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Tank Girl (film)

Tank Girl is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Rachel Talalay and written by Tedi Sarafian. Based on the British comic series of the same name created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin, the film stars Lori Petty, Naomi Watts, Ice-T, and Malcolm McDowell. Set in a drought ravaged Australia years after a catastrophic impact event, it follows the antihero Tank Girl (Petty) as she, Jet Girl (Watts), and genetically modified supersoldiers called the Rippers fight Water & Power, an oppressive corporation led by Kesslee (McDowell).

Tank Girl
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRachel Talalay
Screenplay byTedi Sarafian
Based on
Tank Girl
by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyGale Tattersall
Edited byJames R. Symons
Music byGraeme Revell
Production
companies
United Artists
Trilogy Entertainment Group
Distributed byMGM/UA Distribution Co.
Release date
  • March 31, 1995 (1995-03-31) (United States)
Running time
104 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million[2]
Box office$6 million[2][3]

After reading an issue of the Tank Girl comic she had received as a gift, Talalay obtained permission from the comic's publisher Deadline to direct a film adaptation. She selected Catherine Hardwicke to be the production designer, and worked closely with Martin and Hewlett during the making of the film. Tank Girl was filmed primarily in White Sands, New Mexico, and Tucson, Arizona. The film's critically praised soundtrack was assembled by Courtney Love, and the Rippers' makeup and prosthetics team was headed by Stan Winston. Winston's studio were so enthusiastic about the project they cut their usual prices in half to meet the film's budget.

Financially unsuccessful, Tank Girl recouped only about $6 million of its $25 million budget at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics.[4] Martin and Hewlett have since spoken negatively of their experiences creating the film, and Talalay blamed some of the film's negative reception on studio edits over which she had no control. Despite the box-office failure of the film, it has since become a cult classic and has been noted for its feminist themes.

Plot edit

In the year 2033, after a decade-long global drought in the wake of a comet striking the Earth, the little remaining water is controlled by Kesslee (Malcolm McDowell) and his Water & Power (W&P) corporation, which subdues the population by monopolising the water supply. Rebecca Buck – "Tank Girl" (Lori Petty) – is a member of a commune in the Australian outback that operates the last water well not controlled by the corporation. In an attack on the commune, W&P troops kill Tank Girl's boyfriend, Richard (Brian Wimmer), and capture Tank Girl and her young friend Sam (Stacy Linn Ramsower). Rather than killing her, Kesslee enslaves and tortures the defiant Tank Girl. Jet Girl (Naomi Watts), a talented but introverted jet mechanic who has given up trying to escape W&P, urges Tank Girl to make less trouble for their captors, though Tank Girl refuses. Among other forms of torture, W&P personnel push her down into a long pipe to induce claustrophobia.

The mysterious Rippers slaughter guards at the W&P compound, then escape. Kesslee uses Tank Girl to lure the Rippers into the open, but they gravely wound him. Tank Girl and Jet Girl escape during the attack. Jet Girl steals a fighter jet from W&P and Tank Girl steals a tank, which she modifies heavily. The girls learn from the eccentric Sub Girl (Ann Cusack) that Sam is working at a sex club called Liquid Silver. They infiltrate the club, rescue Sam from a pedophile, Rat Face (Iggy Pop), and then humiliate the club's owner, "The Madame" (Ann Magnuson), by making her sing Cole Porter's "Let's Do It" at gunpoint. W&P troops break up the performance and recapture Sam. Tank Girl and Jet Girl wander the desert and find the Rippers' hideout. They learn that the Rippers are supersoldiers created from human and kangaroo DNA by a man called Johnny Prophet. Tank Girl befriends a Ripper named Booga (Jeff Kober), while a Ripper named Donner (Scott Coffey) shows romantic interest in Jet Girl. Despite the objections of the Ripper T-Saint (Ice-T), who is suspicious of the girls, the Rippers' leader Deetee (Reg E. Cathey) sends the pair out to capture a shipment of weapons. The girls bring the weapons crates back, though most of them are empty. After finding Johnny Prophet dead in one of the containers, the girls and the Rippers realize that W&P has tricked them.

The girls and the Rippers sneak into W&P, where they are ambushed. Kesslee, whose body had been reconstructed by the cybernetic surgeon Che'tsai (James Hong), reveals that Tank Girl has unknowingly been bugged. Deetee sacrifices himself damaging the generator, and in the darkness the Rippers turn the tide of the battle. Jet Girl kills Sergeant Small (Don Harvey), who had earlier sexually harassed her. Kesslee reveals that Sam is in the pipe, her life endangered by rising water. Tank Girl kills Kesslee, then pulls Sam out of the pipe. The film ends with an animated sequence showing water starting to flow freely. Tank Girl drives down rapids, pulling Booga behind on water skis, then takes them over a waterfall, shouting for joy.

Themes edit

 
Lori Petty, who played the title role in Tank Girl, in 2008

Writing in the 1997 book Trash Aesthetics: Popular Culture and Its Audience, Deborah Cartmell states that while the comic showed Tank Girl to be "unheroic or even [an] accidental antihero", the film sets her up with "classic western generic" emotional and moral justifications for her liberation and revenge on W&P, as she witnesses the slaughter of her boyfriend and her "trusty steed". She also sees one of the commune's children being abducted, and is herself captured and enslaved. Cartmell also says Tank Girl holds parallels with other "contemporary 'postfeminist' icons", as she displays dominant female sexuality and a "familiarity and knowing coolness of 'outlawed' modes of sexuality", such as masturbation, sadomasochism and lesbianism.[5]

In her 2006 book The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women On-Screen, Dominique Mainon writes that the film has antiestablishment themes and, unlike many comic-book adaptation films which feature "gratuitous sexual objectification" of women, Tank Girl stands out as being "stridently feminist", with the exception of the "cliché victim/avenger complex".[6] According to Mainon, the film makes fun of female stereotypes, as shown by Tank Girl's repeated emasculation of Kesslee with witty comebacks while she is being tortured, and by her response to the computer training device telling her how to present herself to men at the Liquid Silver club. The device provides seductive clothing and tells Tank Girl to remove her body hair and to wear make-up and a wig. Tank Girl completely ignores the advice and modifies the clothes to create her own style.[7]

In the 2011 book Cult Cinema, Ernest Mathijs and Jamie Sexton discuss the issue of whether cult films purported to be feminist were truly feminist or "partly the effect of the performance of feminist attitudes in its reception". The authors consider Tank Girl to be a "'real' feminist cult film", as opposed to the feminist cult films of Kathryn Bigelow and Catherine Hardwicke, which they consider to be too masculine and too eager to cater to "hetero-normativity", respectively.[8]

