Turbo Kid

"Turbo Kid" is a post-apocolypic comedy that I've seen described as "Mad Max meets BMX." I don't know if I'd agree that, however. "Turbo Kid" feels a lot more like its own thing. "Mad Max" is set in the Wasteland, and the latest MM film had a multi-million dollar budget. "Turbo Kid," in contrast, was Canadian funded (ouch) and is set in Canada (in November, it looks like) and everyone rides bicycles.

Yeah.

I like this movie: in fact, I watched a lot of it with a smile on my face. It's almost a perfect movie, except for one thing: Apple and "The Kid" have too many "moments" together. You know, "moments?" Too many times when they lock eyes, stare for a moment, and then both smile slowly-- gah. Also, a lot of their dialogue is a bit too awkward for my tastes, but tastes are as arbitrary as... film reviews (teehee.)

However, "moments" aside, a lot of this movie is just great. Apart from its fight scenes, which are both glorious and hilarious, a lot of "Turbo Kid's" charm stems from its celebration of the 80's and 90's. Everything from its kicking soundtrack, Commander Keen (and flannel!) costumes, and even its title is a retro sendup. Seriously: there's a campfire scene where they're using VHS tapes instead of logs. Brill!

Michael Ironside is also great. I only knew him as Sam Fisher, a henchman from "Total Recall," and the dude rockin' the awesome mullet in "Highlander 2," but after "Turbo Kid" I've learned that Ironside is a treasure-- and he's funny in this. Laurence Leboeuf deserves a shoutout too, even though she's essentially playing the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" stereotype. However, she deserves credit because she takes what could be extremely awkward material ("moments") and just runs with it. And the I like that she doesn't cover up her Quebecois accent.

Actually, you know what? *Everyone* is great in this-- Skeletron, your wild eyes rocks my socks, and Frederic, you're hilarious because your super-intense character lampoons Mel Gibson. A lot heart went into "Turbo Kid." That's what makes it a loving parody.

Maybe in 30 years we'll see 2010 kids make a movie lampooning reality TV, social media, and dumb phrases like "FTW" and "be awesome." Or maybe by then we'll have moved on from "meta" culture--I don't know. But "Turbo Kid" is a both brilliant parody and a loving tribute to 80's and 90's pop culture, and it has a lot of heart.

Definitely worth watching.

Turbo Kid is a fun little film that mashes a hyper-violent post apocalyptic wasteland with 80's retro-style science fiction. The film revolves around The Kid, a nameless scavenger who lives alone in an underground bunker. He spends his days scavenging, reading comics and trading at the local settlement. One day he meets a robot girl, falls head over heals, and goes to save her after she is kidnapped by leather wearing goons working for an imperious gang-leader. The Kid teams up with a tough-as-nails cowboy and his robot girlfriend to try and survive, and maybe enjoy the scenery and grow up along the way.

Turbo Kid was straight up adorable. The film features a cool 80's soundtrack, a la Nicholas Winding Refn's Drive, in a Mad Max style (or more like The Bed Sitting Room style) post apocalypse setting. The movie was adorable for a couple of reasons: First, all the characters ride around on BMX bikes, which is charming in its own way. These goons with leather gear and masks all riding around on bikes is just too cute! The soundtrack was great (if you fancy bands like College, Com Truise etc.), and the science fiction aspects of its were fun in a campy sort of way.

Don't get me wrong. This was not a masterpiece of a film. It is low budget, campy and over the top in some aspects. Even so, it was a fun, tongue-in-cheek film that mixes fun science fiction arm blasters with gritty and grindhouse style gore. It has a particularly original charm to it, in parts low budget, but with a ton of heart and soul. The whole thing just oozed charm and fun camp. The actors looked like they were having a blast, the soundtrack is great (once again!) and the film itself was shot well and directed straight. This is no big budget blockbuster, but it is fun, enjoyable, and adorable! Worth a watch for sure if you want to try something a little outside the box. It might not blow you away per say, but it just might charm the pants off of you. I am quite glad I was able to watch this one.

