← Back to Reviews
in
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
It's one of the movies that popped up while I was searching around for Mad Max since it's also rooted in 80s post-apocalptic fiction. And given that poster, how could I not?
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
The crazy blast of retro sci-fi nostalgia I got from this movie's combination of themes, visual aesthetic, and soundtrack were ALMOST enough to make me rate this movie higher. The movie even made me laugh a couple times and after seeing it I desperately want to see more movies follow in it's footsteps and pay homages to those "totally rad" movies of the past the same way Black Dynamite parodied and exemplified the blaxploitation genre.
Turbo Kid is not a parody though, and I'm going to rate it harshly because I feel it shot itself in the face by failing to understand a basic distinction in the sort of tone the medium it's trying to imitate is supposed to go for.
On one hand, the opening of the movie plainly plays up to the 70s/80s/90s impression of child wonderment. Our main character is still a kid at heart and despite living on his own out in the wasteland he spends most of his time collecting comic books, playing with toys, and pretending to be a superhero. It honestly reminds me of a lot of early Spielberg movies back in the day like E.T. and The Goonies.
A strong emphasis is on retro sci-fi/superhero comic book themes.
All of this clashes with what seems to be an attempt to blend these ideas in with more adult action movies of the time like The Terminator or Mad Max: Road Warrior.
This SOUNDS like it could work, after all what movie might better encapsulate all of the various influences someone might have growing up in 80s USA with relatively liberal freedom over what they watched or read?
THE PROBLEM IS that adult aspect goes WAY BEYOND The Terminator's level of violence, it's goes clear into the 90s with Story of Ricky type ****, it gets REALLY graphic.
And that's the thing, why is my Spielbergian whimsy getting mixed up with a horror movie gore? THERE'S SO MUCH BLOOD and I hate gratuitous blood geysers in even REGULAR action movies.
Here, they don't even take the opportunity to make it any sort of joke, like the creator legit wanted to make this really cute nostalgia piece, but he's just seen Dawn of the Dead one too many times.
We get piss, we get kicks to the nuts, and we bisect so many bad guys that they literally stack up. Is that supposed to be funny? I'm not laughing at that. I'm really NOT laughing at that.
You know if Turbo Kid wanted to maintain their tone, they still could have been bloody, there's plenty you can do with PG-13 violence.
Turbo Kid
Action Comedy / English / 2015
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
It's one of the movies that popped up while I was searching around for Mad Max since it's also rooted in 80s post-apocalptic fiction. And given that poster, how could I not?
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
The crazy blast of retro sci-fi nostalgia I got from this movie's combination of themes, visual aesthetic, and soundtrack were ALMOST enough to make me rate this movie higher. The movie even made me laugh a couple times and after seeing it I desperately want to see more movies follow in it's footsteps and pay homages to those "totally rad" movies of the past the same way Black Dynamite parodied and exemplified the blaxploitation genre.
Turbo Kid is not a parody though, and I'm going to rate it harshly because I feel it shot itself in the face by failing to understand a basic distinction in the sort of tone the medium it's trying to imitate is supposed to go for.
On one hand, the opening of the movie plainly plays up to the 70s/80s/90s impression of child wonderment. Our main character is still a kid at heart and despite living on his own out in the wasteland he spends most of his time collecting comic books, playing with toys, and pretending to be a superhero. It honestly reminds me of a lot of early Spielberg movies back in the day like E.T. and The Goonies.
A strong emphasis is on retro sci-fi/superhero comic book themes.
All of this clashes with what seems to be an attempt to blend these ideas in with more adult action movies of the time like The Terminator or Mad Max: Road Warrior.
This SOUNDS like it could work, after all what movie might better encapsulate all of the various influences someone might have growing up in 80s USA with relatively liberal freedom over what they watched or read?
THE PROBLEM IS that adult aspect goes WAY BEYOND The Terminator's level of violence, it's goes clear into the 90s with Story of Ricky type ****, it gets REALLY graphic.
And that's the thing, why is my Spielbergian whimsy getting mixed up with a horror movie gore? THERE'S SO MUCH BLOOD and I hate gratuitous blood geysers in even REGULAR action movies.
Here, they don't even take the opportunity to make it any sort of joke, like the creator legit wanted to make this really cute nostalgia piece, but he's just seen Dawn of the Dead one too many times.
We get piss, we get kicks to the nuts, and we bisect so many bad guys that they literally stack up. Is that supposed to be funny? I'm not laughing at that. I'm really NOT laughing at that.
You know if Turbo Kid wanted to maintain their tone, they still could have been bloody, there's plenty you can do with PG-13 violence.
But even as someone who utterly loathes the age rating system, I'm appalled to see what might otherwise be a fun-for-the-whole-family throwback action-adventure-comedy feature a scene in which someone's intestines are graphically dragged out of him with a bicycle wheel.
****in' sick.
Final Verdict: [Meh...]
****in' sick.
Final Verdict: [Meh...]