Production edit

Preproduction edit

In 1988, about a year after the launch of the Tank Girl comic in the British magazine Deadline, its publisher, Tom Astor, began looking for a studio interested in making a film adaptation. While several studios, including New Line Cinema, expressed interest, progress was slow.[9] Rachel Talalay's stepdaughter gave her a Tank Girl comic to read while she was shooting her directorial debut film, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (released in 1991). Talalay read the comic between takes and became interested in directing a Tank Girl film.[10] She contacted Astor and, after hearing nothing for almost a year, was about to give up trying to secure the rights when he gave her permission to make the film.[11] Talalay pitched the film to Amblin Entertainment and Columbia Pictures, which both turned it down. Talalay turned down an offer from Disney, as she did not believe the studio would allow the levels of violence and the sexual references the plot required.[11] An offer from MGM was accepted.[12] Talalay worked closely with the Tank Girl comic's co-creators Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett during the film's production, and selected Catherine Hardwicke to be the production designer. The studio was unhappy with Hardwicke, who was relatively unknown at the time, being chosen over more experienced designers, and Talalay had to meet with the producers to persuade them to allow Hardwicke to work on the project.[13] Tedi Sarafian wrote the screenplay and Gale Tattersall was chosen as cinematographer.[14] Believing that MGM would not allow the depiction of a bestial relationship in the film, the romance between Tank Girl and Booga was only written into the second or third version of the script, after the character was already established in the minds of people involved in the production. By this stage, Booga: "was a character and not just a kangaroo [so] it wasn't an issue anymore."[15]

Casting edit

MGM held open casting sessions in London, Los Angeles, and New York for the role of Tank Girl. According to Talalay, "two or three" of the Spice Girls met while waiting in line for the auditions;[16] Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell can be seen standing next to each-other in footage from the event.[17] There was skepticism towards the audition even at the time,[13] and Talalay later confirmed it was a publicity stunt arranged by MGM;[17] Talalay had already been asking the studio to cast a well-known English actress, Emily Lloyd. Talalay says she fired Lloyd after she refused to cut her hair for the role.[13][18] Lloyd, who had spent four months training for the role, disputes this, saying production had been going well until Talalay found out she was staying at the same hotel as Sarafian. Lloyd says it was a coincidence and she barely spoke to Sarafian, and could only speculate as to why Talalay subsequently became "frosty with both of [them]" and then fired her, ostensibly for rescheduling her appointment with the film's hair stylist.[19] Talalay cast Lori Petty, an American, because "she is crazy in her own life and [the film] needed somebody like that."[20] MGM faxed Deadline asking them for an "ideal cast" list; they selected Malcolm McDowell for Kesslee, but never believed MGM would actually contact him.[21] McDowell has spoken favorably of his experience working on the film, saying it had the "same flavour" as A Clockwork Orange, and praised Talalay and Petty.[22] Talalay was approached by several people who wanted cameos in the film, but she did not want the film to be overshadowed by such appearances. Two cameos were settled on – Iggy Pop was given the role of Rat Face, and Björk was offered Sub Girl. She later dropped out, her character's scenes were rewritten, and the role was then given to Ann Cusack.[23]

Filming edit

Tank Girl was filmed over 16 weeks,[24] in three locations; desert scenes were filmed in White Sands, New Mexico, the Liquid Silver club set was built at an abandoned shopping mall in Phoenix, Arizona,[25] and all remaining scenes were filmed within 40 miles of Tucson, Arizona.[26] Many scenes were filmed in an abandoned open-pit mine, where filming had to be halted one day due to a chemical leak. Permission was received to film the water pipe scenes at the Titan Missile Museum, near the mine, but the day before shooting, permission was withdrawn. These scenes were filmed, instead, in a tunnel at the abandoned mine. New sets were often found by simply searching the mine.[27] Principal photography was completed on September 27, 1994,[13] two days over schedule, though still within the original budget.[28]

Effects edit

 
The tank as seen in the film, which featured accessories ranging from lawn chairs to rocket launchers.[29] The rear section of a 1969 Cadillac Eldorado is visible at the back of the tank.

In the comics, the Rippers are considerably more kangaroo-like. However, Talalay wanted real actors rather than stuntmen in suits playing the roles. She asked Hewlett to redesign the Rippers to make them more human, allowing them to have the actual actors' facial expressions.[21] Requests were sent out to "all the major make-up and effects people", including Stan Winston, whose prior work included the Terminator films, Aliens and Jurassic Park. Talalay said that while she considered Winston to be the best, she did not expect to hear back from him.[30] When she did, she still did not think that she would be able to afford his studio on her budget. A meeting was arranged and Winston insisted on being given the project, saying the Rippers would be: "the best characters we've had the opportunity to do."[31] Winston's studio cut their usual prices in half to meet the film's budget.[31] Eight Rippers were featured in the film: half were given principal roles, the others were mainly in the background. Each Ripper had articulated ears and tails which were activated by remote control, and the background Rippers also had mechanical snouts which could be activated either by remote control or by the movement of the actors' mouths.[32] Each Ripper's make-up took about four hours to apply. Three technicians from Winston's studio were required to work on each Ripper's articulations during filming; no puppets or digital effects were used for the Rippers.[33]

The main tank used in the film is a modified M5A1 Stuart. It was purchased from the government of Peru about 12 years prior to filming and had already been used in several films. Among numerous modifications made for Tank Girl, the tank's 37 mm antitank gun was covered with a modified flag pole to give the appearance of a 105 mm gun. An entire 1969 Cadillac Eldorado was added onto the tank, with the rear section welded at the back and the fender welded to the front.[34]

Post-production edit

A "naked Ripper suit" incorporating a prosthetic penis was created for Booga and used in a filmed postcoital scene which was removed from the final version of the film at the studio's insistence.[11] Deborah Cartmell described the "postcoital scene" in the final version, which featured Booga fully clothed, as "carefully edited".[35] Against Talalay's wishes, the studio made several other edits to the film. The scene in which Kesslee tortures Tank Girl was cut heavily on the grounds that she appeared "too ugly" while being tortured. Also cut was a scene showing Tank Girl's bedroom, which was shown to be decorated with dozens of dildos, and a scene in which she places a condom on a banana before throwing it at a soldier. The role of Sub Girl was originally intended to be larger; at least two scenes featuring the character were cut from the film, including her appearance in the original ending. The studio cut the original ending, a live-action scene in which it begins to rain; the film was to have ended with Tank Girl burping.[11]

Soundtrack edit

Tank Girl – Original Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by
Various artists
ReleasedMarch 28, 1995
Recorded1994
GenreAlternative rock
Length41:58
LabelWarner Bros. Records
Elektra Records
ProducerVarious artists

