Directors: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell
MPAA Rating: NR
Run Time: 93 minutes
There’s a scene in Turbo Kid where a man gets kicked in the balls followed by having his jaw ripped off and shoved back into his own face. That should give you a decent idea of what you’re in for in this over the top throwback ‘80s gorefest that can only be described as radical – or maybe radical to the max.
Written and directed by Canadian filmmaking collective RKSS (François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell), Turbo Kid is derived from the group’s short film, T is for Turbo, which was created for the user-submitted contest portion of the first ABCs of Death movie, and while it wasn’t the winner, it garnered a ton of fandom online, with fans such as myself clamoring for more.
The film draws heavily from ’80s genre films like Mad Max, but it does so in an inoffensive way, whereas something like Kung Fury simply regurgitates the decade back to us, constantly asking “Hey, remember this?” Turbo Kid embraces the time period by focusing instead on the outrageous story and characters. It looks fantastic and doesn’t fall victim to the tacked on VHS tracking or artificial tape degradation that so many others like it have opted for, proving that one can make a retro-style movie and still carry the aesthetic without making it look shitty.
Munro Chambers stars as The Kid, a BMX riding loner trying to live day to day in a post apocalyptic wasteland ravaged by nuclear war. Imagine the universe of Mad Max, but several decades later when all the gasoline finally does run out. You would still have the crazy armor-clad psychos roaming the desert, but with no gas they would have to rely on other modes of transport. In this scenario everyone uses bikes, instantly making the entire plot that much more ridiculous and comical.
One day, The Kid meets a young girl named Apple, who gets kidnapped by the evil gang leader Zeus, cast perfectly to Michael Ironside. After finding a mysterious red suit, not unlike The Kid’s comic book hero Turbo Rider, he busts into the gang’s hideout and saves Apple before she can be turned into water – yes, they have a machine that turns people into water. Now the two must escape the clutches of the tyrannical Zeus before he and his henchman find and kill them.
Sure, Turbo Kid is a bit rough around the edges – some of the effects work, while mostly practical, is touchy at times, and the plot can be nit picked to death, but none of these things detract from just how damn fun this movie is. The wanton level of violence is incredible; with geysers of blood erupting left and right as random ‘80s style goons get dispatched in the most graphic ways possible.
When Laurence Leboeuf is first introduced as Apple, I thought that her almost terrifyingly chipper attitude would become grating, but she quickly proves to be one of the film’s strongest and most likable characters. The sweetness of her character, a stark contrast to the mayhem happening around her, works to the movie’s benefit, which helps it present an almost charming tone that I definitely didn’t expect.
I’m a lover of nostalgia and a product of the ‘80s myself, so I will forever be drawn to these types of films, but with nostalgia being the in thing right now, the market is becoming saturated with titles that either mock the decade, or misrepresent it and Turbo Kid does none of these things. It lovingly pays homage to the excess of the era, and doesn’t use the setting as a crutch to hide bad storytelling. This is one that I’m sure I’ll come back to several times over whenever I’m looking to have a good time. Did I mention it has a kick-ass synth-laden soundtrack? Well it does. So go watch it.
