Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

Going into this movie, I knew I wasn't going to get anything special but it was actually painful to watch this movie. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows" is one of the worse movies I have seen since I started blogging. This is coming from a guy who grew up a huge fan of the original animated television show from 1987. It is obvious that this sequel is more similar to the TV show than its 2014 reboot predecessor was. I am sure this was done to appeal to men my age who used to be kids watching the Ninja Turtles on Saturday Mornings. "Batman and Robin" proved however that it wasn't a good idea to be too cartoony in live action film. There are so many things that were wrong with "Out of the Shadows" that it would be just easier to say "Don't see this movie." You know a movie is bad when it is not even worth reading or writing about. Despite this, I will mention the most upsetting problems in order to substantiate my claim.

One problem story-wise was that too many supporting characters were forced into this sequel and in many cases, they don't contribute to the story. For example, the film has a total of six villainous characters, four of which are new. That is a lot of new characters on the evil side of the plot. Bebop and Rocksteady were not in 1991's "The Secret of the Ooze" by the way because the original creators of the comics were against it. These sidekicks finally get their big screen debut but do so by means of horrible CGI. Not only that, the filmmakers once again failed with portraying Shredder for this new franchise. It is noteworthy that you can see his eyes, let alone his whole face, for the majority of the film unlilke two years ago but he is still one-dimensional. He also doesn't even fight in this film. Another story problem that is common with comic book movies is not honoring the source material. It is true that the filmmakers on this sequel were paying homage to the animated TV series from 1987 but Casey Jones in this 2016 sequel is nothing like what we are used to (The same mistake was made on the first movie in the portrayal of April). When I think of Casey Jones, I think of a longhaired, rough-around-the-edges human crime fighter who is a little handsome and uses equipment from variety of sports. Stephen Amell is a pretty boy with a short haircut and only likes hockey. It's no wonder that April immediately takes a shine to him. Casey needed to be more bad boy but instead is introduced as a corrections officer. He also seemed unnecessary because Vern was already in the movie acting as April's male sidekick. All of the new characters did not work and the new science fiction characters were badly designed. The script was a mess of one-liners that make you cringe and poor exposition. Even the first film felt better written. The story of the sequel did have potential because there were dramatic subplots that if given enough attention, could have saved this movie. The Turtles are faced with issues such as becoming human and learning to work as a team. Speaking metaphorically, the filmmakers decided to make some cookies but failed to measure the ingredients and then failed to mix them before cooking. These subplots that had dramatic potential felt out of place because they were not the focus of the script. What made the original film from two years ago tolerable was its origin story. There was also no balance in the amount of jokes featured in "Out of the Shadows". I did laugh a few times but a knock-knock joke book can produce the same result. What's more sad is that the film kept repeating facts and plot points that had been already verbalized. Yet another flaw the filmmakers failed to learn the first time was how to avoid obvious product placement.

I think what bothered me the most about "Out of the Shadows" was how phony it all felt. I know that doesn't make sense considering this movie is about four giant turtles fighting an alien brain, giant warthog and anthropomorphic rhino but the most successful comic book films keep plausibility in mind. Smart filmmakers want you to believe that classic heroes, who originated from the comic books, can exist in our world. After you create a film universe reminiscent of our own, everything that happens in the film must feel plausible within that established universe. Even the 2014 Turtles movie failed to do this so I don't see why the studio thought that going even more unrealistic was a better idea. The CGI throughout the film was cartoony when compared to live action elements. Even though the first film was far from what you call realistic, the introduction of inter-dimensional characters really felt out of place in this franchise. Just as the first movie ripped off the ending to "The Amazing Spider-Man", "Out of the Shadows" took an obvious page out of the Avengers' storybook as an alien threat comes through a portal above New York City. One might ask how "The Avengers" seemed more plausible on screen and I think an important reason among so many is that "The Avengers" was the sixth film in a franchise. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, over the course of five films, was able to blend the fantasy of “Thor” with the high tech but realistic environment introduced in “Iron Man”. Speaking of high tech, the tools that Donatello and Baxter Stockman have at their disposal seem light years ahead of what the rest of the city uses. This really bothered me in scenes where the human protagonists hack computers or steal digital information. It seems too easy and also unnecessary when compared to what Donny can do in the sewers with his gear. An argument could be made that Tony Stark also seems to hack too easily into other systems but Iron Man doesn't use flash drives. Instead, he uses means that are more impressive but at the same fit alongside other forms of tech seen in the movie. In the case of "Independence Day", there is only one moment of true implausibility when David is able to link up with the alien mother ship and plant the computer virus. Because of the direction and entertaining storytelling going on in that movie, we didn't catch this flaw at first. After discovering it upon multiple viewings, we hate to focus on it because otherwise we ruin something that is still a lot of fun to watch. With the case of "Out of the Shadows" however, you can't spoil a garbage dump by adding more trash. The end of the movie is awful mostly because one bad guy betrays his fellow bad guy and then a third bad guy betrays the first backstabber. Another comparison with the last movie is that our heroes once again get an easy win in this sequel. Vern, April and Casey easily defeat Karai and the Turtles easily send the Technodrome back to Dimension X.

There was a change in the director from the 2014 film and that didn't help. A lot of recasting of returning characters and changes to the initial casting choices for new characters appear to have occurred. This was the case for Leonardo, Shredder, Krang, Karai and Baxter Stockman. There are a few familiar names in this film. I first saw Laura Linney in "The Truman Show" and Brad Garrett's vocal performance was enough that I couldn't fully recognize him as Krang. I enjoy Gary Anthony Williams more on "Whose Line is it Anyways?" as opposed to voicing a oversized warthog though. I wish I would have known to look out for Judith Hoag's cameo (she was April in the 1990 live action film) Remember, the criticisms I have articulated are only a few of the many, many glitches in this movie. To sum it all up, translating a cartoon directly into live action hardly ever works. This movie thankfully hasn't ruined my love for the Ninja Turtles because I never have to see "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows" again. It will just be a bad memory.

1.5 Stars