When it comes to plot, Turbo Kid isn't exactly the most cerebral. A lot of the runtime focuses on the friendship between The Kid and Apple, and how her happy-go-lucky attitude is a stark contrast to his coy, safe existence. There's some backstory flashbacks inserted every now and then that shows a connection between The Kid and Zeus, and the conflict between them establishes a reason for all the action.

But the plot is fairly superfluous to Turbo Kid's true purpose, and that's 80s nostalgia and homage. The whole thing feels like a post-apocalyptic movie made in the 80s, with nods to the movies of the time wherever you look. My favourite of which is everyone riding around on BMX bikes and chopper-cycles, reminiscent of movies like E.T. and The Goonies, and yet when you think about it, it actually makes perfect sense in a post-apocalyptic world where fuel is probably non-existent.

Another great aspect of the 80s angle is the special effects. There isn't a whole lot of CGI in Turbo Kid, but what CGI we do get is deliberately cheap and obvious. The Kid's arm weapon shoots out bright lights and lasers that look ripped straight out of Highlander, and the nuclear winter clouds are recreated with clever liquid mixtures that are super-imposed in the sky above landscapes, landscapes of which that are super reminiscent of the original Mad Max. The level of blood and gore is typically over-the-top as well, with blood spurting and spraying all over the place whenever someone loses an appendage or gets cut in half (which actually happens a lot, The Kid's weapon literally vaporises people, and Skeletron has a projectile circular saw on his arm). Fight scenes become blood baths, and uses how over-the-top and silly it is to it's advantage. For instance in the final fight scene, a goon ends up wearing a tower of torsos and legs of his comrades in a comedic pile-up.

Of course a massive 80s homage like Turbo Kid wouldn't work without a suitable synthcore score, and in that regard Turbo Kid fails to disappoint. Almost every scene is punctuated by staccato synth bass and electro dance drums pulsing away with twinkly keyboard sounds and arpeggios coursing out the melody. There's even an appearance from John Farnham's Thunder in Your Heart which is about as 80s as synth-rock gets (listened to by the character of a tape walkman, of course).

Now I'd be lying if I didn't say the dialogue and scripting was awful and cheesy as hell, or that a number of the actors overdid their deliveries, but in a way that all just added to the charm of the movie. When you really think about it, dialogue and acting wasn't typically great in a lot of the most iconic movies from the 80s, filled with lines and exchanges that today seem really cliché and cheesy. What would usually be a criticism in any other movie, here just feels like another layer to the homage of 80s classics and B-movies.

Of course when it comes to acting, the standout is Laurence LeBoeuf as the zany, overly optimistic Apple who befriends The Kid. Her smile is infectious and she takes every scene in her stride, becoming the true heart and soul of the entire movie. Munro Chambers certainly does an admirable job as The Kid, following the path of coward-turned-hero naturally and fluidly, and embracing the audience surrogate through this 80s adventure. Aaron Jeffrey seems to have a lot of fun as the cowboy Frederic, delivering every cheesy one-liner with all the panazz and cliché accentuation that the homage deserves, while Michael Ironside likewise seems to have a lot of fun as the villainous Zeus, tearing up and dominating every scene he's in. Edwin Wright as well, despite not having any lines of dialogue at all, turns Skeletron into a figure befitting of nightmares.

Turbo Kid is a deliberately cheesy exploration of an apocalyptic wasteland. It's been coined as a Mad Max love story on BMX bikes, and honestly that's about as accurate a description as you can get. Every scene uses 80s love and appreciation, and it never fails to warm your heart and make you squirm at graphic spurts of blood, sometimes simultaneously. In some respects it is awful, and yet that only adds to it's genuine charm, and often feels like a deliberate choice. You can tell the budget wasn't particularly huge, but that often plays in it's favour. Turbo Kid was a thoroughly enjoyable romp that stands out from many of today's more expensive endeavours. I give it an 8/10, and would recommend to anyone with a fundamental love of 80s movies.

