Director – Jonathan Liebesman (Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Wrath of the Titans)
Starring – Megan Fox (Jennifer’s Body, Transformers), Will Arnett (Jonah Hex, Hot Rod), and William Fichtner (The Lone Ranger, Drive Angry)
Release Date – 2014
Rating – 3/5
Tagline(s) – “The leader. The brains. The attitude. And Mikey.” “Mysterious. Dangerous. Reptilious. You’ve never seen heroes like this.” “Meet the new face of justice.” and “Brothers become legends.”
Before I start this review I want to go ahead and admit that I am a fan of Michael “Boom” Bay and his flicks regardless if he directs or produces them. He has flooded my adult hood with memories of my childhood. Ever since I was little I had an obsession with Transformers. This obsession was carried into adulthood and I even went as far as to get an Autobots’ tattoo to show my love. Bay was responsible for bringing the Autobots and the Decepticons to the big screen with his Transformer series.
These films catch a lot of hell from critics and Transformer fans alike. I can see why they catch shit because they do venture away from the source material. However, they are excellent popcorn flicks. When I heard Bay was turning his sights on another childhood favorite, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I had to see it. I knew he would fuck up the story and completely change who and what they were but I had to see it. I knew that Bay would once again make another solid popcorn flick.
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows news reporter April O’Neal (Fox) as she struggles to find a story worth reporting so she can become a regular news anchor. The town is under siege as an underground gang known as The Foot terrorizes New York City. She discovers that a vigilante is fighting back and is determine to catch him in action. She succeeds and finds the vigilante and also discovers that it is not just one vigilante but four of them. She follows them onto the roof top and learns that they are mutants. She is warned not to tell anyone and they “ninja vanish.” She turns to billionaire scientist who worked with her deceased father about her discovery. He convinces her to search for them and the two part ways.
However, he is not the nice scientist her father was and is actually partners with a homicidal samurai who wants to use their blood to create a vaccine. They plan on gassing New York City and killing everyone while using the vaccine to become even richer. The 4 ninja turtles go back to their sewer hideout and is busted by their sensei for leaving. They tell him of what happened and he makes them rush to save April who is now in danger. They grab her and take her back to the sewer where their origins is then revealed and shit then hits the fan.**Spoiler Alert**
I always watch a Bay film expecting to see characters I know and loved placed on film with an entirely new back story and all the traits they had before that made them so enjoyable has been removed and replaced with a more modern take. Bay did this before with Transformers but I found those films to be fun regardless of how many film critics found the films to be worthless. However, I was worried that Bay would fuck up TMNT.
Their back story is what made them what they were when I was growing up. I am referring to how they were on the television show instead of the comics that came out before. They had a specific story that explained why they are what they are and we see this before every episode. I was afraid that removing this particular element would completely destroy the turtles. However, it did not ruin the turtles but it did make them hard to love when compared to the television show. The story was also very Bay and very cliched. The film tries to be mysterious and throw the viewer for a loop but if you pay close attention it ends up being very predictable.
The acting is what you would expect coming from a film starring Megan Fox. I find her to be very beautiful but her acting skills are lacking. She glides from scene to scene with just her smile and the film’s titular characters. The remainder of the cast does not try to steal the show and just ride through the film in the same manner as Fox.
Finally, the film is overflowing with special effects. We get loads of practical effects that look great and that is to be expected due to the film’s huge budget. The film also has a tremendous amount of visual effects but most don’t look that great. In a few years the film will look dated which will lower the replay value. Overall, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a fun movie to watch in theaters but die-hard turtle fans will not be satisfied. Check it out if you are wanting a trip out to the theater.
