TURBO KID is an Insanely Radical, Ultra Violent Adventure - Sundance 2015 Review
Turbo Kid is hands down the most entertaining film that screened at Sundance this year. I had a ridiculous amount of fun watching this movie, and it one I know that a lot of you would like as well. Everything about this movie exploded with pure awesomeness in the most nostalgic and extreme ways.
To start off, the story is set in a post-apocalyptic 1997. Most of the world's population has been wiped out by acid rain, and fresh water is rare resource to come across. There are no cars in the film, so everyone, including the hardcore villains, ride bicycles as their main mode of transportation. Some of them are even decked out Mad Max style. In fact, the movie had a very Mad Max vibe to it, only it was more amusing.
The film centered on a orphaned kid (Munro Chambers) who is surviving in this world after his parents were killed when he was younger. He rides around the wasteland on his BMX bike collecting old junk from the past and trades it in for fresh water and other things that he wants and needs like his favorite comic book, Turbo Rider. One day he comes across a very bubbly blonde girl named Apple who forcers herself into his life, and they become friends.
Through a series of events the two kids come up against a villain named Zeus (Michael Ironside) and his evil henchmen, who run the water supply in the area in which they live. They also create the water through a nightmarish process that I won't tell you about because I don't want to spoil it for you, but it's pretty disturbing. In the process, the Kid gains the powers of his comic book hero and uses them to epically battle Zeus.
The movie is packed full of great over-the-top characters. Some you love, others you hate. Zeus runs a gladiator match between people they kidnap off the streets and his henchmen. He also has a main sidekick and enforcer named Skeletron (Edwin Wright), who does whatever Zeus asks. This character wears a metal skull mask and brandishes a saw-blade arm as a weapon. He never speaks a word, but he's a twitchy, twisted fellow. He has a showdown with every good main character in the film, including the boy, the girl, and an arm-wrestling champion character named Frederic (Aaron Jeffery), who is a mix of Indiana Jones and Clint Eastwood's The Man with No Name.
The movie is extremely bloody and violent in the most awesome of ways. I'm talking Kill Bill kind of blood spray violence and decapitations. There was just so much blood. I'm dead serious when I say that it's ultra violent. This movie may have a childlike kind of vibe to it, but don't let that fool you. The violence just makes the concept of the film even more radical. The mixture of the colorful kid type stuff with the crazy insanity is a perfect recipe for greatness.
The movie knew exactly what it was with its cheesy dialogue and ridiculous acting. I embraced everything that some people might say makes a bad movie. The thing with Turbo Kid is that it was all done like that on purpose, which made the movie so freakin' enjoyable to watch! On top of all that, the film was visually stunning, and it had some really beautiful shots. As for the dialogue, it had some amazing quotable one-liners that will make you laugh.
For those of you who grew up in the 80s and 90s... You're gonna love this flick! It's destined to be a cult classic, and it's a must watch! I would love to see this movie get a theatrical release because it really should be seen on the big screen if possible.
The film was directed by Anouk Whissell, François Simard, and Yoann-Karl Whissell. Here's the official description:
It's 1997. In a ruined post-apocalyptic world, the orphaned Kid survives on his own through drought-ridden nuclear winter, traversing the Wasteland on his BMX, scavenging for scraps to trade for a scant supply of water. When his perpetually chipper, pink-haired new best friend Apple is kidnapped by a minion of evil overlord Zeus, the Kid summons the courage of his comic book hero and prepares to deliver turbocharged justice to Zeus, his buzzsaw-handed sidekick Skeletron, and their vicious masked army.
Bolstered by a pitch-perfect synth score, and clever and cheeky period details, co-directors François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell create a raucous retro-futuristic action comedy that pays homage to '80s movies great and small, while adding their own flair with inventive and exuberant violence and gore (prepare for disemboweling by exercycle). Sci-fi legend Michael Ironside delivers with malevolence and glee as the larger-than-life Zeus, a despicable villain with joie de vivre.