Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

2014's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gave us a new look and feel for the beloved franchise, and it disappointed greatly. Now two years later, a second chance to win over the hearts of die hard Turtle fans has arrived in the form of Out of the Shadows, a sequel while better than the first, still falls short of becoming a special TMNT film.

While the Turtles were far and away the highlight of the first film, their grittier design and lack of proper development was no doubt a downside. Now, I must admit, where in the first film I honestly could not stand the look and feel of the Turtles, I have begun to come around to, not necessarily enjoying, but tolerating their massive Hulk-like looks, and this is because Leo, Raph, Donny and Mikey are all super fun to watch, with more chemistry developed throughout the cast members and a much more classic Ninja Turtle vibe to the Turtles in this film. Eating pizza, cracking jokes, awesome ninja action and just generally acting like teenagers are all major points in the development of these characters, and with Out of the Shadows, there is some more of that old school TMNT feel between the four brothers. Even if there is an alarming lack of literal action scenes involving our favorite mutants, the Turtles are once again the best part of the movie, as they should be.

There are more positives to be excited about, including the additions of villains Bebop and Rocksteady and occasionally, the Turtle's sidekick Casey Jones. Bebop and Rocksteady are fun villains, humorous, energetic and bring more setting-appropriate antagonists into the fold. I had mixed feelings throughout the film about Stephen Amell's portrayal of Casey Jones. He was funny, bad ass, and even if it was brief, sported his iconic hockey mask and stick, much to my delight. However, Amell occasionally is too bland and lacks that cocky personality you'd expect from the character, and never develops a meaningful connection to the Turtles, something that the classic 1990 film was able to do extremely well in comparison.

The movie's plot is much goofier than the first film, which holds many positives, but also brings unwanted ridiculousness. TMNT is supposed to be silly and wacky, a point I complained about in the first movie, and to that aspect, Out of the Shadows does succeed. Anyone expecting an Oscar winning story from TMNT would be kidding themselves, and the more lighthearted story is welcomed to this franchise which often suffers from being far too serious. On the other hand, the dimension- crossing, world ending concept that the film presents is just too much to handle in a movie about turtles that are ninjas, it just doesn't seem to fit. For once in the duration of this franchise, I would love to watch the Turtles fight some crime on the streets, a simpler tale that doesn't have to include the end of days.

What I will never be able to wrap my head around is what goes through the mind of Michael Bay whether he's in the director's chair or producing, but his presence is once again felt greatly in this film, and that is easily its greatest downfall. The pace of the film feels like it's on speed, giving no time to care about or really dive into what's happening on screen, and the major use of Bay's trademark slow motion and explosions don't fit whatsoever in this film. Heck, the logo at the end even assembles exactly like the logo for Bay's Transformers franchise. Director Dave Green is able to make small changes to improve the quirky tone of the film, but Bay is felt right from the start and it doesn't do the film any good.

The cast is decent for the most part, led by Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, and Alan Ritchson as Mikey, Donny, Leo and Raph respectfully, with Fisher stealing pretty much every scene he's in as Mikey. Bepop and Rocksteady are in good hands with Gary Anthony Williams and Stephen Farrelly and even the overlord Krang is done quite well by 3-time Emmy winner Brad Garrett. Tyler Perry is surprisingly great as mad scientist Baxter Stockman, charming to watch in his science quests and his hilarious evil laugh.

On the other side of the coin, we have some poorly cast actors and poorly written characters. Megan Fox, thankfully, is in less of the film this time around, but when she is, she's the worst April O'Niel we could have possibly gotten. Her character is horribly developed, and her portrayal is even worse. Will Arnett isn't much better as Vern, he's largely unfunny and put in action scenes with Fox that should've been used on the Turtles and Casey Jones. It's terribly unfortunate that TMNT mainstays like the big bad Shredder and the Turtle's master Splinter are extremely underused as well.

