Turbo Kid (2015)

I've watched "Turbo Kid" last night. A crazy indie where sometimes you can't really get if it's really bad or just too good.

The year is 1997. In an alternative reality, the humanity collapsed into a wasteland where water is rare and hard to get (guess I've heard somewhere this context). There we have "The Kid". A boy of something like 15-16 years old, who lives his life trading scavenged waste. Sold for water in one of the existing camps .. the normal camp .. led by Frederick - the arm wrestler (a sort of Crocodile Dundee without the knife but with an iron fist - metaphorically speaking ... at least until a certain point in time). The other camp .. not so normal .. is led by Zeus - a guy with a single eye, who resembles a bit Immortal Joe from Mad Max, as well as his subjects (I was saying something about the water context, right?). Well, in all this uncertain and sad existence, in a sunny (or not) day, the Kid meets Apple. A girl about the same age, in a total contrast with the surroundings considering her continuous smile, the hair color and other things, who invades the personal space of our kid, who can't anymore get rid of her.

Writing the above, I realize that what looked like a sort of "The Quick and the Dead" mixed with "Mad Max" mixed with "Defendor", and which seemed to me that covered a simple revenge subject, is actually a bit more complex considering how much it puts together. I'll keep away the details for now, you have them in the titles above (on which you can add "Terminator" - now I'm getting the subtle '97 reference ;), "Tomorrowland" and others) + also in the trailer. Probably all this mix makes "Turbo Kid" so good in the end as combined product - not taking itself too seriously, being an assorted salad, and the way the salad is served. If some acted parts, starting with Apple, could get in line for an Academy Award, some others are utter abysmal, but overall they compensate each other. The production design has most often the level of a diploma movie for graduating film studies, but the directors were enough aware of that to make fun of it - and it works ... Chases using cheap and small bikes (the only wheel-based transportation apparently left after the apocalypse) - that I doubt I've seen in any other movie. On top of all we have also the '80s synth on the soundtrack that completes perfectly the image.

To conclude: I liked it. If you don't have an issue with blood & gore exaggeration and you're open for self-satire, you should see this. The verdict is positive, after placing everything together. Or maybe I got soft sensing the need for a "Apple" in my life ... :) ...

Rating: 4 out of 5