Post by Rob W. Case on Aug 25, 2014 20:43:01 GMT -6
In yet another attempt to reboot another popular franchise, Hollywood has taken its aim towards Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The Story:
A gang with an overwhelming and controlling influence called the “Foot Clan,” is terrorizing the city of New York. This gang is headed by a leader who calls himself “the Shredder" (Tohoru Masamune). Meanwhile, a reporter by the name of April O’ Neill (Meghan Fox) is in hot pursuit of a story that can advance her ambition to move up the ranks in TV journalism. While investigating activity that involves the Foot Clan and some cargo over at the docks, the Clan comes face to face with some unusual opposition. While a fight erupts, April tries to record the exchange on her phone, but not much comes out of it. The challenger leaves behind a symbol. In trying to explain what she saw, April’s story is not heeded. As the Foot Clan is in the process of terrorizing a subway station, April, trying to take video again, encounters another conflict, but this time involving 4 unusual fighters which are….turtles. After she gets footage, the turtles pursue her to protect their discreetness.
After hearing the names of the turtles (who bears the names of 4 Italian Renaissance artists), and observing the symbol that represents them, it reminds her of her late father, who had worked on a science project involving a mutagen (made for the purpose of healing) when she was younger. The 4 turtles are now recognized by her as her “long lost pets,” which were part of her father’s experiment, which got mutated in the destruction of the lab that housed them, and took on human characteristics. When Splinter, (a mutated rat who learned the martial art of Ninjutsu and trained the turtles) gets word about April O’ Neill, he orders the turtles to bring her to the sewer to “fill her in” as to who they are, how they got there, and what their mission is.
The Shredder gets word about the experiment succeeding from Eric Sacks (William Fichtner), the lab partner who worked with April’s father, and together they pursue a plan that would bring the Shredder ultimate control. The Shredder & Sacks plan to release a deadly virus into the city, so that he can offer the mutagen as a cure and obtain control. To move forward with this plan, Shredder needs to stop the turtles (who are out to stop him) and extract the mutagen from their blood. In that, a fight breaks out which leads to the Shredder having the greater advantage, and from there the turtles must find a way to stay alive and still save the city from the his ultimate scheme.
This movie, I thought, wasn’t too bad, in that it was action packed and funny at times. However, in my opinion, it strongly felt that the movie was targeted more to teenagers, unlike recent superhero type movies (like X-Men for example) whose appeal can broaden into older age groups. In other words, the overall story, and the way the villains behaved at times were not, in my opinion, as dark and deep as the villains in, let’s say, Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, but you knew that they were the “bad guys”. In that, there was a sense of hokiness at times where it didn’t need to be. But what else can you expect from a Nickelodeon movie?
Out of 4 stars, I would have to give Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 stars.
The movie is rated PG-13 and runs 1 hour and 41 minutes.
To view a trailer for the film, please click below.
For more information on the film, visit:
www.teenagemutantninjaturtlesmovie.com/
The Story:
A gang with an overwhelming and controlling influence called the “Foot Clan,” is terrorizing the city of New York. This gang is headed by a leader who calls himself “the Shredder" (Tohoru Masamune). Meanwhile, a reporter by the name of April O’ Neill (Meghan Fox) is in hot pursuit of a story that can advance her ambition to move up the ranks in TV journalism. While investigating activity that involves the Foot Clan and some cargo over at the docks, the Clan comes face to face with some unusual opposition. While a fight erupts, April tries to record the exchange on her phone, but not much comes out of it. The challenger leaves behind a symbol. In trying to explain what she saw, April’s story is not heeded. As the Foot Clan is in the process of terrorizing a subway station, April, trying to take video again, encounters another conflict, but this time involving 4 unusual fighters which are….turtles. After she gets footage, the turtles pursue her to protect their discreetness.
After hearing the names of the turtles (who bears the names of 4 Italian Renaissance artists), and observing the symbol that represents them, it reminds her of her late father, who had worked on a science project involving a mutagen (made for the purpose of healing) when she was younger. The 4 turtles are now recognized by her as her “long lost pets,” which were part of her father’s experiment, which got mutated in the destruction of the lab that housed them, and took on human characteristics. When Splinter, (a mutated rat who learned the martial art of Ninjutsu and trained the turtles) gets word about April O’ Neill, he orders the turtles to bring her to the sewer to “fill her in” as to who they are, how they got there, and what their mission is.
The Shredder gets word about the experiment succeeding from Eric Sacks (William Fichtner), the lab partner who worked with April’s father, and together they pursue a plan that would bring the Shredder ultimate control. The Shredder & Sacks plan to release a deadly virus into the city, so that he can offer the mutagen as a cure and obtain control. To move forward with this plan, Shredder needs to stop the turtles (who are out to stop him) and extract the mutagen from their blood. In that, a fight breaks out which leads to the Shredder having the greater advantage, and from there the turtles must find a way to stay alive and still save the city from the his ultimate scheme.
This movie, I thought, wasn’t too bad, in that it was action packed and funny at times. However, in my opinion, it strongly felt that the movie was targeted more to teenagers, unlike recent superhero type movies (like X-Men for example) whose appeal can broaden into older age groups. In other words, the overall story, and the way the villains behaved at times were not, in my opinion, as dark and deep as the villains in, let’s say, Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, but you knew that they were the “bad guys”. In that, there was a sense of hokiness at times where it didn’t need to be. But what else can you expect from a Nickelodeon movie?
Out of 4 stars, I would have to give Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 stars.
The movie is rated PG-13 and runs 1 hour and 41 minutes.
To view a trailer for the film, please click below.
For more information on the film, visit:
www.teenagemutantninjaturtlesmovie.com/