WRITING CULTURE 2012: Film, Food & Beyond

Color me Turboed

September 23rd, 2012 Written by | 1 Comment

Justin Chon in Turbo
Source: Turbothemovie.com

If you mixed the emotional elements of Karate Kid with the futuristic technology of Gamer, what you would get is the short film Turbo by Jarret Lee Conaway.  In the film, Hugo Park (Justin Chon) tries to follow his handicapped older brother’s footsteps by becoming the best virtual game fighter.  In typical Karate Kid fashion, his brother teaches him to fight with the wise words, “If you’re gonna replace me. You gotta learn to fight like me.”

Like with every action film I already felt the anticipation of the good guy’s triumph over the bully. The emotional aspect increases as we see Hugo make his virtual fighter’s face that of his brother.  The fact that he seeks to still have that image of the brother that was not in a wheelchair tugs at my heartstrings and reinforces my love for action movies.  The short, like every great action film, had all the elements; Romance, action, emotion and most importantly, motivation. Hugo’s motivation was to have the stronger version of his older brother exist, even if it was only in a virtual world. The love that the audience could see between the brothers in a twenty-minute film is nothing short of incredible. Not to mention that the action blew me away with the glowing balls of energy and the bodies flying about. What makes this a great short action film aside from the stunts, is the special effects which were very professional and it made me feel that ninety minutes is not necessary to produce a great movie.

Justin Chon is also one of my favorite Asian actors and the fact that he is Eric from Twilight and I got to see his wicked tattoo across his naked chest, well that’s just the cherry on top of an already very delicious cake.

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Tags: Film rants · Rants and Love Songs