The film's soundtrack was assembled by Courtney Love;[36][37] Graeme Revell composed the original music.[14] Love's band Hole contributed the song "Drown Soda". Greg Graffin from Bad Religion was originally supposed to sing the duet of "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" with Joan Jett, but due to contractual restrictions he was replaced by Paul Westerberg from the Replacements. Devo recorded a new version of their song "Girl U Want" specifically for the film, as they were big fans of the comic.[38] "Girl U Want" plays in the film's opening sequence, featuring the singing of Jula Bell from Bulimia Banquet;[39] this version with Bell is in the film but not on the soundtrack album. The soundtrack featured Björk's song "Army of Me" before it was released as a single. Because of the box-office failure of the film, both Björk and her label decided not to use footage from the film in the song's accompanying music video.[40]

The song "Mockingbird Girl" by the Magnificent Bastards (a side project of Scott Weiland) was recorded specifically for the album after Love approached Weiland asking if he would like to contribute a song.[41] The single's cover showed the torso and thighs of an animated character resembling Tank Girl and featured the tracks "Ripper Sole" and "Girl U Want" from the album. In the United States, it peaked at No. 27 on the Mainstream Rock chart and No. 12 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.[42] The song "2¢" by Beowülf also appears in the film; Talalay lobbied Restless Records to have the song included on the soundtrack but was unsuccessful. Instead, she directed the music video for the song, which featured both animated and live-action footage from the film.[43]

The soundtrack album was released on March 28, 1995, by Warner Bros. Records and Elektra Records. It peaked at number 72 on the Billboard 200.[42] The next week, New York magazine wrote that the soundtrack was getting more attention than the film itself.[44] However, Ron Hancock of Tower Records stated that sales of the album were disappointing and attributed this to the financial failure of the film.[40] Owen Gleiberman spoke favorably of the soundtrack,[36] as did Laura Barcella writing in the book The End, describing it as a "who's who of '90s female rock."[37] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said the album was "much better than the film", awarding it three out of five stars.[45]

No.TitleRecording artist(s)Length
1."Ripper Sole"Stomp!1:42
2."Army of Me"Björk3:56
3."Girl U Want"Devo3:51
4."Mockingbird Girl"The Magnificent Bastards3:30
5."Shove"L73:11
6."Drown Soda"Hole3:50
7."Bomb"Bush3:23
8."Roads"Portishead5:04
9."Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love"Joan Jett and Paul Westerberg2:23
10."Thief"Belly3:12
11."Aurora"Veruca Salt4:03
12."Big Gun"Ice-T3:54
Total length:41:58

Other songs in the film edit

Release edit

Initial screening and box office edit

 
Malcolm McDowell, who portrayed the film's main villain Kesslee, in 2011

Tank Girl premiered at the Mann Chinese Theatre on March 30, 1995. Approximately 1,500 people attended the screening, including Talalay, Petty, Ice-T, McDowell, Watts, and several other actors from the film, as well as Rebecca De Mornay, Lauren Tom, Brendan Fraser and Jason Simmons. Men in W&P costumes handed out bottles of mineral water, and girls dressed in Liquid Silver outfits gave out Astro Pops, candy cigarettes, and Tank Girl candy necklaces. About 400 people attended the official after-party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.[48] The film opened in cinemas across the United States the following day.[2]

Tank Girl opened in 1,341 theatres in the United States bringing in $2,018,183 in its first weekend[49] and $2,684,430 at the end of its first week of release. By the end of its second week, Tank Girl had made only $3,668,762. Its final gross in the United States was $4,064,495.[2] Internationally, the film added approximately $2,000,000 to that total,[3] against a production budget of $25 million.[2]

Critical reception edit

The film holds an approval ratings of 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 46 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads: "While unconventional, Tank Girl isn't particularly clever or engaging, and none of the script's copious one-liners have any real zing."[50] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F.[51]

Lamar Hafildason of the BBC gave the film one out of five stars, saying: "Sadly, the BBC does not pay out for one-word reviews. If it did, then this review would read simply: 'tiresome'."[52] In 2001, Matt Brunson from Creative Loafing gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying its soundtrack and the glimpse of Naomi Watt's early career were its only redeeming qualities.[53] Jonathan Rosenbaum gave a moderately positive reviews, concluding: "unless you're a preteen boy who hates girls, it's funnier and a lot more fun than Batman Forever."[54]

Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars. While praising the film's ambition, he concluded it was hard to care about it for long as its "manic energy" wore him down.[55] Janet Maslin made similar comments about the impact of the film's over-the-top style. Her mixed review also criticised the film's "pointless" plot, though praised the performances of both McDowell and Petty.[56] Owen Gleiberman said Petty's performance was the only good part of the otherwise "amateurish" film, giving it an overall C− rating.[36] Leonard Klady from Variety was more critical of Petty, saying she "has the spunk but, sadly, not the heart of the post-apocalyptic heroine", also stating the film lacked an engaging story to draw its intriguing elements together.[57]

Retrospective reviews of Tank Girl have tended to be more positive. In 2015, Elizabeth Sankey said that while plot and continuity issues left the film "tremendously flawed", she still could not help loving it, praising its soundtrack and costuming. Petty's performance was particularly revered, as was the character of Tank Girl.[58] In 2020, Megan Carpentier from NBC News gave a positive review, saying it was too ahead of its time and attributing its initial poor reception to its feminist themes both unsettling the all male producers and executives enough to make heavy cuts to the film, and also not appealing to the mostly male film critics at the time.[59] That same year, Jef Rouner from the San Francisco Chronicle called Tank Girl the most underappreciated comic book film, praising its style and the performance and chemistry between Petty and McDowell,[60] and Cheryl Eddy from Gizmodo described it as a "fun-as-hell" film that had "long since made up for its tepid box-office take by becoming a cult sensation."[61]

Home media edit

Tank Girl was released on DVD by MGM on April 10, 2001.[62] Aaron Beierle from DVD Talk gave the DVD three and a half stars out of five for both video and audio quality, though only half a star for special features, noting that only the original trailer was included.[63]

Shout! Factory acquired the rights to several MGM films, including Tank Girl, and subsequently released a US Blu-ray version on November 19, 2013. Special features included the original trailer, a 'Making of' featurette, a commentary track with Petty and Talalay, and interviews with Talalay, Petty, and Hardwicke. Jeffrey Kauffman from Blu-ray.com gave the version four stars out of five for audio and video quality and three stars for special features.[64] M. Enois Duarte from highdefdigest.com gave the version three and a half stars out of five for video quality, four stars for audio quality, and two and a half stars for extras.[65] The Blu-ray has not been released internationally.

