tank Girl has a lot of style but it’s at best fanatic in its structure with a silly story, even by comic book standards, and off-the-rails performances beginning with Tori Petty and ending with Malcolm McDowell, both of whom at least seem to be having a good time with the material and their characters. Personally, it’s not my cup of tea but fans of the source material and/or Petty might enjoy it a bit more.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5
No slip cover this time, but there is a reversible artwork that I actually prefer. This release does with a standard DVD Copy.
Audio Commentary – Director Rachel Talalay and actress Lori Petty reunite to provide for an informative and fun track giving background information on the production and some of the fights she had with the studio.
Baseball, Tanks & Bad Tattoos: An Interview with Lori Petty (22:37; HD) – The star and actress discusses her time working on Tank Girl as well as her past with performing in different movies including Point Break.
Too Hip for Spielberg: An Interview with Director Rachel Talalay (23:53; HD) – This time Talalay gives her memories and experiences of working on the film and shows off some of the props she kept.
Creative Chaos: Designing the World of Tank Girl (18:08; HD) – Production designer Catherine Hardwicke talks about her approach to the production design on the film.
Vintage “Making-of Tank Girl” Featurette (5:03; HD) is an old behind-the-scenes feature with on-set interviews.
Theatrical Trailer (1:36; HD)
VIDEO – 4.25/5
Tank Girl rides onto Blu-ray via Shout Factory presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. While the picture isn’t the most beautiful looking transfer, the detail levels aren’t bad and the colors seem to be on par to what the filmmakers’ intentions.
AUDIO – 3.75/5
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track included is a bit of a mixed bag. The dialogue levels are nice and clear, the choice pop music comes through the front and rear channels well enough but some of the sound effects are a bit wonky such as when McDowell smashes the glass and it sounds rather flat. The depth is there at times especially during the action sequences so this is a solid upgrade over the DVD’s DD 5.1 audio.
OVERALL – 3.0/5
Overall, Tank Girl is a visually interesting flick with a story that doesn’t hold, ahem, water. The performances from Tori Petty and Malcolm McDowell are both fun but everything else is a mess including editing which gets pretty annoying after some time. Still, the Blu-ray released by Shout Factory receives a nice upgrade with newly produced features and good audio/video transfers.
Published: 11/13/2013