Review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows Full Movie: There are six of six years; Iron Man is not the only one who thought to take a backup. The Directors have the problem of how these warriors could attack and special talents together in front of the jealous imagination nine years. But we also believe that each party tries to tame its competitors, without permanent damage. There are large and small revelations and a plot that is as smooth as Batman vs. Superman if we are honest. This kind of thing is almost inevitable in a story with this many moving parts and is easy to forgive in a photo - a franchise - who work hard has done for us.
That is not to say that it is not difficult to see all these faces perfectly sculpted: Anthony Mackie as the best friend of the XXI century Cap Falcon. Daniel Buhl plays a mysterious conspirator. Someone named Scarlett Johansson.
I'll preface by saying that I've seen the first four Transformers movies and the first one of these as well. I've watched a fair amount of Michael Bay in my time. This is a spectacular level of awful even by Bay standards. The Turtle personas are horribly underdeveloped, and their looks have not improved from the first film either. The dialogue is plodding and in dire need of editing, and none of the secondary characters contributes anything of real note.
As with Transformers, the humans are more of the story than they should be. The CGI characters are why the movie is being made, and they don't get nearly enough time to justify the expense of creating them. Don't get me wrong, it's spectacular to see Bebop and Rocksteady, and the design works, but there's a lot left on the table.
This wouldn't be so bad if they were interesting. Stephen Amell, who is familiar with the vigilante role, who lauded the script on his Facebook, is underutilized to the point of being a waste. Casey Jones was a great part of the original TMNT film in 1990, played by Elias Koteas as a layered character with a great sense of humor that bonds with the Turtles. Amell's version doesn't get to that level, and it's unfortunate.
Megan Fox continues to do what she does best; look pretty and be shocked by things, but April O'Neil is a missed mark yet again, and Tyler Perry doesn't quite nail the mad scientist motif necessary for Baxter. An evil laugh would have done wonders for him. And then there's Krang. Krang looks about as right as possible for a CGI version of a disembodied brain, but he is far removed from his original characterization. He isn't diabolical, he's a brain-shaped bully. As such, just like with Transformers, Bay's team misses out on some great characters and settings, creates CGI issues and failed plotlines, and the whole thing falls flat as a result.
Now for the second film, I'd have to say it's a step in a good direction, which it being a sequel, is shocking. It has more humour than the first, still not enough, but it's an improvement. The biggest thing about the second would have to be the new characters, introducing Bebop and Rocksteady (seen above) was a personal favourite. Being two massive characters in the Turtle's universe, I actually loved how they did them as well. Two muscle-bound meatheads who get a serum which makes them into well, bigger muscle-bound meatheads, with horns and tusks. They're share a great chemistry before and after, just how they should. Now Casey, Stephen Amell is a different story, I absolutely love the actor, he's really good. Just he doesn't fit the Casey role. The role doesn't carry enough badassary, he seems like a bumbling buffoon at times, it just doesn't work. That is the script's problem, not Amell, he did the best he could with the role. Baxter Stockman I am indifferent on, he doesn't really do much. and last but not least would be Krang, who I must say, looks disgusting but awesome.
The story is a lot more exciting, throwing in so many iconic characters helps it a lot. The additions and extra humour are what carries this movie. It has alright action scenes like the first, but it lacks good dialog, the humans seem less human than the turtles do. One big plus is Shredder, they seem to have took him back to his human roots, no big clunky robot armour. I could be wrong though, he wasn't given much time to suit up. Hopefully that was by choice though. I'd definitely rate this higher than the first, it has worse con's but it also holds much more pro's.