Legacy and related media edit

 
A Tank Girl cosplayer in 2014

To boost its declining readership, Deadline featured Tank Girl on its cover many times in 1994 and 1995 in anticipation of the film's release. Subsequently, Tom Astor said the release of the film: "was very helpful, but it did not make up the difference, it lost some of its cult appeal without gaining any mainstream credibility."[66] The magazine ceased publication in late 1995.[67] Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett have since spoken negatively of their experiences creating the film, calling it "a bit of a sore point" for them.[68] "The script was lousy," Hewlett recalled, "me and Alan kept rewriting it and putting Grange Hill jokes and Benny Hill jokes in, and they obviously weren't getting it. They forgot to film about ten major scenes so we had to animate them ... it was a horrible experience."[69] Talalay complained that the studio interfered significantly in the story, screenplay, and feel of the film.[70][71] She said that she had been "in sync" and on good terms with Martin and Hewlett until the studio made significant cuts to the film, which she had no control over.[11]

Peter Milligan wrote an adaptation comic in 1995,[72] and a novelization of the film by Martin Millar was published in 1996.[73] In July 1995, it was reported that Ocean Software had acquired the licence to create console video-game adaptations of the film,[74] though no game was ever released. In 2008, Talalay was negotiating with Sony to obtain the rights to direct a Tank Girl reboot film. Obtaining the rights was said to be a difficult process, due to legal issues of propriety related to the acquisition of MGM and United Artists by Sony and other companies.[18]

Despite being a critical and commercial failure, Tank Girl is often said to have a cult following.[75][37][76] Petty's version of Tank Girl remains a popular character at cosplay events.[77][78] The music video for Avril Lavigne's 2013 song "Rock n Roll" paid homage to Tank Girl.[79] Megan Carpentier credits Tank Girl as having a strong influence on the aesthetics of the 2020 film Birds of Prey, and also speculated its influence on the films The Matrix Reloaded, Mad Max: Fury Road and the character of Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass.[59] During her interview included on the Blu-ray release of the film in 2013, Petty was asked why she thinks the film still resonates with fans, and replied: "There's no formula as to why Tank Girl was so fabulous and why people love it so much ... It was unique, it was new, it was fresh, it was way ahead of its time, and I'm happy that I got to do it and that I'll always have her."[80] Luke Buckmaster from the BBC included the film in his 2015 list of the "ten weirdest superhero films", asserting that: "at its best, director Rachel Talalay captures an ostentatious steampunk vibe that proves weirdly addictive."[81]

It was reported in September 2019 that a reboot of the film was in early development with Margot Robbie's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who optioned the rights from MGM.[82]

