Turbo Kid

If not for its occasional cluelessness and drawn-out introduction, Turbo Kid would have been a flawless bit of retro-trash in the style of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, albeit with the difference that it draws more from genre flicks for children and youths, even if it supplements them with sparingly (and, thanks to that, effectively) used splatstick. The music goes a long way to save the film, as it follows in the footsteps of the Power Glove soundtrack of the aforementioned video game and adds force to the formalistically lame yet imaginative action sequences. For viewers whose hearts beat faster and eyes widen with nostalgia at the sight of a BMX bike or Powerglove, it’s a great ride. For others, however, it’s not so great, simply based on the ability to distinguish the individual stylistic references to the pillars of 1980s pop culture. This is primarily what the filmmakers depend on, so their work is actually only an amazing tribute to a certain era and its products. This is what the creators rely on above all, so their creation is actually just a wonderful tribute to a certain era and its products. Unlike the geniuses from Astron-6, for example, they aren’t able to make anything distinctive out of them. PS: Rather than a variation on Italian and Filipino Mad Max knock-offs, Turbo Kid comes across as a gore paraphrase of the authentic 1980s pastiche Solarbabies. Furthermore, the creators added elements and aesthetics of Pyun’s low/no-budget Cyborg movies, BMX flicks (from E.T. to BMX Bandits) and a heap of inspirations and quotes from the semi-forgotten gem America 3000. (2015.02.10)

Mad Max: Auto*Mat edition, which as much as it tries to revitalize the trend of 80s naivety, most of all resembles a five-year-old over a box of candy. Keyboard electronic music here, a pretty manic pixie android girl there, a post-apocalyptic scavenger universe there, fun splatter violence this way. To then ask of the viewer that they not approach the film in exactly the same way and pick their favorite seems unfair. I kind of picked it for average. (2016.02.28)

Unfortunately, I’m not Turbo Kid’s target audience and I have to rate it lower than it would objectively deserve. Actually, I even had to convince myself to give it the three stars. A splatter fest from a post-apocalyptic alternative past, where bizarre characters on wheels chase and kill each other in various fun ways. Thumbs up for the music, thumbs up for the style, thumbs up for the character design (the best is the villain with the iron mask and rotary saws on his hands). But what is all that good for when the personalities of most of the characters pissed me off? (Most people here complain about the titular Turbo Kid, but he was the only one I could bear, actually. The one I hated, though, was his died blonde girlfriend). And I’m also not into like that kind of over-exaggerated brutality. But if you are into the 80s, I guess you’ll like this style a lot better. (2015.09.05)

It's highly exaggerated in brutality, at times it's very absurd, but exactly in that is the beauty of this film, which I only fell in love with after the halfway point. At first, I thought it would be just an amateur mess, but this is a beautifully executed spectacle, where I literally had my jaw dropping in some scenes. (2015.10.09)