Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows - A Missed Opportunity?
The second installment of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” reboot introduces beloved characters to the storyline but frustratingly skimps on the action sequences that fans crave.
The plot kicks off with Shredder (Brian Tee) being transported between prisons, only for his Foot Clan minions to orchestrate a daring escape. The Ninja Turtles intervene, and during the ensuing chase, Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry), Shredder’s “mad scientist,” accidentally teleports the villain to a parallel dimension. There, Shredder encounters the monstrous Krang, who has long coveted Earth. Krang promises Shredder shared power if he prepares the way for an invasion upon his return to New York City.
Meanwhile, police officer Casey Jones (Stephen Amell), who was involved in Shredder’s transport and “lost” not only the ninja but also two other prisoners, Bebop and Rocksteady, finds himself disbelieved when he recounts the teleportation and turtle sightings. Determined to uncover the truth, he sets out to investigate and track down the escapees himself.
While some Hollywood producers and directors strive to win over both critics and audiences, Michael Bay seems content with his blockbusters performing well at the box office while facing criticism from reviewers and film enthusiasts. The 2014 “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” film epitomized Bay’s approach. Dedicated fans voiced their outrage on YouTube, decrying how the Bay-produced film, directed by Jonathan Liebesman, betrayed their childhood memories of the 1980s animated series. Professional critics were equally unimpressed. However, the $125 million film grossed nearly $500 million, proving that nothing could hinder Bay’s path to lucrative paychecks. Naturally, Paramount and Nickelodeon quickly began developing a sequel.
The producers replaced several key actors for the sequel. For instance, Tohoru Masamune and Minae Noji played Shredder and Karai in the first film, while Brian Tee and Brittany Ishibashi took on those roles in the sequel.
To be fair, director Dave Green, who helmed the sequel, addressed some of the criticisms leveled at Liebesman’s film. Fans complained that the Foot Clan had been transformed from ninjas into thugs with machine guns? In “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” clan members wield swords and fight like martial arts masters. Viewers disliked the turtles’ unpleasant, almost frightening appearance? The heroes’ look was refined to make them more endearing. Audiences wanted to see not only the turtles, Splinter, Shredder, Karai, and April O’Neil but also other iconic characters from the franchise? “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” brought together the whole gang: Krang, Casey Jones, Bebop, Rocksteady, and Baxter Stockman, not just in a cameo but as a key character. Nostalgia galore!
Alessandra Ambrosio, a Brazilian supermodel, played Vern Fenwick’s girlfriend, April O’Neil’s former cameraman.
However, a Bay production wouldn’t be a Bay production if it didn’t continue to make missteps at a rapid pace. You complained about the altered origin story of the turtles? Here’s a distorted Casey Jones, who is now not a comical, unkempt semi-psychopath who imagines himself as a superhero but a handsome, hockey-loving police officer played by the television Superman from the “Arrow” series.
Amell’s Jones is so cool that when you see how deftly he wields a hockey stick against an entire platoon of Foot soldiers, you think, “Why does this film need turtles? Give Casey special pucks like Green Arrow’s special arrows, and New York can sleep soundly!” April O’Neil, by the way, thinks so too, because she immediately starts flirting with Jones. Who needs green mutants when there’s an attractive, inventive, humane, and friendly guy in the frame who is supposed to protect the city from villains? Although Amell in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” isn’t quite the same as in “Arrow,” his charm still steals the show and hinders the turtles rather than supporting them.
And that’s just the beginning. You wanted Krang? Krang appears in the film only twice – at the very beginning and at the very end, where he turns out to be the “final boss.” However, the genre requires that viewers know what the heroes’ opponent is capable of before the climactic battle. That’s why we saw Shredder fight several times in the first film. In the sequel, Shredder spends a lot of time on screen again (and without his helmet, which is a crime against the “Turtles” canon), but he drops out of the plot at the most crucial moment and leaves Krang alone to fight the turtles. It turns out to be “neither fish nor fowl” – Shredder loses the chance to avenge his past defeat, and the film doesn’t have time to properly introduce Krang.
At the same time, the battle with Krang turns out to be truncated – far less dramatic and spectacular than the battle with Shredder in the first film. Although, it would seem, Michael Bay’s protégé should know a thing or two about grandiose finales. By the way, if you think that the heroes deal with an entire army of his minions before the fight with Krang, then think again – the villain invades alone.
In general, there is surprisingly little confrontational action (that is, fragments where the heroes fight the villains, and not just try to get quickly from point A to point B) in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” although the film lasts almost two hours. Thus, the title characters seem to have only two and a half significant battle scenes – a road chase with a demonstration of the Turtle Van at the beginning of the film, the final battle, and a “half” – a chaotic clash with Bebop and Rocksteady in the middle of the film, which ends as soon as it begins. But films about teenage mutant ninja turtles, in theory, should focus on how the heroes kick ass, not on how they jump from great heights and ride through the sewers. Moreover, viewers understand that computer characters won’t die even if they jump out of a plane without a parachute. If these were real actors, it would be a different story.
At least, Green’s film should please fans of Bebop and Rocksteady, who, as in the animated series, are very big, very strong, very stupid, and quite funny (if you like jokes for junior high school students). Also, there are a lot of them in the frame, and they have a tank. But still, these are secondary characters, and they should have been the cherry on the cake, not the only edible dish in the whole film.