References edit

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Bibliography edit

Further reading edit

External links edit

tank, girl, film, tank, girl, 1995, american, post, apocalyptic, science, fiction, film, directed, rachel, talalay, written, tedi, sarafian, based, british, comic, series, same, name, created, jamie, hewlett, alan, martin, film, stars, lori, petty, naomi, watt. Tank Girl is a 1995 American post apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Rachel Talalay and written by Tedi Sarafian Based on the British comic series of the same name created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin the film stars Lori Petty Naomi Watts Ice T and Malcolm McDowell Set in a drought ravaged Australia years after a catastrophic impact event it follows the antihero Tank Girl Petty as she Jet Girl Watts and genetically modified supersoldiers called the Rippers fight Water amp Power an oppressive corporation led by Kesslee McDowell Tank GirlTheatrical release posterDirected byRachel TalalayScreenplay byTedi SarafianBased onTank Girlby Alan MartinJamie HewlettProduced byRichard B Lewis Pen Densham John WatsonStarringLori Petty Ice T Naomi Watts Malcolm McDowellCinematographyGale TattersallEdited byJames R SymonsMusic byGraeme RevellProductioncompaniesUnited ArtistsTrilogy Entertainment GroupDistributed byMGM UA Distribution Co Release dateMarch 31 1995 1995 03 31 United States Running time104 minutes 1 CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget 25 million 2 Box office 6 million 2 3 After reading an issue of the Tank Girl comic she had received as a gift Talalay obtained permission from the comic s publisher Deadline to direct a film adaptation She selected Catherine Hardwicke to be the production designer and worked closely with Martin and Hewlett during the making of the film Tank Girl was filmed primarily in White Sands New Mexico and Tucson Arizona The film s critically praised soundtrack was assembled by Courtney Love and the Rippers makeup and prosthetics team was headed by Stan Winston Winston s studio were so enthusiastic about the project they cut their usual prices in half to meet the film s budget Financially unsuccessful Tank Girl recouped only about 6 million of its 25 million budget at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics 4 Martin and Hewlett have since spoken negatively of their experiences creating the film and Talalay blamed some of the film s negative reception on studio edits over which she had no control Despite the box office failure of the film it has since become a cult classic and has been noted for its feminist themes Contents 1 Plot 2 Themes 3 Production 3 1 Preproduction 3 2 Casting 3 3 Filming 3 4 Effects 3 5 Post production 4 Soundtrack 4 1 Other songs in the film 5 Release 5 1 Initial screening and box office 5 2 Critical reception 5 3 Home media 6 Legacy and related media 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 Further reading 10 External linksPlot editIn the year 2033 after a decade long global drought in the wake of a comet striking the Earth the little remaining water is controlled by Kesslee Malcolm McDowell and his Water amp Power W amp P corporation which subdues the population by monopolising the water supply Rebecca Buck Tank Girl Lori Petty is a member of a commune in the Australian outback that operates the last water well not controlled by the corporation In an attack on the commune W amp P troops kill Tank Girl s boyfriend Richard Brian Wimmer and capture Tank Girl and her young friend Sam Stacy Linn Ramsower Rather than killing her Kesslee enslaves and tortures the defiant Tank Girl Jet Girl Naomi Watts a talented but introverted jet mechanic who has given up trying to escape W amp P urges Tank Girl to make less trouble for their captors though Tank Girl refuses Among other forms of torture W amp P personnel push her down into a long pipe to induce claustrophobia The mysterious Rippers slaughter guards at the W amp P compound then escape Kesslee uses Tank Girl to lure the Rippers into the open but they gravely wound him Tank Girl and Jet Girl escape during the attack Jet Girl steals a fighter jet from W amp P and Tank Girl steals a tank which she modifies heavily The girls learn from the eccentric Sub Girl Ann Cusack that Sam is working at a sex club called Liquid Silver They infiltrate the club rescue Sam from a pedophile Rat Face Iggy Pop and then humiliate the club s owner The Madame Ann Magnuson by making her sing Cole Porter s Let s Do It at gunpoint W amp P troops break up the performance and recapture Sam Tank Girl and Jet Girl wander the desert and find the Rippers hideout They learn that the Rippers are supersoldiers created from human and kangaroo DNA by a man called Johnny Prophet Tank Girl befriends a Ripper named Booga Jeff Kober while a Ripper named Donner Scott Coffey shows romantic interest in Jet Girl Despite the objections of the Ripper T Saint Ice T who is suspicious of the girls the Rippers leader Deetee Reg E Cathey sends the pair out to capture a shipment of weapons The girls bring the weapons crates back though most of them are empty After finding Johnny Prophet dead in one of the containers the girls and the Rippers realize that W amp P has tricked them The girls and the Rippers sneak into W amp P where they are ambushed Kesslee whose body had been reconstructed by the cybernetic surgeon Che tsai James Hong reveals that Tank Girl has unknowingly been bugged Deetee sacrifices himself damaging the generator and in the darkness the Rippers turn the tide of the battle Jet Girl kills Sergeant Small Don Harvey who had earlier sexually harassed her Kesslee reveals that Sam is in the pipe her life endangered by rising water Tank Girl kills Kesslee then pulls Sam out of the pipe The film ends with an animated sequence showing water starting to flow freely Tank Girl drives down rapids pulling Booga behind on water skis then takes them over a waterfall shouting for joy Themes edit nbsp Lori Petty who played the title role in Tank Girl in 2008Writing in the 1997 book Trash Aesthetics Popular Culture and Its Audience Deborah Cartmell states that while the comic showed Tank Girl to be unheroic or even an accidental antihero the film sets her up with classic western generic emotional and moral justifications for her liberation and revenge on W amp P as she witnesses the slaughter of her boyfriend and her trusty steed She also sees one of the commune s children being abducted and is herself captured and enslaved Cartmell also says Tank Girl holds parallels with other contemporary postfeminist icons as she displays dominant female sexuality and a familiarity and knowing coolness of outlawed modes of sexuality such as masturbation sadomasochism and lesbianism 5 In her 2006 book The Modern Amazons Warrior Women On Screen Dominique Mainon writes that the film has antiestablishment themes and unlike many comic book adaptation films which feature gratuitous sexual objectification of women Tank Girl stands out as being stridently feminist with the exception of the cliche victim avenger complex 6 According to Mainon the film makes fun of female stereotypes as shown by Tank Girl s repeated emasculation of Kesslee with witty comebacks while she is being tortured and by her response to the computer training device telling her how to present herself to men at the Liquid Silver club The device provides seductive clothing and tells Tank Girl to remove her body hair and to wear make up and a wig Tank Girl completely ignores the advice and modifies the clothes to create her own style 7 In the 2011 book Cult Cinema Ernest Mathijs and Jamie Sexton discuss the issue of whether cult films purported to be feminist were truly feminist or partly the effect of the performance of feminist attitudes in its reception The authors consider Tank Girl to be a real feminist cult film as opposed to the feminist cult films of Kathryn Bigelow and Catherine Hardwicke which they consider to be too masculine and too eager to cater to hetero normativity respectively 8 Production editPreproduction edit In 1988 about a year after the launch of the Tank Girl comic in the British magazine Deadline its publisher Tom Astor began looking for a studio interested in making a film adaptation While several studios including New Line Cinema expressed interest progress was slow 9 Rachel Talalay s stepdaughter gave her a Tank Girl comic to read while she was shooting her directorial debut film Freddy s Dead The Final Nightmare released in 1991 Talalay read the comic between takes and became interested in directing a Tank Girl film 10 She contacted Astor and after hearing nothing for almost a year was about to give up trying to secure the rights when he gave her permission to make the film 11 Talalay pitched the film to Amblin Entertainment and