To say that Out of the Shadows was a total flop wouldn't be fair. Even if by a small margin, Out of the Shadows is an improvement over the first film. There are still some major fixes I wish could be made to help improve this franchise which got off to a very rocky start two years ago and is crawling its way to improvement. I can only hope that the inevitable third installment propels the series upwards into a love I and so many others have for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles name.

6.5/10

It's weird to think that with something like "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", you might lower your expectations. If something's really popular, shouldn't you make your expectations higher which is why everyone complains about "The Phantom Menace"? Anyway, this movie was just okay, but I will give it props for being an improvement over the original. This is a movie where they just want to put in all the popular characters for the fans. For the most part, it worked out. We got Baxter Stockman, Bebop and Rocksteady, Krang, and Casey Jones. Even though I haven't seen the newer TMNT shows, I still know who all those guys are.

The effects haven't improved much, which is what really weighed this down. A lot of this is stupid action, but the franchise itself was never meant to be that intelligent. Still, the bad seems to outweigh the good as I found the dialogue predictable and it was pretty annoying to hear that tired cliché of people being scared of something they don't understand. The original Ninja Turtles movies just seemed to capture the spirit more. I'll give this movie for once again, having all these characters. They're mostly in character even though Krang should have had more screen time. It's certainly more servicey than a lot of other TMNT media. Maybe I really should get into the newer shows. **1/2

How is that once the origin story is complete, the proceeding film is a mutating mess of leatherback sea turtle proportions? Character development is thrown out the window, with Bay thinking out loud "do you know what kids love to see? Explosions. Mind-numbing action. See, look at my 'Transformers' franchise. Everybody loves it!". I will say that this is neither better or worse than its predecessor. Take that as you will. After saving New York City, the turtles remain in the sewers taking no credit for their heroic deeds. Shredder escapes and meets an inter-dimensional warlord, resulting in the turtles having to save the day without anyone knowing...again. So, improvements. The action was much grander, with the inclusion of various set pieces, and is filmed decently by Green. The editing was proficient although occasionally succumbs to excessive quick cuts, especially during hand-to-hand combat with Bebop and Rocksteady (who are welcome additions). The cartoonish antics seemingly felt right, particularly from the turtles. Green settles on a mindless tone which makes for several humorous moments that younger audiences will appreciate. Fox wasn't the worst actor either (never said that before...). No, that title is awarded to Amell who was insufferably irritating. "I'm gonna be a detective!". Yeah ok, tell us all of your future plans and life stories within the first minute of screen time. Go ahead! Perry was channelling his inner pantomime. Linney's talents were wasted (why Laura, why!?). And Karai as a character was utterly non-existent. This all stems down to the screenplay, and it was hideous. No wit. No sincere dialogue. Just plain stupidity. There was a moment when the turtles discuss the feeling of acceptance and how they wish to be human. An investing perspective that attempts to endeavour into segregation, but that's quickly diminished by Michelangelo's excessive foolish behaviour. Many eye rolling moments were had. Krang was underdeveloped and Shredder lost all his menace. Story-wise an absolute mess, but much better technically.

Mindless, superhero, brain candy, zoom. Bad jokes, great effects, explosions go boom.

My neck muscles are tighter than piano wires and I've sweated enough this week to fill a swimming pool. At the end of a long week of mad work, sometimes you just want to sit down and switch off your brain.

So, thank you, turtles. I like it when you hit stuff.

Is this a dumb movie? The obvious answer is yes, of course it's dumb, it's more superhero schlock: kiddie-fare enjoyed by 30-somethings.

But I don't know. Any fight scene with martial arts is a bit like a magician's sleight of hand. It's too fast to follow completely, but if done well we can see sophistication in the movement, and a fight is a bit of a story in itself. There's the setup, escalation of conflict, then boom, resolution. The best parts of this movie are not of the turtles talking but when things go all smashy-smash-smash. Smash.

Smash.

