Turbo Kid

TurboKid (2015)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Francois Simard/Anouk Whissell/Yoann-Karl Whissel

Starring: Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside, Edwin Wright, Aaron Jeffrey

From: Way too many production companies to list

Last night I finally saw this movie, one that has had a lot of buzz even before it was released last year. I don't love it like most do but I didn't hate it either... I explain it in my Letterboxd review below:

This was another random watch for me on Netflix; what I mean was that as I looked through my (lengthy) queue, it was not the original plan to pick this out. But, I suddenly got the feeling that I should finally see this. After all, I had known of this movie even before it came out, and I saw glowing reviews here and elsewhere. So why was I now bowled over by this?

The plot is goofy on purpose: in the post-apocalyptic future of 1997, a random teen is inspired by a comic book character on a BMX bike so he engages in adventures and deals with an eyepatch-wearing Michael Ironside, who plays someone named Zeus.

My first problem with the movie: when it tries to be funny, more often than not it isn't and it just comes off as clashing with the rest of the picture. Characters slowly biking when it's supposed to be a “chase” wasn't amusing to me either. While the film is another one of those things that is in the “tries way too hard” category, when it comes to the comedy aspect... it can be painful. Then, there's the character of Apple... apparently that lead girl is popular with a lot of people; I have no idea why. “The character is supposed to be annoying” is not a satisfactory explanation to me; it's not the fault of the actress, it's that the character was annoying as piss and I hated her the entire time. I was far from bewitched by her charms. Then again, maybe it's just me getting tired of such things as lazy 80's homages, bad humor or movies that rely heavily on over the top graphic gore.

The thing is, a movie that I naturally compare it to (Hobo With A Shotgun, and not just because the director of that was an executive producer on this) I enjoyed more than this. I haven't logged in a review yet but I actually saw it on the big screen and despite it definitely being in the “tries way too hard” category I know I enjoyed it more than this. Once I see Hobo again I'll give it a review to see if I feel the same way.

Yet, I can still say that this was average. There were some inspired moments, Ironside was pretty great as the villain, there was a cool metal mask wearing dude named SKELETRON, and while it doesn't always fit what's on screen, the synthwave soundtrack from artists Le Matos was pretty rad. Oh, and the beginning of the movie and seeing what seemed like at least 15 different production company logos flash by, that made me laugh as even with all of the independent movies I've seen through the years, I've never encountered that many with one motion picture.

So yeah, I wish I loved it like many do; I honestly can only say it was middle of the road for me.