I don't feel all that comfortable describing anything as schizophrenic, but my vocabulary seems to lack a means to describe a movie like Turbo Kid any other way. On one hand its a cutsie 80s nostalgia flick, full of Nintendo gloves, comic books and meet cutes. But It also has early-Peter Jackson levels of gore and a character who keeps yelling motherfucker.
Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. I'm glad it somehow manages to blend an utterly un-cynical love story with hilarious, imaginative, over-the-top violence. The addition of Michael Ironside as the villain helps, him having long set the bar for spectacular deaths when Arnold Schwarzenegger ripped his arms off and threw him from an elevator in Total Recall.
The story begins a bit too slowly, and I was worried by the introduction of Apple, who starts out as a highly stereotypical manic pixie dream girl sidekick. But given enough time, the story has enough tricks, and Apple herself subverts type enough to not come off as lazily written. I was disappointed that a movie described as Mad Max on bmxs has so little bmxing actually in it. Instead of having an inventive chase sequence, pretty much all the action scenes switch to fights on foot, meaning the bmxs are more of a running sight gag than an important element to the story; a thing to ensure it never looks too serious.
Over all, it works. I don't think you should especially go out of your way to watch it, but if it is on, you should give this earnest little film a look.
A Bit Schizophrenic in Concept
I don't feel all that comfortable describing anything as schizophrenic, but my vocabulary seems to lack a means to describe a movie like Turbo Kid any other way. On one hand its a cutsie 80s nostalgia flick, full of Nintendo gloves, comic books and meet cutes. But It also has early-Peter Jackson levels of gore and a character who keeps yelling motherfucker.
Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. I'm glad it somehow manages to blend an utterly un-cynical love story with hilarious, imaginative, over-the-top violence. The addition of Michael Ironside as the villain helps, him having long set the bar for spectacular deaths when Arnold Schwarzenegger ripped his arms off and threw him from an elevator in Total Recall.
The story begins a bit too slowly, and I was worried by the introduction of Apple, who starts out as a highly stereotypical manic pixie dream girl sidekick. But given enough time, the story has enough tricks, and Apple herself subverts type enough to not come off as lazily written. I was disappointed that a movie described as Mad Max on bmxs has so little bmxing actually in it. Instead of having an inventive chase sequence, pretty much all the action scenes switch to fights on foot, meaning the bmxs are more of a running sight gag than an important element to the story; a thing to ensure it never looks too serious.
Over all, it works. I don't think you should especially go out of your way to watch it, but if it is on, you should give this earnest little film a look.