Review: Turbo Kid

In an alternate ‘future’ of 1997, the world has gone through an apocalyptic war that has rendered Earth much of a wasteland that is now run by an eye-patch sporting, cold-blooded warlord named Zeus (Michael Ironside), and where clean water is extremely scarce. The Kid (Munro Chambers) is a BMX-riding young scavenger who loves comic books that he buys (along with necessary supplies) with whatever he can come up with scavenging. One day, examining a bunker he comes across a ‘power suit’ that looks for all money to be just like the one from his beloved Turbo Rider comics. Wearing the suit and power glove, The Kid morphs into Turbo Kid and along with laconic arm wrestler Frederic (Aaron Jeffrey!) and pixie-ish Apple (Laurence Leboeuf), ventures to take on the evil Zeus and his monstrous minions. Romano Orzari plays the owner of the flea market where The Kid trades for supplies (and occasionally comic books).

 

I knew nothing about this 2015 NZ/Canadian co-production from the trio writer-directors Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell & Yoann-Karl Whissell, except that it starred 80s/90s genre movie villain extraordinaire Michael Ironside and “Degrassi: The Next Generation” alum Munro Chambers (who portrayed ‘well-meaning but intense bi-polar emo artsy guy’ Eli Goldsworthy). It also looked to be something of an ultra-violent “Spy Kids” or “Power Rangers”. It’s so, so much more than that, and probably the most pleasant surprise of 2015. This movie is cool and although I’m the very opposite of anything remotely cool, this movie is very much me (or a part of me). Within minutes, I think I was in love.

 

Basically, it’s a movie from 2015 that is set in an alternate ‘future’ 1997, that seems to have its worldview based on the 80s, and the film itself plays like an early-to-mid 80s post-apocalyptic action movie crossed with a splatter film. You’re as likely to find heads on spikes and blood-spurting (admittedly in a more modern HK/Japanese movie fashion than say “Scanners” or “The Evil Dead”) here as Rubik’s cubes, BMX bikes, pop-rock power anthems, “Voltron”-esque title design, and a terrific 80s-evoking synth score by Le Matos that put a warm feeling in my 80s-era heart. I’m also pretty sure the henchmen here wearing big basket-like things on their heads are inspired by ‘The Three Storms’ from one of my favourite movies, “Big Trouble in Little China” as well. If you’ve ever wanted to see a hybrid of “Escape From New York” (John Carpenter’s influence is all over this film), “Voltron”, “BMX Bandits”, “Mad Max 2”, “Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone” and “Scanners” but with a supporting character straight out of Sergio Leone, you’ll dig this. It’s the best movie that Brian Trenchard-Smith never made, though some might also think of the even hackier Albert Pyun as well.

 

“Degrassi” (which I won’t even call a guilty pleasure, because 36 years old or not, I feel no shame in having been a fan of its various chapters) tends to breed better actors than it did in the 80s, and Munro Chambers is clearly one of the better ones. Those who are familiar with him may consider him a year or two too old for this part, but most others won’t likely notice. He’s spot-on and very likeable and charming here in the lead. He reminded me a little of the late, tragic Jonathan Brandis actually, a cut above the norm for their age. Co-star Laurence Leboeuf manages to Manic Pixie Dream Girl her way through the role of the chipper, slightly (very) annoying Apple, and it’s an approach that works. Michael Ironside, villain extraordinaire from many an 80s and 90s genre picture is the perfect choice for the lead villain (Rutger Hauer is the only other person I can think of who would’ve sufficed here), who is something of a combo of his characters from “Scanners” and “Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone”. He’s hammy as hell, of course (as is Kiwi-born, Aussie TV actor Aaron Jeffrey as the Clint Eastwood-ish cowboy), but this is Ironside’s best performance since 1997’s “Starship Troopers”. In fact, he might be the best villain of the year, as good as Tom Hardy was in “The Revenant” and Adam Driver in “The Force Awakens” (Seriously, Kylo Ren is a highly underrated villain). I loved that his evil character’s chosen torture device is one that extracts water from the human body. His utterance of ‘Let the juicing begin!’ is vintage Michael Ironside cold-bloodedness. As for Jeffrey, his laconic yet foul-mouthed arm-wrestler character (and obvious cheesy Clint Eastwood impersonation) works better than you might expect.

 

The blood and gore takes a while to really start up, but boy does this get good and gory after a while. Yes, it’s very much in the Japanese/Hong Kong splatter tradition where it looks very watery, but if you like your splatter, have at it here. There’s a particularly funny bit where a guy gets killed mid-urination and as he keels over, geysers of both blood and piss shoot upward. Tarantino probably would’ve loved that bit.

 

If it weren’t for the cast and the fairly average-looking CGI (strange given the filmmakers come from an FX background), you’d swear that this was a film from 1985. Or maybe 86, considering John Fucking Farnham is on the soundtrack. Yes, our very own king of pop-rock? ‘Whispering Jack’ himself (For the uninitiated, imagine a mixture of David Cassidy, Rod Stewart, and Kenny Loggins for what Farnsey was like in the 80s) has a song on this film’s soundtrack, ‘Thunder in Your Heart’ (Apparently lifted from an 80s American flick called “Rad”, which is why no one in Australia will likely have heard the song before, including me).

 

This one’s a tough one for me to evaluate critically. I mean, it’s a lot more fun than most films I’ve seen from 2015, but is it really a good film? Does that even matter, so long as it’s fun? It might be yet another case of me losing my critic stripes, but I’m placing importance on sheer entertainment value here, ultimately. I had a helluva fun time here. If I were 16 years-old still, this would be my favourite movie unquestionably. I’m 36 and it still worked for me on a kind of nostalgic, schlock-loving level. Definitely one of 2015’s most violent, but enjoyable films.

 

Rating: B