Where the film drags is with its human characters, who have way too much screen time. Casey Jones is a 30-something who talks like a 12-year-old ("Someday, I'm going to be a detective!") and Shredder, regrettably, is mostly without his mask and doesn't throw a single pie. Megan Fox is wearing less makeup this time around, but in "acting," less is more. Baxter Stockman is likable, but doesn't turn into a giant fly.

But it's inoffensive, fun to look at, and a nice thing to shut your brain off to while recovering from a long week of sweaty haste.

The key to adapting a comic book franchise into a modern blockbuster, you might think, is to stick closely to the source material. Certainly if you want to avoid a very loud and very angry fan backlash. Go back to the comics and give the fans what they want. In the case of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, that's not really the case.

There are a good few of us who really love those original Mirage comic books, but a larger group of Turtles fans want an adaptation of the vastly different cartoon series from the 1980s. They want characters like Krang and Bebop and Rocksteady. As illogical as it might sound, you have to make a faithful adaptation of an unfaithful adaptation. And that's exactly what director David Green and his Turtles team have done for this new movie sequel.

Following the events of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continue to live in the shadows, bound to their underground lair by day, moving in the shadows at night, hiding from the very people of the city they risked their lives to save. Following the Turtles' failure to thwart a daring jailbreak, Shredder is on the loose again, this time with new allies. The Turtles must once again stop the villainous Shredder to protect the city, and the world, that don't know they exist from a new intergalactic threat.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows is a massive upgrade from the first film. There are so many improvements. The Turtles' appearances; sized down a bit and given a few cartoonish adjustments, they look so much better (Splinter, voiced by Tony Shalhoub, is also given just minor alterations but looks greatly improved). The film has more action sequences, and they're bigger and better. It has a better script. It has a better story. The score is better.

The Turtles get more screen time (a concern of expense in the first film; perhaps the budget has been upgraded too), which is a massive boost. Building on one of the successes of the first film, the character work here is great. These are good versions of the Turtles. Michelangelo, played by the brilliant Noel Fisher, is dead funny. Jeremy Howard got Donatello bang on in the first film and here, given more to do, he impresses again. Raphael is not only helped by some adjustments to his face, but he's given some comedy in this sequel and it warms you up to Alan Ritchson's gruff would-be action hero a treat.

The stand out Turtle performance, though, is Pete Ploszek's Leonardo. Pete just is Leo. This film does right by the Turtles. We get to spend time in the lair with them just being the Turtles. This is a lesson learned in the first film; when your characters are good, let us watch them. The Turtles each get character moments and proper, set up and paid off story arcs.

Stephen Amell's Casey Jones does a bit too much telling instead of showing (he tells us he's crazy but there aren't too many moments on screen to back up his claim, for example), but Amell's performance is likable, energetic and kind of wired; it works. Will Arnett wrings laughs out of every moment of screen time he's given as cowardly cameraman Vernon Fenwick and David Green's film wisely puts him to work. I know you're not supposed to praise Megan Fox on the internet but I like her April O'Neil. Fox is surrounded by large characters with big personalities yet her April never looks like she can't hold her own.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows is a good looking movie. Every set is stylish and filled with detail. It's colorful and full of cool vehicles and character designs. The bright colors and pristine look compliment to the cartoonish feel of the film and characters.

A couple of the action sequences don't meet the standard set by the others. The film opens on a fairly disorienting one and a Casey Jones fight sequence doesn't seem to have been put together quite right. For the most part, though, the action set pieces are terrific. They're big, exciting and filled with character. The plane sequence in particular is very entertaining.

The obvious highlight, the stand out by a mile, better than everything else on screen, of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows is the bungling duo of Bebop and Rocksteady. They don't so much light up the screen as come crashing through it, high fiving each other and destroying the front few rows of seats in the cinema.

The pair steal every scene they're in thanks to an alignment of excellent writing, top notch CGI and pitch perfect casting. The chemistry between actors Gary Anthony Williams, who plays Bebop, and Stephen 'Sheamus' Farrelly, who plays Rocksteady, contributes massively to a wonderfully funny screen team.