I went into this a bit in my review for the original 'reboot' movie, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were one of my first loves as a young lad. TMNT, along with the first two Terminator films and the Power Rangers were some of my favorites as I was growing up. TMNT and the Terminator, as far as I remember, came first and the Power Rangers came later. But I digress, I remember seeing the live-action TMNT films. I don't know if I saw all three of them, but I'm certain I saw, at least, the first two. I remember watching the cartoons and I also had some TMNT video games and toys. So, yea, I was a big fan back in the day. Sometimes when this happens, people grow up looking at their favored franchises from their youth with rose colored glasses. Everything about it was great, nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
It can make even the worst of movies seem amazing in your mind, even if you haven't revisited them in decades. I can't say that happened to me with TMNT. As I grew up and matured into a man, I didn't really continue my TMNT fandom. I just grew out of it. This is normal, as you get older you start having other interests and I've never really bothered to give the TMNT franchise a look back. I wouldn't mind, but I don't think there would be anything in the way of nostalgia. This brings us to this sequel of a below average 2014 reboot of the TMNT franchise. For one reason or another, someone decided to commission a sequel. I mean the first movie was certainly financially successful, but it wasn't necessarily the greatest story ever told. Plus, in spite of the fact it was financially successful, it's not like the movie made such a great first impression that people would instantly want more of it. Having said all of that, however, I'm genuinely surprised to find out that this was a better movie than the first one. It's not by much, for certain, but it's still a better movie. I would say that this is, really, average at best.
I think there's some issues that are shared with the first film. Like I thought the first film attempting to be darker in terms of the turtles and their interactions, while also trying to embrace the absurdity of the concept, wasn't a good look. I can say the same thing about this movie, the relationship between the turtles is way too fucking serious for its own good. Not saying that it doesn't embrace humor between the brothers, but it just doesn't embrace it enough. There's a problem with this approach and that is the fact that the story is a complete Saturday morning cartoon cheesefest. I understand that the film wants to explore issues relating to the brothers and how they've failed to truly unite as a team, even though they did before (but that's irrelevant), but I just don't think it works in this setting of a live-action Saturday morning cartoon.
The story is ridiculous and over-the-top. I can't say that it makes a whole lot of sense. Something about Shredder teaming up with this intergalactic being who wants to use this portal to bring through his war machine in order to enslave the earth. Shredder also allies himself with a mad scientist, Dr. Baxter Stockman (played by Tyler Perry), who also wishes to be a part of this world domination plot. Stockman is there for one reason and one reason only. And that is to plant the seeds for an eventual sequel where he comes back and is the main villain, or at least one of them.
Not saying that Stockman is useless as a character as, again, he's there setting up future stories, but he's pretty much useless as it relates to the events of this film. He's barely seen and he's disposed of fairly easily. But, all in all, for a Saturday morning cartoon in a live-action setting, this is a fairly decent movie. There's some new additions. I wouldn't say if they're good or not since they take away time from some of the best parts of the original movie, which was Will Arnett. The addition of Stephen Amell, who plays Arrow in, you guessed it, Arrow, is fine. His look is, honestly, a bit bland and generic, but he's a pretty decent actor. The problem with his addition is that Vern Fenwick (Arnett's character) takes a bigger backseat. He was always a secondary character, of course, but he's absent for more than I would have liked, considering that he's the only character that's actually entertaining. Arnett always does good job at playing these types and I just wish he was in the film more.
I can't really comment on all the other new additions, since I didn't really feel one way or another about them. They're not good and they're not bad, they're just there. There's a lot of action here and it's not particularly memorable, but there's some fairly solid action scenes. Nothing that will rival The Raid or Mad Max, but solid for a B-tier summer blockbuster, which this is. That might sound derisive, but there's nothing wrong with being a B-tier franchise. Not everything can be on the level of an Avengers or a Wonder Woman. Not to mention the fact that TMNT, while popular, doesn't have as rich a catalog as some of the bigger franchises right now.
I think the people making this film realize this and that's why there's a limited potential and reach for this franchise. I can only imagine that a third movie would make half as much as this movie (which made half of the original movie). I'm not saying that the effort wasn't there, but there's only so much you can do with this concept and these characters. It's not like you can tell a variety of different stories like Marvel has been able to do with its cinematic universe. And I think that that's gonna be the undoing of this franchise. Since every movie will be just a variation of the same story, people will just get tired of it, as they seem to already have. With that said, again, while this film is better than the original, it's not like there's anything special or remarkable about it. The acting (and voice acting) is fine enough, but, again, it's not outstanding. This is just your middle-of-the-road, B-tier summer film. You can certainly do worse, but you won't remember much of this movie when you're done with it. Decent, at best, but I wouldn't recommend it.
It can make even the worst of movies seem amazing in your mind, even if you haven't revisited them in decades. I can't say that happened to me with TMNT. As I grew up and matured into a man, I didn't really continue my TMNT fandom. I just grew out of it. This is normal, as you get older you start having other interests and I've never really bothered to give the TMNT franchise a look back. I wouldn't mind, but I don't think there would be anything in the way of nostalgia. This brings us to this sequel of a below average 2014 reboot of the TMNT franchise. For one reason or another, someone decided to commission a sequel. I mean the first movie was certainly financially successful, but it wasn't necessarily the greatest story ever told. Plus, in spite of the fact it was financially successful, it's not like the movie made such a great first impression that people would instantly want more of it. Having said all of that, however, I'm genuinely surprised to find out that this was a better movie than the first one. It's not by much, for certain, but it's still a better movie. I would say that this is, really, average at best.
I think there's some issues that are shared with the first film. Like I thought the first film attempting to be darker in terms of the turtles and their interactions, while also trying to embrace the absurdity of the concept, wasn't a good look. I can say the same thing about this movie, the relationship between the turtles is way too fucking serious for its own good. Not saying that it doesn't embrace humor between the brothers, but it just doesn't embrace it enough. There's a problem with this approach and that is the fact that the story is a complete Saturday morning cartoon cheesefest. I understand that the film wants to explore issues relating to the brothers and how they've failed to truly unite as a team, even though they did before (but that's irrelevant), but I just don't think it works in this setting of a live-action Saturday morning cartoon.
The story is ridiculous and over-the-top. I can't say that it makes a whole lot of sense. Something about Shredder teaming up with this intergalactic being who wants to use this portal to bring through his war machine in order to enslave the earth. Shredder also allies himself with a mad scientist, Dr. Baxter Stockman (played by Tyler Perry), who also wishes to be a part of this world domination plot. Stockman is there for one reason and one reason only. And that is to plant the seeds for an eventual sequel where he comes back and is the main villain, or at least one of them.
Not saying that Stockman is useless as a character as, again, he's there setting up future stories, but he's pretty much useless as it relates to the events of this film. He's barely seen and he's disposed of fairly easily. But, all in all, for a Saturday morning cartoon in a live-action setting, this is a fairly decent movie. There's some new additions. I wouldn't say if they're good or not since they take away time from some of the best parts of the original movie, which was Will Arnett. The addition of Stephen Amell, who plays Arrow in, you guessed it, Arrow, is fine. His look is, honestly, a bit bland and generic, but he's a pretty decent actor. The problem with his addition is that Vern Fenwick (Arnett's character) takes a bigger backseat. He was always a secondary character, of course, but he's absent for more than I would have liked, considering that he's the only character that's actually entertaining. Arnett always does good job at playing these types and I just wish he was in the film more.
I can't really comment on all the other new additions, since I didn't really feel one way or another about them. They're not good and they're not bad, they're just there. There's a lot of action here and it's not particularly memorable, but there's some fairly solid action scenes. Nothing that will rival The Raid or Mad Max, but solid for a B-tier summer blockbuster, which this is. That might sound derisive, but there's nothing wrong with being a B-tier franchise. Not everything can be on the level of an Avengers or a Wonder Woman. Not to mention the fact that TMNT, while popular, doesn't have as rich a catalog as some of the bigger franchises right now.
I think the people making this film realize this and that's why there's a limited potential and reach for this franchise. I can only imagine that a third movie would make half as much as this movie (which made half of the original movie). I'm not saying that the effort wasn't there, but there's only so much you can do with this concept and these characters. It's not like you can tell a variety of different stories like Marvel has been able to do with its cinematic universe. And I think that that's gonna be the undoing of this franchise. Since every movie will be just a variation of the same story, people will just get tired of it, as they seem to already have. With that said, again, while this film is better than the original, it's not like there's anything special or remarkable about it. The acting (and voice acting) is fine enough, but, again, it's not outstanding. This is just your middle-of-the-road, B-tier summer film. You can certainly do worse, but you won't remember much of this movie when you're done with it. Decent, at best, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows Official Trailer
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