The 80s is arguably one of the most influential decades of movie history. Films such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Back to the Future have often been credited as the inspiration of many directors of today's generation. One film series in particular pretty much kicked off the entire post-apocalyptic film genre, Mad Max. Created by George Miller, Mad Max was a series of movies that followed titular hero Max and his adventures in a post-apocalyptic Australia,usually meeting with thieves who are oppressing a certain people and then fighting them in several gun fights, brawls, and car chases. The Series overall while having varying degrees of quality has been a mainstay in pop culture, kicking off many more movies about nuclear wastelands. This brings me to Turbo Kid, a 2015 Canadian sci-fi action comedy made to mimic the over the top action films of the 80s, Mad Max especially. Synth heavy music dominates the soundtrack and the effects are purposefully cheesy. While the movie may not be perfect, it certainly is an entertaining adventure.

It's the distant future of 1997, atomic war has devastated the world, what few remains of civilization there are live their lives as Scavengers and Barbarians. Add in the fact that a water shortage is leaving the world thirsty and the one person who controls the water is a mad tyrant, the World is not a very happy place.

The Film stars Munro Chambers as "The Kid", A scavenger and comic book lover who looks up to his idol, the superhero Turbo Rider. He leads a simple life of collecting junk, selling the junk, and then getting his small rations of food and water. One day, he meets a slightly insane girl named "Apple"(played by Laurence Leboeuf) who follows him around believing him to be his best friend. The two get involved in a series of incidents that has them end up getting pursued by the leader of the civilization, Zeus (played by the underappreciated Michael Ironside). In order to combat Zues's forces, The Kid takes on the persona of the Turbo Rider, to end the oppression caused by the warlord.

The Story does feel generic, hitting beats that can be seen from a mile away. However, where the movie does excel is in its characters. While the acting is (purposefully) cheesy, the characters really do start to grow. Laurence Leboeuf's portrayal of Apple is charming and genuinely funny in some parts and with a twist midway through the movie, Her character gets deeper and you start to feel for her even more. Another should be given to the previously mentioned Michael Ironside, of Total Recall fame. His performance is so over the top but not too much to where it belittles his character, even though his actions in the movie is mostly played for laughs.

Speaking of laughs, the movie's comedy is hit and miss. There are some jokes and actions that made me laugh, while others were..OK at best. Most of the comedy comes from action, more specifically the heavy amount of gore in the film. Many heads and body parts get cut up, usually with heavy sprays of blood. While Gore in movies can go overboard sometimes, mainly using it for shock value, This movie uses it well, The setting in the film is built well enough to make the gore seem like the kind of action that would occur in their world. The fight scenes could have been handled better though, with some of the hand to hand combat looking extremely cheesy.

But in a way, that's the whole point of the movie, to be cheesy. The world, the characters, the story, the action all is made to mimic the cheesy feel of 80s action films. It wont leave you with any lasting message or theme. Its main goal is to entertain and to that end, I genuinely enjoyed the movie. I can easily recommend it to any fan of action movies, and sci-fi movies, especially if you enjoyed 2014's similar film "Kung Fury".

3/4 stars: Check it out.

Turbo Kid can basically be summarised as 'The Road Warrior' on bicycles. Basic post-apoc tropes apply, and it makes no attempt to be anything other than what it is. And it does so admirably. The story is simple (in a good way), the soundtrack admirable and the scenery is appropriately bleak.

'B-movies' like this are hard to judge in terms of acting, but the actors play their parts admirably. It may be cringe worthy or cheesy to some, but its grand nonetheless. The effects are 'cheap', over the top and feel very 'dated', but in a good way.

If you love cheesy 80s action flicks, enjoyed Kung Fury and the like you'll feel right at home. Grab the SO, some popcorn and relax. It'll be a fun time.