Well, the good thing about having extremely low expectations for a movie is that it could end up surprising you instead.
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It seems that producer Michael Bay chose to cater to fans of the 1990s cartoon series when making Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows and therefore, there are a lot of changes from the preceding film.
The first weekend of June brings three types of counter-programming: the Michael Bay-produced sequel to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, a romance film adapted from a wildly successful novel, and an R-rated mockumentary from the Lonely Island guys.
Question: Why do the Turtles wear masks?
The Turtles saved New York City from Shredder but received none of the gratification, due to them fearing how humanity may react to them.
Going to see him is justice enough to see the movie, along with the action and nostalgia of the turtles.
To achieve his ambitious plan of “bringing humans to their knees”, Stockman develops a Retro-Mutagen which can turn humans into animals and that, kids, is how the warthog Bebop (a strikingly thin Gary Anthony Williams) and rhino Rocksteady (Stephen Farrelly) were born.
The Turtles’ old villain, Shredder (Brian Tee), is being transported to a high-security prison when he is rescued by his team of assassins, the Foot Clan, with an inter-dimensional assist by a slimy, tentacled-blob named Krang (voiced by Brad Garrett), who lives in the stomach section of a big, badass robot.
No, really. That’s it. I’m giving Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows a 6/10.
Under the mask, Jason Voorhees looks kind of personable, actually. Hallmarks include sleek shots of a skyline that we know will come crashing down, loud and incoherent action boasting a few neat poses, and a camera that has more moves than the ninjas. It’s just a pity that we have to put up with all the non-turtle-y stuff as well.
While TMNT2 is much better than its predecessor, if you are a true fan of the Ninja Turtles, you should be watching the Nickelodeon cartoon series instead. Or better yet, go read Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman’s original comic. Of course, they can be differentiated by their different-coloured masks (which, I’m guessing, they wear to obscure the fact that they’re giant turtles).
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The dynamic between the brothers and their struggle over their desire to be normal are the most heartfelt and resonant elements of the film, even though emotion can be hard to buy from a bipedal turtle with huge muscles and a surfer-dude accent.
