Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
Certified: 12A
Duration: 101 minutes
Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman
Starring: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Pete Ploszek, Johnny Knoxville, Jeremy Howard, Danny Woodburn, Tony Shalhoub, William Fichtner, Tohoru Masamune, Whoopi Goldberg
KRS Releasing Ltd
Megan Fox is April O’Neill, a TV reporter who wants to be treated as a serious journalist and gain respect from her peers. Not many think she has what it takes and only cameraman Vernon (Will Arnett), who is infatuated with her, thinks she can succeed.
Meanwhile, New York City is under siege as a criminal organisation known as The Foot, led by super ninja Shredder (Tohoru Masamune) and his deputy Karai (Minae Noji), are terrorising the city.
One night, while in the city’s dock area, April falls upon a clash between Shredder’s masked men and another figure which seems to be a sort of supernatural ninja.
Following this up, she finds that The Foot is about to be tackled by a group of mutated turtles called the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They consist of leader Leonardo (Pete Ploszek); Raphael (Alan Ritchson), a grumpy loner; Michelangelo (Noel Fisher), an over-the-top romantic who gets the hots for April; and Donatello (Jeremy Howard), the technologically-oriented member of the group.
Their master, a mutated rat named Splinter (Danny Winter, voiced by Tony Shalhoub) has trained them deep in New York’s sewers. With April knowing their secret, the foursome now has to come out of the sewers and fight Shredder and also confront Eric Sacks (William Fichtner) who is wealthy, unethical and has terrible plans for the city.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started off as a comic book series by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and was a violent parody that surprisingly enough became a pop culture phenomenon of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The spin-off toys and cartoon series (which lasted 10 seasons) rerouted the direction of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and aimed the franchise at children. This also resulted in three live action films in 1990, 1991, 1993.
The four mutated turtles have enjoyed a revival on the small screen with new cartoon series and also an animated movie in 2007.
Now along comes this reboot of the franchise, under the mantle of producer Michael Bay and it bears all the hallmarks of his cinematic efforts.
Directing duties have been handed to Jonathan Liebes-man,who has directed the likes of the alien-attack movie Battle for Los Angeles (2011) and the mythology actioner Wrath of the Titans (2012).
The film has all the ingredients to deliver popcorn entertainment to the tune of box office dollars. Its take is presently over $350 million.
Bay manages to neither go too dark nor too cutesy, and delivers lightweight entertainment. Another plus for the movie is that it is imbued with a self-aware attitude and does not avoid its campy moments.
Fox manages to bring an emotional aspect to her role and is not there simply as eye candy; she ends up being the reality anchor in a movie full of over-the-top silliness.
Whoopi Goldberg dominates a few scenes but the real ‘star’ of the movie is the motion capture technology which brings the turtles to life. These creatures work well on screen, are easily identifiable by their masks and are well integrated into the action. The highlight has to be the film’s final third which has two thrilling action sequences.