T is for Totally Awesome in this love child of 80’s OTT action films with the dystopian future set by Mad Max Fury Road.Self aware of its craft, ‘Turbo Kid’ plays away from any serious attempt at delivering an action movie and instead feels like a grindhouse classic. Gone are the huge budget action sequences familiar with dystopian based movies of 2015 and instead we have the blood soaked dialogue from the eighties along with the makeshift wardrobe department that would make The Running Man look like the 21st century.

 

Munroe Chambers takes the title character in a future where the rain is dangerous and water is a resource so scarce that the local kingpin (Michael Ironside) harvests the H2O from the remaining humans populating the wasteland.

 

When Turbo Kid and his new found crush Apple (Laurence Leboeuf) are captured by Zeus and his henchmen (led by the intimidating Skeletron played by Edwin Wright) their quest for freedom takes them on an adventure to make the world a better place and kick some ass in the process. Tagging along for the ride is arm wrestler Fred (Aaron Jeffrey) adding more vengeance to the band of heroes.

 

Taking the charm of 80’s cheese with an extra dose of blood and guts, ‘Turbo Kid’ is the feel good hit of the year. There is no room for logic,or budget, as collinder wearing fist shooting henchmen battle a child in a Speed Racer outfit who happens to find a suit of his childhood hero in a disused space craft but what we have here is escapism at its best. In a time when dystopia means teens being captured, tortured and hope removed, comes along a future where the child leads the way with an innocence that somehow comes across in what is probably a shallow story straight from the mind of an 8 year old.

 

This is the film every young child wanted and the one every adult is satisfied with. To have a film that literally transports you into 90 minutes of escapism, is a success in itself and the feeling of satisfaction clearly runs after the credits roll. In a time when the likes of ‘Kung Fury’ and ‘It Follows’ bring a yearning for retro creativity, they manage to feel both fresh and needed.

 

It’s fair to say that ‘Turbo Kid’ suffers from some stale moments where the pacing comes to a near halt, especially the relationship between Apple and the Kid, but the saviour in Jeffrey’s wild west hero leads the troupe with a character who needs his own spin off.

 

Expect OTT performances, more blood and guts than an offering Jason Vorhees and a sense of humour throughout, this is a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is the light relief the genre needs. Turbo Kid is the Care Bears of horror, fun, cuddly and it’s heart is on display smothered in blood and guts! Well, at least that was the Care Bears as I remember.