Columbia Pictures which both turned it down Talalay turned down an offer from Disney as she did not believe the studio would allow the levels of violence and the sexual references the plot required 11 An offer from MGM was accepted 12 Talalay worked closely with the Tank Girl comic s co creators Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett during the film s production and selected Catherine Hardwicke to be the production designer The studio was unhappy with Hardwicke who was relatively unknown at the time being chosen over more experienced designers and Talalay had to meet with the producers to persuade them to allow Hardwicke to work on the project 13 Tedi Sarafian wrote the screenplay and Gale Tattersall was chosen as cinematographer 14 Believing that MGM would not allow the depiction of a bestial relationship in the film the romance between Tank Girl and Booga was only written into the second or third version of the script after the character was already established in the minds of people involved in the production By this stage Booga was a character and not just a kangaroo so it wasn t an issue anymore 15 Casting edit MGM held open casting sessions in London Los Angeles and New York for the role of Tank Girl According to Talalay two or three of the Spice Girls met while waiting in line for the auditions 16 Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell can be seen standing next to each other in footage from the event 17 There was skepticism towards the audition even at the time 13 and Talalay later confirmed it was a publicity stunt arranged by MGM 17 Talalay had already been asking the studio to cast a well known English actress Emily Lloyd Talalay says she fired Lloyd after she refused to cut her hair for the role 13 18 Lloyd who had spent four months training for the role disputes this saying production had been going well until Talalay found out she was staying at the same hotel as Sarafian Lloyd says it was a coincidence and she barely spoke to Sarafian and could only speculate as to why Talalay subsequently became frosty with both of them and then fired her ostensibly for rescheduling her appointment with the film s hair stylist 19 Talalay cast Lori Petty an American because she is crazy in her own life and the film needed somebody like that 20 MGM faxed Deadline asking them for an ideal cast list they selected Malcolm McDowell for Kesslee but never believed MGM would actually contact him 21 McDowell has spoken favorably of his experience working on the film saying it had the same flavour as A Clockwork Orange and praised Talalay and Petty 22 Talalay was approached by several people who wanted cameos in the film but she did not want the film to be overshadowed by such appearances Two cameos were settled on Iggy Pop was given the role of Rat Face and Bjork was offered Sub Girl She later dropped out her character s scenes were rewritten and the role was then given to Ann Cusack 23 Filming edit Tank Girl was filmed over 16 weeks 24 in three locations desert scenes were filmed in White Sands New Mexico the Liquid Silver club set was built at an abandoned shopping mall in Phoenix Arizona 25 and all remaining scenes were filmed within 40 miles of Tucson Arizona 26 Many scenes were filmed in an abandoned open pit mine where filming had to be halted one day due to a chemical leak Permission was received to film the water pipe scenes at the Titan Missile Museum near the mine but the day before shooting permission was withdrawn These scenes were filmed instead in a tunnel at the abandoned mine New sets were often found by simply searching the mine 27 Principal photography was completed on September 27 1994 13 two days over schedule though still within the original budget 28 Effects edit nbsp The tank as seen in the film which featured accessories ranging from lawn chairs to rocket launchers 29 The rear section of a 1969 Cadillac Eldorado is visible at the back of the tank In the comics the Rippers are considerably more kangaroo like However Talalay wanted real actors rather than stuntmen in suits playing the roles She asked Hewlett to redesign the Rippers to make them more human allowing them to have the actual actors facial expressions 21 Requests were sent out to all the major make up and effects people including Stan Winston whose prior work included the Terminator films Aliens and Jurassic Park Talalay said that while she considered Winston to be the best she did not expect to hear back from him 30 When she did she still did not think that she would be able to afford his studio on her budget A meeting was arranged and Winston insisted on being given the project saying the Rippers would be the best characters we ve had the opportunity to do 31 Winston s studio cut their usual prices in half to meet the film s budget 31 Eight Rippers were featured in the film half were given principal roles the others were mainly in the background Each Ripper had articulated ears and tails which were activated by remote control and the background Rippers also had mechanical snouts which could be activated either by remote control or by the movement of the actors mouths 32 Each Ripper s make up took about four hours to apply Three technicians from Winston s studio were required to work on each Ripper s articulations during filming no puppets or digital effects were used for the Rippers 33 The main tank used in the film is a modified M5A1 Stuart It was purchased from the government of Peru about 12 years prior to filming and had already been used in several films Among numerous modifications made for Tank Girl the tank s 37 mm antitank gun was covered with a modified flag pole to give the appearance of a 105 mm gun An entire 1969 Cadillac Eldorado was added onto the tank with the rear section welded at the back and the fender welded to the front 34 Post production edit A naked Ripper suit incorporating a prosthetic penis was created for Booga and used in a filmed postcoital scene which was removed from the final version of the film at the studio s insistence 11 Deborah Cartmell described the postcoital scene in the final version which featured Booga fully clothed as carefully edited 35 Against Talalay s wishes the studio made several other edits to the film The scene in which Kesslee tortures Tank Girl was cut heavily on the grounds that she appeared too ugly while being tortured Also cut was a scene showing Tank Girl s bedroom which was shown to be decorated with dozens of dildos and a scene in which she places a condom on a banana before throwing it at a soldier The role of Sub Girl was originally intended to be larger at least two scenes featuring the character were cut from the film including her appearance in the original ending The studio cut the original ending a live action scene in which it begins to rain the film was to have ended with Tank Girl burping 11 Soundtrack editTank Girl Original SoundtrackSoundtrack album by Various artistsReleasedMarch 28 1995Recorded1994GenreAlternative rockLength41 58LabelWarner Bros RecordsElektra RecordsProducerVarious artistsThe film s soundtrack was assembled by Courtney Love 36 37 Graeme Revell composed the original music 14 Love s band Hole contributed the song Drown Soda Greg Graffin from Bad Religion was originally supposed to sing the duet of Let s Do It Let s Fall in Love with Joan Jett but due to contractual restrictions he was replaced by Paul Westerberg from the Replacements Devo recorded a new version of their song Girl U Want specifically for the film as they were big fans of the comic 38 Girl U Want plays in the film s opening sequence featuring the singing of Jula Bell from Bulimia Banquet 39 this version with Bell is in the film but not on the soundtrack album The soundtrack featured Bjork s song Army of Me before it was released as a single Because of the box office failure of the film both Bjork and her label decided not to use footage from the film in the song s accompanying music video 40 The song Mockingbird Girl by the Magnificent Bastards a side project of Scott Weiland was recorded specifically for the album after Love approached Weiland asking if he would like to contribute a song 41 The single s cover showed the torso and thighs of an animated character resembling Tank Girl and featured the tracks Ripper Sole and Girl U Want from the album In the United States it peaked at No 27 on the Mainstream Rock chart and No 12 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart 42 The song 2 by Beowulf also appears in the film Talalay lobbied Restless Records to have the song included on the soundtrack but was unsuccessful Instead she directed the music video for the song which featured both animated and live action footage from the film 43 The soundtrack album was released on March 28 1995 by Warner Bros Records and Elektra Records It peaked at