Review: Turbo Kid
Streaming: Turbo Kid (2015)
Turbo Kid appears to be one of those independent films that actually had a LOT of people working on it (scratches head), however, that’s not the point, the POINT is; what’s it like?
I can’t put it any more succinctly than IMDB – “In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a comic book fan dons the persona of his favourite hero to save his enthusiastic friend and fight a tyrannical overlord.”
I’ve read several reviews of the film by people who clearly DON’T ‘get it’. Despite its crowd funding indie status, at its heart this is a retro movie, a throwback to the great kid’s films of the 80s but better, because it’s chock full of gore. Bad guys get sliced in half, there are many chop-tops and I lost count of the head explosions. And there’s a BMX bike too (shame it wasn’t a chopper).
The Kid (Munro Chambers) battles bad guys Zeus (Michael Ironside) and Skeletron (Edwin Wright) to save his new ‘quirky’ friend Apple (Laurenece LeBeouf) and give the planet (or maybe… the village?) back its water… (think Mad Max got that one first).
So imagine if you will, a mash up of a shit load of 80s films from Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (Apple really reminds me of an Ewok), through Mad Max, Conan the Barbarian, BMX Bandits, E.T, He-Man and well the list is endless. The story is pretty straight forward; boy’s parents are murdered, he scavenges the wasteland and lives out a fantasy life where he becomes Turbo Kid (as opposed to Turbo MAN). In fact the only gripe I have about this film is that Turbo Man is a character in a comic, yet he finds all his gear in a cave. So is the whole story a dream? I don’t know and who cares when you’re watching something so endearing, there’s no other way to describe it, this IS an endearing film, it’s filled with all the sensibilities of a classic Spielberg, it’s about kids interacting with dysfunctional adults, and it’s pure joy to watch, from the 80s colour scheme to the bippedybop synth music, oh and the FANTASTIC 80s rock song at the beginning.
Munro Chambers is a cute hero, a little too young to pant over but shows great promise, but the star of the film is Laurence Lebeouf, she is completely dazzling as Apple, I instantly fell in love with her and when she’s onscreen you can’t take your eyes off her!
So ignore any bad reviews, if you love 80s cinema give this a go. Its available to stream on iTunes now, and is out on Blu-ray soon. Can’t wait to see the extras!
Review by Tina (co-host of 60 Minutes With)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxyH-adavb8