BLOOD WORK: SILVER TONGUED SILVER SCREEN: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

It was somewhere in the late 1980's when I was in single digits where I received my first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure (it was Michelangelo) and then I began religiously watching the cartoon. Seeing the original live action film in 1990 was one of the biggest moments in my young life, seeing the turtles on the big screen for the first time. For a long time I thought the second film, SECRET OF THE OOZE, was a far superior movie to the first. But even as a kid I could tell that the third film had dropped off in quality. For me personally though, the 2007 film TMNT, is my favorite. As you may have guessed, the ninja turtles hold a special place in my heart.

I know I'm a little late on this one but I finally saw TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS. This is the sequel to the 2014 TMNT reboot produced by Michael Bay. Anyone familiar with Michael Bay's action films and the TRANSFORMERS franchise could clearly see that the studio was trying to repeat the success of the Transformers films with another beloved 80's children's franchise. The 2014 film gave audiences a jarringly different take on the Turtles, Shredder, April, and basically the whole story. From everyone I had talked to the reactions to this new TMNT interpretation were mixed.

Now we have the sequel. And it is everything I ever wanted to see in a big screen live action TMNT movie.

THE PLOT

While being transferred to a new super-max prison, the Foot Clan attempts to spring Shredder from custody. The Turtles arrive to put a stop to Shredder's shenanigans when suddenly the Shredhead is teleported to another dimension ~ Dimension X. Shredder meets Krang, a brain with a face and tentacle arms with a Death Star-like battleship called the Technodrome. Shredder allies himself with Krang and opens a wormhole in time and space above New York City through which the Technodrome can enter our universe. It is up to the Turtles, April, and the rest of the gang to not only save the city but to save the world.

THE GOOD

80's Cartoon Nostalgia. When Turtles III came out in 1993 and I found out the movie focused around time-travel, I hoped that the turtles would go into the future and meet Krang along with a smorgasbord of cool creatures and mutants that I had seen in the cartoon. Well we didn't get that. Out of the Shadows is basically the movie I wanted to see in 1993. A live action Technodrome. The Turtle Van. Bebop and Rocksteady. Krang and his robot humanoid suit! All of these aspects are wonderful and easily the highlight of the film. This movie takes everything you loved about the old cartoon series or the old toys and gives it to you in a movie!

The Visual Effects. It's no surprise that a big budget summer blockbuster nowadays has stunning special effects. It's to be expected. But for some reason this movie looks really good. Krang I especially loved being as he reminded me a lot of the alien creatures from Tobe Hooper's sci-fi horror classic INVADERS FROM MARS (1986) designed by Stan Winston. Bebop and Rocksteady are also quite enjoyable, more so than the turtles in some instances. And it was nice to see that the Turtles had been scaled down a bit in size from the last movie. They're still Hulk-huge but not quite so freakishly big as they were in the last movie.

THE BAD

Target Audience? With exception of the Turtles' redesign from the last movie, everything on screen seemed as if it were meant for an audience in their late twenties or early thirties, the generation who grew up with the original cartoon and the original toy line. But the acting direction and dialog all seemed to suggest the target audience was for kids twelve years and under. Then there is the casual swearing thrown in the dialog which suggests yet another demographic, one you wouldn't expect would include twelve year olds and under. As a result the tone of the visuals doesn't mesh with the direction. Whom is this movie for? Personally I would've liked to have seen the direction embrace the twelve year old or embrace the thirty year old, not both. The film has good actors, but the direction they were seemingly given was to model their approach off of direct to video B movies from the 90's.

And Leonardo is still mostly worthless, using his swords once, and being a jerk throughout most of the movie. It's like the filmmakers sat around a table and said, "What should we do with Leo?" "No one likes Leo. Everybody likes Raph, Mike, and Donny. So who cares if Leo is done well or not."

THE VERDICT

Visually Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows delivers everything a fan of the 90's cartoon and toys could ever want. The acting direction however leaves the now thirty year old target audience shaking their heads. The acting direction in this film will render it impossible to watch as the years go by. The 2007 film TMNT remains reigning champion of the Turtles films in terms of quality with Secret of the Ooze a close second. My inner child was cheering throughout this movie but my exterior adult was saying, "Yeah... If I never see this movie again I'll be okay."

Overall Ranking: 5 out of 10

(saved by the visuals)

Good. Average.