number 72 on the Billboard 200 42 The next week New York magazine wrote that the soundtrack was getting more attention than the film itself 44 However Ron Hancock of Tower Records stated that sales of the album were disappointing and attributed this to the financial failure of the film 40 Owen Gleiberman spoke favorably of the soundtrack 36 as did Laura Barcella writing in the book The End describing it as a who s who of 90s female rock 37 Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said the album was much better than the film awarding it three out of five stars 45 No TitleRecording artist s Length1 Ripper Sole Stomp 1 422 Army of Me Bjork3 563 Girl U Want Devo3 514 Mockingbird Girl The Magnificent Bastards3 305 Shove L73 116 Drown Soda Hole3 507 Bomb Bush3 238 Roads Portishead5 049 Let s Do It Let s Fall in Love Joan Jett and Paul Westerberg2 2310 Thief Belly3 1211 Aurora Veruca Salt4 0312 Big Gun Ice T3 54Total length 41 58 Other songs in the film edit B A B Y by Rachel Sweet 46 Big Time Sensuality by Bjork 46 Blank Generation by Richard Hell and the Voidoids 46 Disconnected by Face to Face 47 Shipwrecked by Sky Cries Mary 46 Theme from Shaft by Isaac Hayes 11 2 by Beowulf 46 Wild Wild Thing by Iggy Pop 46 Release editInitial screening and box office edit nbsp Malcolm McDowell who portrayed the film s main villain Kesslee in 2011Tank Girl premiered at the Mann Chinese Theatre on March 30 1995 Approximately 1 500 people attended the screening including Talalay Petty Ice T McDowell Watts and several other actors from the film as well as Rebecca De Mornay Lauren Tom Brendan Fraser and Jason Simmons Men in W amp P costumes handed out bottles of mineral water and girls dressed in Liquid Silver outfits gave out Astro Pops candy cigarettes and Tank Girl candy necklaces About 400 people attended the official after party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel 48 The film opened in cinemas across the United States the following day 2 Tank Girl opened in 1 341 theatres in the United States bringing in 2 018 183 in its first weekend 49 and 2 684 430 at the end of its first week of release By the end of its second week Tank Girl had made only 3 668 762 Its final gross in the United States was 4 064 495 2 Internationally the film added approximately 2 000 000 to that total 3 against a production budget of 25 million 2 Critical reception edit The film holds an approval ratings of 43 on Rotten Tomatoes based on 46 reviews The website s critical consensus reads While unconventional Tank Girl isn t particularly clever or engaging and none of the script s copious one liners have any real zing 50 On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100 based on reviews from 23 critics indicating mixed or average reviews 4 Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F 51 Lamar Hafildason of the BBC gave the film one out of five stars saying Sadly the BBC does not pay out for one word reviews If it did then this review would read simply tiresome 52 In 2001 Matt Brunson from Creative Loafing gave the film one and a half stars out of four saying its soundtrack and the glimpse of Naomi Watt s early career were its only redeeming qualities 53 Jonathan Rosenbaum gave a moderately positive reviews concluding unless you re a preteen boy who hates girls it s funnier and a lot more fun than Batman Forever 54 Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars While praising the film s ambition he concluded it was hard to care about it for long as its manic energy wore him down 55 Janet Maslin made similar comments about the impact of the film s over the top style Her mixed review also criticised the film s pointless plot though praised the performances of both McDowell and Petty 56 Owen Gleiberman said Petty s performance was the only good part of the otherwise amateurish film giving it an overall C rating 36 Leonard Klady from Variety was more critical of Petty saying she has the spunk but sadly not the heart of the post apocalyptic heroine also stating the film lacked an engaging story to draw its intriguing elements together 57 Retrospective reviews of Tank Girl have tended to be more positive In 2015 Elizabeth Sankey said that while plot and continuity issues left the film tremendously flawed she still could not help loving it praising its soundtrack and costuming Petty s performance was particularly revered as was the character of Tank Girl 58 In 2020 Megan Carpentier from NBC News gave a positive review saying it was too ahead of its time and attributing its initial poor reception to its feminist themes both unsettling the all male producers and executives enough to make heavy cuts to the film and also not appealing to the mostly male film critics at the time 59 That same year Jef Rouner from the San Francisco Chronicle called Tank Girl the most underappreciated comic book film praising its style and the performance and chemistry between Petty and McDowell 60 and Cheryl Eddy from Gizmodo described it as a fun as hell film that had long since made up for its tepid box office take by becoming a cult sensation 61 Home media edit Tank Girl was released on DVD by MGM on April 10 2001 62 Aaron Beierle from DVD Talk gave the DVD three and a half stars out of five for both video and audio quality though only half a star for special features noting that only the original trailer was included 63 Shout Factory acquired the rights to several MGM films including Tank Girl and subsequently released a US Blu ray version on November 19 2013 Special features included the original trailer a Making of featurette a commentary track with Petty and Talalay and interviews with Talalay Petty and Hardwicke Jeffrey Kauffman from Blu ray com gave the version four stars out of five for audio and video quality and three stars for special features 64 M Enois Duarte from highdefdigest com gave the version three and a half stars out of five for video quality four stars for audio quality and two and a half stars for extras 65 The Blu ray has not been released internationally Legacy and related media edit nbsp A Tank Girl cosplayer in 2014To boost its declining readership Deadline featured Tank Girl on its cover many times in 1994 and 1995 in anticipation of the film s release Subsequently Tom Astor said the release of the film was very helpful but it did not make up the difference it lost some of its cult appeal without gaining any mainstream credibility 66 The magazine ceased publication in late 1995 67 Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett have since spoken negatively of their experiences creating the film calling it a bit of a sore point for them 68 The script was lousy Hewlett recalled me and Alan kept rewriting it and putting Grange Hill jokes and Benny Hill jokes in and they obviously weren t getting it They forgot to film about ten major scenes so we had to animate them it was a horrible experience 69 Talalay complained that the studio interfered significantly in the story screenplay and feel of the film 70 71 She said that she had been in sync and on good terms with Martin and Hewlett until the studio made significant cuts to the film which she had no control over 11 Peter Milligan wrote an adaptation comic in 1995 72 and a novelization of the film by Martin Millar was published in 1996 73 In July 1995 it was reported that Ocean Software had acquired the licence to create console video game adaptations of the film 74 though no game was ever released In 2008 Talalay was negotiating with Sony to obtain the rights to direct a Tank Girl reboot film Obtaining the rights was said to be a difficult process due to legal issues of propriety related to the acquisition of MGM and United Artists by Sony and other companies 18 Despite being a critical and commercial failure Tank Girl is often said to have a cult following 75 37 76 Petty s version of Tank Girl remains a popular character at cosplay events 77 78 The music video for Avril Lavigne s 2013 song Rock n Roll paid homage to Tank Girl 79 Megan Carpentier credits Tank Girl as having a strong influence on the aesthetics of the 2020 film Birds of Prey and also speculated its influence on the films The Matrix Reloaded Mad Max Fury Road and the character of Hit Girl in Kick Ass 59 During her interview included on the Blu ray release of the film in 2013 Petty was asked why she thinks the film still resonates with fans and replied There s no formula as to why Tank Girl was so fabulous and why people love it so much It was unique it was new it was fresh it was way ahead of its time and I m happy that I got to do it and that I ll always have her 80 Luke Buckmaster from the BBC included the film in his 2015 list of the ten weirdest superhero films asserting that at its best director Rachel Talalay captures an ostentatious steampunk vibe that proves weirdly addictive 81 