Recommendations of the Editorial team
The 150 best science fiction films of all time (150): “Tank Girl”
Somewhere, in a far away galaxy, Georges Méliès never sends a group of people on a trip to the moon. The adventures of space researchers and time travelers, androids and extraterrestrial breeds do not inspire children. Those in the Saturday matinee popcorn munch.
The name Luke Skywalker does not say anything. Just as little as Marty McFly, “Mad” Max Rockatansky or Godzilla. Huge prehistoric monsters don’t wake up from their centuries -long slumber and don’t destroy a single metropolis. ET never arrives on earth. So he never has to go home. Thomas “Neo” Anderson is just another computer programmer. HAL 9000 is just a calculator.
Today the genre is wide enough to include everything from “ad astra” to “Zardoz”
How boring would the films be -and how deprived we would be spectators -if the science fiction did not exist. Or you would never have gotten over the development stage “This is only for academics”. Since the spherical rocket in 1902 gave the moon a blue eye and added a very young art form to an element of imagination, these speculative and imaginative stories that play in the vastness of space and/or on our own burned earth have been an integral part of a balanced cinema. These films gave us visions of utopias and dystopias. Deep questions about human experience and the pros and cons of artificial intelligence. We were enthusiastic and made to think. Science fiction was once only considered a niche for nerds. Today the genre is wide enough to include everything from “ad astra” to “Zardoz”.
When it was time to set up a ranking of the best sci-fi films ever, we could not stop at 100. Instead, we increased the list with 50 additional entries. In order to issue a good certificate to the pulpy, trendy and perverse contributions -not to mention some of our personal favorites, which are normally not mentioned in such lists. There were more than just a few discussions when it came to the selection. (It was also decided early on that superhero films as a whole do not normally fall into the area of science fiction, so that the MCU and other films do not occur in this list. With a very remarkable exception). Here are our favorites for the best that the genre has to offer. Lives long and in peace. May the power be with them.
Further reports from: AA Dowd, David Fear, Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Andy Greene, Tim Grierson, Kory Grow, Brian Hatt, Joseph Hudak, CT Jones, Noel Murray, Jason Newman, Keith PHIPPS, ROB Sheffield, Mosi Reeves, Katie Rife, Scott Teckerman.
The 150 best science fiction films of all time (150): “Tank Girl” (1995)
What would the post -apocalyptic world look like if the hero were a Riot Grrrl and the soundtrack from Courtney Love were curated? Take a look at the adventure of Tank Girl (Lorri Petty). How our heroine strips through the decimated outback. Years after a comet hit the earth and took control of an evil company.
The 150 best science fiction films of all time (150): “Tank Girl”
The film has some of the characteristics of a traditional sci-fi adventure. A jet flying buddy, played by Naomi Watts. An army of beings that are half kangaroo, half human. Among them one that is played by ICE-T. But Rachel Talalay’s adaptation of the iconic British Comics deviates from the typical dystopia formula by embedding everything in an old aesthetics of the 1990s. With bright colors and snappy, sexualized joke.
“No celebrities, no cable television, no water. It hasn’t rained in 11 years,” explains Tank Girl at the beginning of the film. “Now 20 people have to squeeze into the same bathtub. So it’s not everything bad.”