It is the year 2033 and it has been a difficult 10 or so years since a comet hit Earth, wiping out most of the population and changing the eco-system to the point that it hasn’t rained since. With such little water to go around, powerful men seek to control it all and that is exactly what the evil Kesslee and his Water & Power Company seek to do. Having themselves lost territory and groundwater to an attack from the fearsome mutations the “rippers”, Kesslee orders an attack on a human settlement that has been stealing water. They kill pretty much everyone but capture Rebecca, who catches Kesslee’s eye for fighting back so well. Condemned to work in the mines till she dies, Rebecca vows to escape and take revenge.
There is much to like in this film and I can see why it has acquired a bit of a cult following: it is different from the normal comic book movies mainly because the original material was so different. Although it throws up some cool moments and nice touches here and there, sadly the overall impression it made on me was one of messiness and uncertainty in the delivery. The plot is all over the place (for what it is) and the film seems to lack the courage to go the whole hog and genuinely just after fans of the comic book. Now, making a film more accessible than a comic is not a bad thing but making the whole project a mess in the attempt certainly is. The film tries to be crazy and irreverent but it forgets to do it consistently and within a good frame.
The result is we get some cool moments of genuine invention but mainly what we get are lots of scenes where Petty and the others are set adrift in a sea of mania in the vague hope that somehow it will all work out. Giving her her dues, at least Petty tries hard to make it work but she lacks good material and is left looking a bit silly. If she had managed to be a strong female as opposed to just a pain in the ass then things might have been a bit better but as it is she gives a wildly one note performance. Watts is better just because she has a less grating character, has a stronger sexual presence and varies her delivery at times. Ice-T looks pretty embarrassed by the whole thing but he is the least irritating of the Rippers (Kober takes that award). McDowell scowls his way across the film with no real effort or originality but at least his OTT performance is sort of distracting.
Director Talalay can moan about studio interference but there isn’t much here to suggest that she was doing much good either. The use of music is as all over the place as everything else and generally she fails to make it much more than a curio piece (although the animated sections are a nice idea). Overall it is rather cheeky and crazy and in this way it may have enough rough charm about it to appeal to a small audience who buy into that sense of humour. However for me (and the majority I suspect) this is a poor affair that had some potential but mostly does very, very little with it.
