Review of Turbo Kid (2015) by Chris L — 13 May 2016

A love letter to 80s post-apocalyptic films is kind of "Mad Max" meets the "BMX Bandits," though I think this film was likely more honoring goofy post apocalyptic films like "Solarbabies" or "Hell Comes to Frogtown" than "The Road Warrior.

" Regardless, this tale set in the distant future of 1997 when acid rain makes drinkable water a scarce resource, our teen her finds a special red outfit and decides to become a superhero of the wastelands.

He meets a cute girl named Apple, who then gets captured by the evil Michael Ironside who plays Zeus (in a very similar role to what he played in "Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone" as Overdog).

The film is slickly made and presents a beautifully shot acid rain soaked wasteland. Probably best of all is a terrific 80s style score by Le Matos, which I plan to listen to repeatedly (and that theme song is 80s AMAZING!).

My main complaint about the film is the unneeded gore. I consider myself a bit of a gorehound and quite enjoy some Tom Savini or Rob Bottin special effects now and then, so it isn't that I'm opposed to a gory movie, but the tone of this film was so light and silly (very nearly a family film) that the blood and gore seemed very out of place, even when it was done in a very comic Peter Jackson over-the-top sort of way.

Also, most of the warriors-of-the-wasteland films which this movie is paying homage to were never all that gory. Yes, they were violent, but they were rarely what I would call gory. Still, that's a minor quibble considering post apocalyptic films of the 80s are probably my all-time favorite sub genre and anytime a film is wanting to revisit this unique time and place, I'm all for it! I can't wait to see what comes next for writer/directors François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell (which apparently is a short film called "Ninja Eliminator 4: The French Connection").