Rob V

I look forward to your spamming the forum... and subsequent ban.

Giles

^

TheMovieman

Me either.

Anyway, just watched it. It's like any other Bay production, lots of CGI which leads to no real danger. It's one of the (many) problems I had with the Star Wars prequels. I don't expect much from a plot involving fighting and talking turtles, but this one was half-assed not to mention shoehorning April into the Turtles' origin.

I can't say I hated this movie unlike Transformers: Age of Extinction but it's not good and utterly forgettable.

*¾/****, (D-, 3.4/10, 1.25/4)

RocShemp

I enjoyed it because of the Turtles themselves. They were spot on. Will Arnett was funny as Vern. I also really liked the fight choreography.

My issues stem from it being obvious that Sacks was meant to be Shredder and little effort was made to alter that. In fact, they made it worse. Splinter having intimate knowledge that Sacks is a bad guy in this continuity makes sense. It also makes sense that Splinter would speak to Shredder with such familiarity if Sacks is Shredder. But in the finished cut of the movie, there's no way for Splinter to know Sacks is in league with Shredder. And Splinter should not know that Shredder had adopted Sacks when the latter was a recently orphaned boy.

Another problem is April. Everyone shits on Megan Fox but she wasn't the problem. The problem is that April is written like Carrie Mathison from Homeland (just look at any scene when she's trying to explain herself, especially her second scene with Whoopie Goldberg). And it also seems April wanted to get herself fired since she never bother to show her boss the pictures of the turtles that she later showed Sacks.

Overall, I enjoyed it but it's a 3/5 for me.

Solid Snake

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/KueEWP91tWc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Troy Stiffler

"You've Made A Huge Mistake". I lol'd.

Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang would be awesome.

Solid Snake

I think this film is rather amazing in that Liebesman really really embodied everything that Bay is in his films.

RocShemp

Even I had to laugh at the Iron Throne joke.

fumanstan

I'm impressed that RocShemp enjoyed this with a 3/5 and disliked Guardians.

Mike86

Yeah what the fuck? This is a total piece of shit especially compared to Guardians of the Galaxy which is one of the most fun films I've seen in a long time. I can't believe I initially even gave this a 2 out of 5, that's being way too generous. I revise my rating to more like a 0.5 out of 5.

RocShemp

The turtles themselves entertained me, despite all the issues with the flick and the action sequences were fun. GotG left me with a blank expression on my face and the only thing about it that I liked were the song selections.

Mike86

Guardians of the Galaxy at least had a story. This film I could barely even tell you what the plot was because it was pretty much non-existant. Which I know some people probably will chalk up to this being a film geared more at kids, but even so a shitty story is a shitty story. The Turtles themselves did seem like the Turtles, but it also felt like the film was just putting them through the motions and I honestly felt no attachment to any of them as characters within this film but only because of my nostalgia for the characters.

RocShemp

How you felt about TMNT is how I felt about GotG, except that I had no nostalgia to help make GotG bearable. The lead villain in GotG made the villain of T:TDW (that Dark Elf guy) seem deep nuanced and menacing by contrast. And I didn't buy for an instant how the characters in GotG suddenly bonded for no other reason than the script said they did. And all this I could ignore (to a point) if there was some great (or at least good) action but it was all bland and pedestrian. And what was worse were the hollow attempts at drama (which TMNT was also guilty) such as when Rocket was mourning the demise of that Nova Corps guy that he really didn't even know or give a shit about until he died.

TMNT has scores of weaknesses but at least it was a pleasant time waster and had the decency to last less than two hours.

Solid Snake

GotG also loved to call itself out when it was getting to BS trope territory. Rather bold for a big studio film to do that nowadays. It did a lot of stuff right while also being very true to the filmmaker's style and maintaining the stylistic unity of all these films. Which is great but also can be bad at times.

I probably like TMNT more than GotG in terms of nostalgia, as properties. I've no nostalgia for the latter though do love the team cuz I was there for it. TMNT has nostalgia for me but it is a very weird property. It is always different in tones and looks but always the same to a point. To me, TMNT did so much wrong as an item to be fed to a mass audience. