Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows Review

So I finally got to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows.

SPOILER FREE

      Let me start by saying that since I was a kid I've been a fan of the Ninja Turtles up until present time with me growing up on the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogy as well as the cartoon television show that used to air on Saturday mornings. I had the action figures for the Ninja Turtles and even watched the FOX live action television show that aired in the afternoon back in the late 90s. The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is not only the best Ninja Turtles film to this day but a great family drama. It got everything right about the Turtles and showed Shredder and Splinter in a far better light than what Michael Bay's new versions of the Turtles present them as. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ll: The Secret Of The Ooze wasn't as good as the first movie but remained a strong sequel giving the fans more answers to how the Turtles were created and Super Shredder was a blast. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lll was unquestionably the worst Ninja Turtles film of the original trilogy but still maintained the heart of the originals, though Shredder's absence was felt and the time travel subplot feeling a tad corny. The 2007 live action movie was fun but didn't leave much of an impact like the original live action movies did with it's audience. Upon hearing news that Michael Bay was going to produce a new set of Ninja Turtles movies, I was not thrilled because I witnessed how the latter Transformers sequels turned out to be as well as it's disrespect of the source material. Despite holding my reservations towards the 2014 film, I still went into the theater to watch it as a Turtles fan and came out profoundly disappointed and frustrated. I found the punch lines the Turtles delivered to not only be dry of any humor or wit, but their physical appearances didn't sell me either as they looked creepy and too bloated. Megan Fox was a horrific miscast as April O Neil and the characterizations of Splinter and Shredder were way off from what the comics portray them as being and what the audiences remember from the past films. Going into the newest Turtles film, I had little hope that this film would satisfy me as a fan after what I witnessed in August 2014 but hearing comments such as the film being an improvement over the last film made me a tad curious to see if such a claim was true, and once again i'm sad to report that it's not true, the movie still sucks.

      Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows comes across to me as being a much wasted opportunity from what it could be as a film within the franchise. This could've been the Ninja Turtles film that defined the whole film series as a whole and become every Ninja Turtles fanboy's dream come true if it was handled right. Granted the film isn't as frustrating as the first movie, it's still hardly better as it possesses many problems of it's own which followed from the first movie onto this films production. The first main issue is Megan Fox once again playing April O' Neil and getting more screen time than the Turtles at certain points. Megan Fox may look good on the big screen but she lacks the talent, the brains, and the charm to pull off what could've been such an engrossing and empowering character. Anyone who watches the animated Ninja Turtles cartoon and even the previous movies knows the full potential of this character and to see her wasted away not just by Fox but the poor direction she's given is really heartbreaking. The second problem is the Turtles lack true emotional moments of depth and characterization making them distinct from each other and giving the audience a sense of who each one of them is. What made the original movies so special and still enjoyable to this day is the amount of heart they possessed making you care a great deal about each member of the family especially Ralph and Michaelangelo. Here you don't really get a sense of the Turtles personalities, and Splinter is completely wasted as a character. What appeared to be a dominating force in the previous films and a Mr. Miyagi type of father figure is completely absent here as Splinter comes off as being rather ridiculous and cardboard. His physical presence feels uninspired and lazy as the 90's Splinter looks and acts far superior. Watching this movie will make older fans miss the days of practical effects. The same argument for Splinter's lack of screen time can be said for Shredder, who never really gets a chance to truly shine like the way he did in the 1990s films or even the cartoon. When Shredder finally gets suited up and is shown to be in his original true form, he's removed from the screen in such a quick fashion that the audience is left wondering what happened. The acting from Tyler Perry as Baxter Stockman is painfully overdone and comes across as being forced to fit the atmosphere of this being a family film. I blame the director of the film Dave Green more so than Perry because he's just playing the part the way he was instructed to do so. The character inclusions of Beebop and Rocksteady carry a great deal of potential for the film as fans get to see these characters on the big screen for the first time ever, but ultimately they crash and burn as being live action adaptations of their cartoon personalities. These two are not just unfunny, they're embarrassing when you look at the source material and the tremendous potential they had in terms of being brought onto the film. Casey Jones is another case of a great character being wasted as Stephen Amell does the best job with the material he's given, but the audience can't help but find Elias Kotea's performance of Jones from the original 1990's film to be far superior in both characterization and performance. Laura Linney does a good job as playing a female Commissionar Gordon type of character in this film as she originally views the Ninja Turtles to be criminals and untrustworthy but later grows to respect them as undisclosed heroes. While that subplot may sound promising on paper, the ultimate execution of it is extremely poor making the audience not become invested in her character or motives. One of the few main highlights of the movie is the central villain in the Ninja Turtle universe named Krang being done effectively and looking awesome on the big screen as he may be the only character that remains faithful to the original one from the cartoon, however his Technodrome was not very impressive.
      What the main problem appears to be with the new Ninja Turtles movies, is that even though they look better on the big screen visually in comparison to their predecessors they lack the heart of the original films as well as the characterizations of each key player, and a legit story that allows the audience to become engaged and invested in the character's well-being. The film is essentially all flash but no substance making it come across as being more frustrating than entertaining. Dave Green appears to be going through the motions directing this one as he doesn't take the time to flesh out any of these characters but would rather focus on visuals and imitating Michael Bay shots during action sequences. The films climax also feels like it took direct inspiration from other big budget films such as Avengers, every Transformers film with an action-packed climax, and Man Of Steel with how the destruction of the city. For fans who grew up with these characters and were hoping to see them reimagined on the big screen in the 21st century in a way that honors the past interpretations but moves to the next step in evolution, these films are very disappointing as they reek of being missed opportunities. These are not films that want to travel down the exact same path as the source material but feel more commercialized to bring in large audiences of children to make a quick buck from. While the filmmakers may have accomplished that task if that was their sole purpose behind making these movies, these films will not be remembered by true fans of the source material 10 years from now as the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies (especially the 1990's film), have a much stronger chance of going down as childhood classics then these. The best option going forward since this movie has made significantly less than it's predecessor which can be attributed to bad word of mouth from both movies is to wait several years and not bring the Ninja Turtles back to the big screen unless they have passionate filmmakers behind it who want to improve on the mistakes of these movies and make the films more honorable not just to fans but to the source material, then maybe well finally get the Ninja Turtles movies we've been waiting for. While the original trilogy is a fun set of films, they aren't perfect as the technology at the time and significantly lower budgets held them back from really breaking out and showing audiences some cool stuff with these characters. If they can find a way to ditch Michael Bay and get filmmakers behind the next one with a passion for telling this story and truly caring about these characters, then we can perhaps get some truly amazing Ninja Turtles films, but until the day that happens, true fans will stick to the animated show, the comics, and the original trilogy to get the satisfaction that these movies failed to provide for us that grew up with these characters.

      It may seem as if I went into this movie fully expecting to hate it as my review of the movie is unapologetically brutal towards it, that is not the case. I went into this movie with hope that somehow with as many problems the previous installment had, they would find a way to win me over as a fan of the Turtles for these new set of films and make it at the very least enjoyable, I never got that while watching the movies. I truly cared about the Turtles in the past but can't really find myself to become invested in the one's presented here as they don't appear to have personalities of their own that make them compelling. The film will please and thrill young children who grew up after the run of the Original trilogy and cartoons not really knowing about the past history of the Turtles prior, and perhaps that's what the filmmakers were aiming for with the new generation, but for us fans who were around when the Turtles were at their prime and partying with Vanilla Ice, it's extremely painful and heartbreaking to see what's being put on the screen. I pray that one day the Turtles be given their glory again by future filmmakers who truly care about these characters and their story but for now, I will stick to watching the Original films. Major thumbs down from this Ninja Turtles fan.
                                                                                                                                                          4/10

Our characters for this evening:

\