Saturday, January 2, 2016

Turbo Kid (2105)

If you like BMX bikes,  80s post apocalyptic movies, cheesy soundtracks, and movie cliches galore, you'll really enjoy Turbo Kid.  It's an 80s style scifi and is kind of like Max Max if the lead was a teenager on a BMX.

In the post apocalyptic world of 1997, water is a scarce commodity.  Villain Zeus, who you can tell is evil due to his eyepatch, controls the land and those he doesn't like end up fighting to the death in an in ground swimming pool.

The Kid is an orphan who spends his days riding his BMX and scavenging for items to trade for water.   He has an underground hideout which he fills with a collection of old toys and comic books.

One day while hanging out at an old playground, he meets Apple, an impossibly cheery girl who immediately attaches herself to him.  He is not amused.  While at first Apple is incredibly annoying, her hopeless optimism eventually becomes endearing, as is her joy when the Kid gives her a gnome stick.

With Zeus making people's lives miserable - even more miserable than living in a post apocalyptic wasteland - the Kid ends up in a position to join the fight against him.  Get read to see BMX bike chases, a robot graveyard (which is more a robot pile than anything else), and some cartoonish or Pythonesque humor in dark moments.  Be on the lookout for the 1/2 a body which flies yup in the air and lands on the head of another person as they're staggering around. Trust me, it's really funny, and something I've never seen before.

Turbo Kid is an enjoyable throwback. My friends loved it, but I wouldn't go that far. At times I found myself getting slightly bored, but then something else would happen and I would get sucked back into it again.  Overall, it's a fun film.

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