Texan Mosaic

by: NICOLE TRUGILLO/Editor-in-Chief

Imagine witnessing your parents die right before your eyes and you’re all alone in an apocalyptic world where the only chance of surviving is keeping to yourself.

Sounds like a depressing movie, right? Nope. This movie is quite the opposite.

“Turbo Kid” starts off with the narrator explaining that the world in 1997 has become a wasteland due to acid rain and the planet dying off. Then it cuts to a teenage orphan who doesn’t have a name in the movie, but many people just refer to him as ‘the kid’ (Munro Chambers).

The kid is seen searching through junk, riding his gold-and-red bicycle through the wasteland. He draws in his journal, marking places as danger and safe zones. He continues to ride his bike to his underground lair, where he lives and stays safe from the dangers of the outside. When seeing his home, anyone can tell he is fascinated with the comic book hero Turbo Rider. His home is filled with Turbo Rider comics, action figures, and even his apparel somewhat mimics Turbo Rider’s.

The kid then goes to what is portrayed as a market. He trades in the junk he found to a market trader, and, in return, the kid receives resources such as water. He then sees a cowboy named Fredrick (Aaron Jeffery), who is seen arm wrestling another guy and portraying to be the tough guy.

The kid later meets a delightful girl named Apple (Laurence Leboeuf), whose name fits her strange personality. She is dressed in retro clothes, and her hair is pink. She’s quirky and strange. At first, the kid doesn’t like her. But he starts warming up to her. He has been alone almost all his life, so he thinks having a friend is great. The kid’s happiness comes to an end when Apple gets kidnapped by the evil warlord, Zeus (Michael Ironside).

Apple yells to the kid, telling him to escape. He rides his bicycle away from Zeus’ goons and escapes, only to stumble upon Turbo Rider’s spaceship. He looks inside and sees Turbo Rider’s suit, which is a turbo-charged, mechanized weapon suit that the kid puts on and becomes Turbo Kid.

Turbo Kid must save Apple and Fredrick (who gets captured by Zeus as well, and Turbo Kid doesn’t know about it until he finds Apple). But it’s not your normal superhero movie. This movie also has some gory parts that actually made my stomach cringe.

There was one part in the movie where Zeus tortures a prisoner with a bicycle. Zeus hooks up the prisoner’s intestines with the bicycle and…I’ll just save that part for people who actually want to give this movie a try.

‘Turbo Kid’ was released on Aug. 28, and it also premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan 26.  I had to see it for one reason, and that reason was because Chambers starred in the movie. Chambers is one of my favorite actors. He also starred in the Canadian teen TV drama ‘Degrassi,’ which is one of my favorite shows of all time. I’m glad he starred in this movie, because it made me enjoy the movie even more than I already did. Leboeuf portrayed her character really well, and I liked the on-screen chemistry between her and Chambers. It made my heart warm, despite all the gory parts in the movie.

I was going to give this movie 4 stars, but I thought about it a little longer and what really stuck out to me was the soundtrack of the movie. The soundtrack consists of “No Tomorrow” by Le Matos and “Thunder in your Heart” by Stan Bush. The soundtrack fit perfectly with the ‘90s movie. The more I think about it, the more I love the movie.

Also, another thing I found interesting was the directors and writers of the movie, Fancois Simard, Anouk Whissel, and Yoann-Karl Whissell, based ‘Turbo Kid’ off their segments in “The ABC’s of Death.” I thought that was really cool, considering I liked that film. If you haven’t seen that, you can watch in on Netflix.

“Turbo Kid” had a great cast, writers, and soundtrack. There is no arguing that I would definitely watch this movie again and again. I recommend it to anyone who likes retro themes and gore.

I give this film 5 out of 5 stars.