The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are cool as hell, especially to younger me. The quick jokes, the badass weaponry, the brotherhood, the “shunned by society” origin story. Throw in a rogues’ gallery full of mutants and monsters, and lots of martial arts fights against endless baddies, and I was hooked. And if you liked the newest iteration of the mutant turtles, Mutant Mayhem, then you’d have to agree that these turtles are perhaps some of the most relatable, even in a world full of mutants and hatred.
Now what if that movie was R-rated with a B-movie budget and truckloads of fake blood? Swap out the turtles for an unassuming teenage orphan, and that movie might look like Turbo Kid (2015), and it is majestic. If low-budget, practical gore, guts, and violence inserted into what is seemingly a kids’ action movie sound appealing to you, then this movie has your name on it. Sure, the jokes aren’t as witty as what the turtles throw out, and you’ll be able to predict the entire storyline by the end of the first act.
But Michael Ironside is the perfect post-apocalyptic villain, Munro Chambers and Laurence Leboeuf are decent enough as the two teenage leads, and the costuming department did a great job at recreating the world of Mad Max with a comic book-obsessed tinge. And damn, those gore effects are magical to behold. If you’re in the mood for something in line with the humorous and apocalyptic feel of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, then Turbo Kid will scratch that itch and then some.