It was reported in September 2019 that a reboot of the film was in early development with Margot Robbie s production company LuckyChap Entertainment who optioned the rights from MGM 82 References edit Tank Girl British Board of Film Classification April 13 1995 Archived from the original on November 9 2014 Retrieved February 9 2015 a b c d e Tank Girl Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on October 15 2015 Retrieved February 9 2015 a b Batman s boffo B O in Britain Variety July 24 1995 Archived from the original on October 15 2015 Retrieved July 14 2015 a b Tank Girl Metacritic Retrieved September 11 2019 Cartmell 1997 pp 41 43 Mainon 2006 p 157 Mainon 2006 p 159 Mathijs amp Sexton 2011 Wynne 1995 p 16 Wynne 1995 p 17 a b c d e f Rachel Talalay 2013 Director s commentary Tank Girl Blu ray Wynne 1995 p 20 a b c d Rachel Talalay 2013 Too Hip For Spielberg An interview with Director Rachel Talalay Blu ray featurette a b Maslin Janet March 31 1995 Movie Review Tank Girl Brash and Buzz Cut Atop Her Beloved Tank The New York Times Archived from the original on November 9 2014 Retrieved October 28 2015 Wynne 1995 p 21 The Den Of Geek interview Rachel Talalay Den of Geek September 1 2008 Archived from the original on November 9 2020 a b Burt Kayti March 31 2020 How Tank Girl Helped Bring the Spice Girls Together Den of Geek Archived from the original on January 20 2021 a b Anderson Martin August 5 2008 Rachel Talalay for Tank Girl reboot Den of Geek Archived from the original on May 5 2018 Lloyd 2014 pp 141 142 Wynne 1995 p 33 a b Wynne 1995 p 34 Wynne 1995 p 39 Wynne 1995 p 35 Wynne 1995 p 78 Wynne 1995 p 55 Wynne 1995 p 79 Catherine Hardwicke 2013 Creative Chaos Designing the World of Tank Girl with Production Designer Catherine Hardwicke Blu ray featurette Wynne 1995 p 86 Wynne 1995 p 59 Wynne 1995 p 62 a b Wynne 1995 p 63 Wynne 1995 pp 68 69 Wynne 1995 p 82 Wynne 1995 pp 58 59 Cartmell 1997 p 43 a b c Gleiberman Owen April 14 1995 Tank Girl review Entertainment Weekly Archived from the original on February 9 2015 Retrieved February 9 2015 a b c Barcella 2012 p 130 Rosen Craig March 25 1995 Tank Girl Set shoots From Hip Billboard Vol 107 no 12 pp 10 44 Retrieved March 17 2015 Tank Girl Blu ray Shout Factory 2013 Event occurs at 0 00 00 0 02 33 a b Atwood Brett May 13 1995 Elektra s Bjork Putting A Love Letter in The Post Billboard Vol 107 no 19 pp 17 18 Retrieved March 17 2015 Azzerad Michael August 1995 Peace Love and Understanding Spin 11 5 57 Retrieved March 17 2015 a b Tank Girl Awards AllMusic Archived from the original on July 8 2012 Retrieved March 17 2015 Tank Attack Billboard Vol 107 no 14 Nielsen Business Media April 8 1995 p 53 Retrieved March 18 2015 New York Media LLC April 3 1995 Tank Girl New York 28 14 86 Retrieved March 9 2015 Erlewine Stephen Thoma Original Soundtrack Tank Girl AllMusic Archived from the original on November 20 2013 Retrieved March 17 2015 a b c d e f Tank Girl Blu ray Shout Factory 2013 Event occurs at 1 42 35 Gold Jonathan August 1995 Throw Another Punk on the Barby Spin 11 5 26 Retrieved March 17 2015 Ehran Mark April 3 1995 RSVP Tanked Up at Moocher s Paradise Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on May 10 2015 Retrieved May 9 2015 Tank Girl R BOXOFFICE Archived from the original on June 25 2015 Retrieved June 25 2015 Tank Girl 1995 Rotten Tomatoes Fandango Media Archived from the original on February 11 2020 Retrieved November 28 2023 Tank Girl 1995 B CinemaScore Archived from the original on December 20 2018 Haflidason Almar November 26 2013 Tank Girl 1995 BBC Archived from the original on December 27 2009 Retrieved June 23 2015 Brunson Matt June 26 2001 All the President s Men Assault on Precinct 13 Red 2 among new home entertainment titles BBC Archived from the original on April 8 2014 Retrieved June 23 2015 Rosenbaum Jonathan October 26 1985 Tank Girl Chicago Reader Archived from the original on April 2 2015 Retrieved March 17 2015 Ebert Roger March 31 1995 Tank Girl review Chicago Sun Times Archived from the original on February 9 2015 Retrieved February 9 2015 Maslin Janet March 31 1995 Tank Girl 1995 The New York Times Archived from the original on November 9 2014 Retrieved June 23 2015 Klady Leonard March 29 1995 Review Tank Girl Variety Archived from the original on July 3 2015 Retrieved June 23 2015 Sankey Elizabeth April 23 2015 Mapping the Music and Style of Tank Girl Vice Archived from the original on February 8 2021 a b Carpentier Megan April 2 2020 Tank Girl taught Hollywood representation matters 25 years later the message still does NBC News Archived from the original on January 22 2021 Rouner Jef September 4 2020 5 screen adaptations of forgotten superheroes San Francisco Chronicle Archived from the original on January 23 2021 Eddy Cheryle November 12 2020 A Salute to Director Rachel Talalay a True Genre Pioneer Gizmodo Archived from the original on February 3 2021 Tank Girl Amazon com Archived from the original on January 9 2007 Retrieved September 15 2017 Beierle Aaron Tank Girl DVD Talk Archived from the original on April 2 2015 Retrieved March 17 2015 Kauffman Jeffrey November 8 2013 Tank Girl Blu ray Blu ray com Archived from the original on November 3 2014 Retrieved March 17 2015 Duarte M Enois November 14 2013 Tank Girl Collector s Edition High Def Digest Archived from the original on April 2 2015 Retrieved March 17 2015 Shirley 2005 p 255 Shirley 2005 p 257 Alan Martin on Tank Girl sci fi online Archived from the original on October 28 2013 Retrieved February 9 2015 Fairs Marcus June 2006 Jamie Hewlett interview Icon Magazine Archived from the original on March 24 2010 Retrieved February 21 2010 Bates John K December 1 1994 Tank Girl Stomps Hollywood Wired Archived from the original on July 15 2014 Retrieved February 9 2015 Talalay Rachel Rosenberg Bob Tank Girl Movie The Outtakes Tank Girl Retrieved February 9 2015 Tank girl OL 540196M Tank Girl Novelisation OL 7351212M Merritt Steve July 1995 News Kangaroo Court Mean Machines Sega No 33 EMAP pp 16 17 Volmers Eric March 6 2014 The blu ray redemption of Tank Girl Director Rachel Talalay talks about her 1995 cult film s handsome rebirth on DVD Calgary Herald Archived from the original on February 9 2015 Retrieved February 9 2015 Mathijs amp Mendik 2007 p 9 Hayes Britt February 22 2013 Cosplay of the Day Don t Mess With Tank Girl Unless You Want to Get Bombed ScreenCrush Archived from the original on October 15 2015 Retrieved July 17 2015 Panda Robo March 27 2015 Tank Girl Anniversary Edition of the Funny Sexy And Awesome Cosplay of the Week Uproxx Retrieved July 17 2015 E Smith Courtney August 20 2013 Avril Lavigne Pays Homage To Tank Girl With Rock N Roll Video Radio com Archived from the original on October 15 2015 Retrieved November 2 2013 Lori Petty 2013 Baseballs Tanks and Bad Tattoos An interview with Actress Lori Petty Blu ray featurette Buckmaster Luke August 11 2015 The 10 weirdest superhero films BBC Archived from the original on September 10 2015 Retrieved September 10 2015 Sneider Jeff September 10 2019 Exclusive Margot Robbie s Tank Girl Movie Lands Director Miles Joris Peyrafitte Collider Archived from the original on September 12 2019 Bibliography editBarcella Laura July 24 2012 The End 50 Apocalyptic Visions From Pop Culture That You Should Know About Before It s Too Late Zest Books ISBN 978 0 9827322 5 0 Cartmell Deborah December 1 1997 Trash Aesthetics Popular Culture and Its Audience Pluto Press ISBN 978 0 7453 1202 6 Lloyd Emily 2014 Wish I Was There John Blake Publishing ISBN 978 1782199588 Mainon Dominique March 1 2006 The Modern Amazons Warrior Women On Screen Limelight Editions ISBN 978 0 87910 327 9 Mathijs Ernest Mendik Xavier December 1 2007 The Cult Film Reader Open University Press ISBN 978 0 335 21923 0 Archived from the original on October 15 2015 Mathijs Ernest Sexton Jamie April 22 2011 Cult Cinema Wiley Blackwell ISBN 978 1 4051 7373 5 Archived from the original on October 15 2015 Shirley Ian August 22 2005 Can Rock amp Roll Save The World An Illustrated History of Music And Comics SAF publishing ISBN 978 0 946719 80 8 Wynne Frank May 4 1995 The Making of Tank Girl Titan Books ISBN 978 1 85286 621 1 Further reading editMilligan Peter 1995 Tank Girl Explosive Adaptation of the Hit Film DC Comics ISBN 978 1 56389 219 6 Millar Martin 1996 Tank Girl Novelisation Penguin Group ISBN 978 0 14 024876 0 External links editTank Girl film at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Data from Wikidata Tank Girl at IMDb Tank Girl at AllMovie Tank Girl at the TCM Movie Database Tank Girl at the American Film Institute Catalog Tank Girl at Box Office Mojo Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tank Girl film amp oldid 1187418681, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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