IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler, Michael
Much like Transformers, I have no real attachment to the source material, although I did watch the old cartoons on occasion growing up. Rewatched the pilot episode beforehand to get in the mood. It's not so great. But it tells pretty much the same story as this film, although with much less action and in 20 minutes.
Although Michael Bay's name is on all the advertising, it's Jonathan Liebesman's film. Either way neither of them seem to know how to make a plain ol' FUN movie, but it's the closest Liebesman's gotten since Darkness Falls. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles does not need to be a serious movie. And the script here really does try to keep things fun. I don't know why they insist on adding in guns when all the characters are supposedly ninjas but apart from that the film skews much younger than I was expecting. It's not shockingly gratuitous or violent and actually feels like a film you could take younger kids to enjoy.
The turtles have that many slight variations to their origin story that one more's not going to hurt. But there are some questionable details, like Splinter teaching himself karate from a manual rather than learning it by copying his human master. And just like the recent Spiderman series, hey feel the need to reign in the extended world by making April a part of the origin story. I hate that Hollywood today feels the need to have all the major players in place from the outset, characters can't just get caught up in a new world and taken along for the ride, they have to had something to do with its inception too.
Shredder is really overblown here. A bit of a dud villain with a really boring evil plan.
These a nitpicks though. The story and action are serviceable as are the cast. Casting William Fichtner does not work as a stealth bad guy. Will Arnett comes off as creepy trying to get into April's pants. Megan Fox does well enough with the broad strokes her character is painted with. That goes for all the turtles as well. You got a science/tech nerd, the comedy relief and the angry tank and leader who always but heads. The animated movie did a much better job with the characters but I don't think they have as much screen time in this one. Probably because of how much more expensive they are. The suits in the old live action movie hold up guys, just saying.
Now, perhaps I'm just numb to expensive blockbusters because we're over saturated with them but this film felt surprisingly smaller and contained. I think the ridiculous excess of Transformers 4 left me with expectations for how horrible and overblown this would be. But it's all pretty contained within 3 or 4 locations, has a relatively small main cast and only 3 action set pieces, the snow chase being the most fun. And a glorious running time of under 2 hours.
There should be a drinking game for every time someone says "mutagen". It's a pretty shoddy macguffin.
Serviceable is the word I keep coming back to. It's way less offensive than Transformers, a much happier film too. The origin story is questionable, as are the villains, and we dent really get that much time to know the titular characters but all that could be improved with further instalments should there be any. On its own it's a pretty forgettable but inoffensive film.
