Video: Taylor Swift's Sci-Fi Music Video

"Bad Blood ft. Kendrick Lamar" by Taylor Swift

We’ve been hearing about Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video for what seems like months. There was the initial announcement, in which Swift debuted a mock action movie poster on her Instagram.  There were even  custom emoji. After weeks of teasing, the video finally premiered last night at the Billboard Music Awards.


In the video, Swift appears as "Catastrophe" — an agent of an elite ring of femme fatales, each with their own hip nickname and Sin City-style poster.  The video jumps off with a three-and-a-half minute clip featuring the martial-arts-fighting, sword-wielding, bazooka-toting, motorcycle-riding fatales Catastrophe (Taylor Swift) fights it out with Arsyn (Selena Gomez) battling against each other as they gather allies for their final show down. In an explosive climax, the pair faces off.

It's plain to see from the buzz that the internet thought the resulting video well worth the wait.  "Bad Blood" was a high-tech blue-and-chrome extravaganza of supermodels, celebrities, explosions, and - best of all - sci-fi homages.


The video sees Swift and a posse of female friends gear up and go into battle in a sequence that includes references to The Fifth Element, The Hunger Games, Kill Bill, The Matrix, Sucker Punch, Tron, and maybe even Pacific Rim. (We're pretty sure that was a cameo from the Pacific Rim mascot dog in the locker room scene, but we can't be sure.)   The outfits themselves are a sort of action movie chick pastiche that would have been right at home in Aeon Flux, Resident Evil Afterlife, Suckerpunch, or X-Men.

Here are the movie references I picked out during my viewing.  If you noticed any we missed, chime in down below! 

An obvious Black Widow reference taken from the first Avengers film, and very well done.

Three female androids dressing a combatant?  It's straight out of the scene in TRON: Legacy where Sam Flynn is being prepped for the games.

This typography could be ripped straight off a Sin City poster, but the scene looks like Neo's vision of Trinity dying from a fall in The Matrix Reloaded.  The slow-mo fall amid a shower of glass could also be a reference to the conclusion of Dredd, when Judge Dredd throws Mama out a window.  Honestly, it's such a popular convention, it's hard to tell.

Some people are calling this a Daredevil reference, but she's dressed like Nick Fury from classic Marvel S.H.I.E.L.D. comics.

The outfit is almost straight out of Fifth Element, but the scanner looks like it's from Elysium.

The Hunger Games training room scene, just before candidates receive their rating.

Katniss' signature hairstyle from The Hunger Games, but what does punching through walls reference?  There are a lot of male characters who punch through walls, but I can't think of a female character who does this while clad in solid black.

Divergent fighting ring, obviously.

The gadget looks like the weapon from Krull, the outfit is reminiscent of Aeon Flux, and that dog looks like the mascot from Pacific Rim.

...also, Rio?

Is it just me, or do these two look drift compatible?  I'm guessing this is a Pacific Rim reference.

The internet basically exploded over Haley Williams of Paramore wearing the outfit from Fifth Element, but I think that's actually a classic Psylocke costume.  Yes, the hair is the right color orange, but Taylor Swift was already wearing the Fifth Element getup in an earlier scene and, well... there seems to be a little too much to the outfit.  Milla Jovovich's infamous strap costume from The Fifth Element didn't include arm and wrist bands or as much ... ummm... "leg" coverage.  I don't know, any second opinions? 

This care looks like the one from Quantum of Solace

Some people are calling this a Prometheus reference, some people are saying it looks more like the underground X-Men lair.  I think it maybe just be a generic secret base, period.  It could be any of a hundred sci-fi films, including practically any of the Alien flicks.

Tron (Original film) light cycle

More Tron light cycle references.  Also, if you look closely, that's Jessica Alba on the second cycle, which also makes this a Dark Angel reference.

This looks like the rooftop scene featuring Lucy Lu from Kill Bill 2 except for the outfits, but some arguing that this is a Lady Snowblood reference, which is confusing because I'm fairly certain that the Kill Bill scene was a Lady Snowblood reference.  So maybe both?

Sucker Punch

A girl cuts off a dummy’s head with a leg blade in a Kingsmen reference.

I found a website insisting that this is a Jem (the 1980s cartoon, not the 2015 feature film) reference.  It was a very passionate argument, so I'm going to include it, even though I've never actually seen the cartoon. 

Here's the cast credits, which is a who's who of pop culture.  Interestingly, the character names seem to include a few more sci-fi references, including "Domino" (from the X-Men), "Luna" (from Harry Potter), and "Trinity" (from the Matrix).

Taylor Swift as Catastrophe
Karlie Kloss as Knockout
Kendrick Lamar as Welvin Da Great
Martha Hunt as HomeSlice
Zendaya as Cut-Throat
Lily Aldridge as Frostbyte
Ellen Pompeo as Luna
Mariska Hargitay as Justice
Cara Delevingne as Mother Chucker
Jessica Alba as Domino
Serayah as Dilemma
Lena Dunham as Lucky Fiori
Hailee Steinfeld as The Trinity
Ellie Goulding as Destructa X
Gigi Hadid as Slay-Z
Hayley Williams as The Crimson Curse
Selena Gomez as Arsyn
Cindy Crawford as Headmistress

Be a Fan