Quality film making, or quality fun? This is a tough question for a critic of my caliber. I point this out as one of my favorite films is a crappy independent film about a serial killer justifying his lifestyle in a dark comedy romp yet I can say with a passion that I dislike Michael Bay's Transformer movies (and his productions in general).So when I initially heard Michael Bay was attached to the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) movie, I was hesitant and not expecting the film to do well. As always, I was correct and the film was crap, but had SOME bearable moments and wasn't the lowest point of the TMNT franchise. That honor is held proudly by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III; that or The Next Mutation.
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| And its only now that I realized that the female turtle has shell tits...and like that, Lola Bunny looks more dignified |
Anyway, when I heard there was a sequel to the 2014 movie coming, expectations were low once again. But then the trailer came out, and...for the first time in a long time, I felt a spark. A glimmer. A shining beacon of hope that for the first time in a Michael Bay production, they were embracing the insanity of the source material and not on the annoyingly stupid humans. I quickly doused this hope with a bucket of hydrochloric acid, expecting something to go wrong. After going through the movie at long last: I actually had fun. It's not a great film by any means, but it was entertaining and I laughed, more than what I can say for the last movie. Without getting too deep, let's actually get to the movie.
A year after the events of the first movie, the Turtles are still hiding among the shadows when their archenemy, Shredder (Brian Tee), is finally convicted and is about to be thrown into jail for good alongside two small time criminals, Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (Stephen "Sheamus" Farelly). One thing goes wrong after another, and Shredder escapes with the aide of a "surprise only if you didn't see the trailers" villain, and the four brothers Leonardo (Pete Ploszek), Raphael (Alan Ritchson), Michelangelo (Noel Fisher), and Donatello (Jeremy Howard) begin their pursuit with April O'Neil (Megan Fox) and newcomer, instructor of Pain 101, Casey Jones (Stephen Amell). Oh, and Will Arnet is back, isn't voicing Lego Batman, and Tyler Perry is playing Baxter Stockman (who I can't stop calling the Nutty Professor in my head for some reason. Tell me I'm not the only one, please...).
As stated before, this movie does not have a good structure. It's clunky here and there, the pacing is accelerated at a break-neck pace, and the final battle (once again if you payed attention to the trailers), takes the Turtles to fighting a mechanical being on a high-rise, just the same as the last movie.
But throughout this film, I was entertained and having fun. Turning off your brain is an enjoyable experience. If you don't learn to turn it off every now and again, you'll just end up cynical and unable to enjoy the small things that matter. This movie is DECORATED and glorifying it's fanservice to fans of the original 80s cartoon. While I'm more familiar with the 2003 cartoon, I still rolled with the references and in-jokes. Hell, the movie pretty much won me over when the Turtles roll up in their super dumpster truck and the horn plays "Turtles in a Half Shell~" from the original theme song. You can't get dumber and cooler than that.
And unlike previous Michael Bay productions with adaptation movies, this time the Turtles have CHARACTER and develop. April O'Neil and the rest of the human cast take a back seat as supporting cast and nothing more, focusing on the brothers and their experiences throughout this film. The freaking TITLE CHARACTERS are the focus for once, and I'm grateful. Bebop and Rocksteady were pretty funny, and I was actually surprised as Sheamus was able to ACT outside of whatever the hell WWE has up their sleeve these days. They make a great combo as dumb lackeys and fit the original characters perfectly. The jokes were solid, the action was amazing and fun to look at, and hit the marks as an entertaining movie.
Back to the negatives, there's still some of Bay's trademarks that rear their ugly heads. Megan Fox played up for her sexiness (only for ONE scene, and a half point if you want to get VERY picky with a different scene), one fart joke, and a scene where Bebop and Rocksteady compare dick sizes. Bromances, man. Casey Jones was pretty much just reduced to being the "new guy to help audience understand things" role, but the blow is lessened if you just imagined this as a Casey Jones origin story (though I am pissed that he didn't once scream "GOONGALA"!). Shredder unfortunately was reduced to a backseat as well to the aforementioned "surprise" villain. I'm keeping him secret because unless you're familiar with the Turtle franchise, this character's introduction was key to the problem of "break-neck pacing". Shredder should've been the main focus. While this new villain is great service to the fans, they wasted Shredder after going through the trouble of re-casting him, showing his face, and also letting him have character. Brian Tee did amazingly well for what he was given.
The film is not great on a professional level, but as a fun and entertaining movie, it succeeds and does well as just a gigantic feast of fanservice. It's a great movie to pop in if you just want some fun and a good Turtles movie if you don't have the 1990 movie on hand. I give it a solid B+, and recommend to see it.
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| B+ |
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