The short film “Turbo” is a two year labor of love coming out of a USC Master Thesis. It fuses director Jarret Lee Conaway’s love of video games, comics and anime. The short also stars Justin Chon and stuntman Ilram Choi. Here’s a synopsis of the short.

TURBO is a high adrenaline short film in the tradition of The Karate Kid and Tron. It tells the story of Hugo Park (Justin Chon, Twilight) a misspent youth whose only outlet for angst is a 4D fighting videogame called “Super Turbo Arena”. When Pharaoh King (Jocko Sims, Crash the Series), the Michael Jordan of cyber-sports, announces a tournament to determine who will join his pro-team, Hugo sets his eyes on the prize. But, Hugo isn’t the only gamer who wants fame and glory. If Hugo wants to win he’s going to have to beat Shamus (David Lehre, Epic Movie), the all time Turbo champ at the local Pandemonium arcade, and Ruse Kapri, a feisty prep girl that knows how to win. Realizing he can’t win on his skill alone, Hugo turns to his brother Tobias a former kick-boxer whose last match left him wheel-chair ridden. Together the two will mend old wounds and see if a washed up street fighter can teach a troubled teen how to become a virtual gladiator!

We don’t know what kind of budget was used, but it’s very impressive for a student film with special effects. The short is just over 20 minutes. After watching the short, it made us think this is what it would be like if an Asian American actor star was the main character in Dragonball Evolution, The Last Airbender, or The Weapon.

Turbo

More about Justin Chon

Justin Chon is one of Hollywood’s up and coming young stars. In the box office smash Twilight he plays Bella Swan’s close friend Eric Yorkie. Disney Channel fans will know Chon from his role in the tele-film Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior where he kicked butt as Wendy’s older brother, Peter Wu. Justin starred for two seasons as Tony on the Nickelodeon series Just Jordan. The comedic series dealt with the everyday trials and tribulations of high school students living in Los Angeles. Aside from his television series, Chon can be seen in the feature comedy, Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach opposite Sean William Scott and Randy Quaid. Chon plays Joe Chang, a member of the tennis team under the direction of Scott. Recently, Justin starred in his most dramatic role yet as Yong Kim in Crossing Over with Ashley Judd, Ray Liotta and Harrison Ford. Justin will appear next in the sequel to Twilight, New Moon.

More about Ilram Choi

Ilram Choi is one of the hardest working stunt-men in Hollywood. He is a skilled acrobat and martial artist having studied a number of disciplines including: Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu and Capoeira. He has appeared in various national commercials including: Nike, Mountain Dew and Burger King. In 2006, Ilram competed against some of the top martial artists in the world in the MTV reality competition Final Fu. His stunts can be seen in over 35 films including: A New World, Letters from Iwo Jima, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Crank, Transformers, and Star Trek. Ilram recently wrapped on Avatar, the highly anticipated return film of director James Cameron. He is also branching out into stunt coordinator and choreographer for several upcoming films. In addition to his stunt work Ilram has actor and print model.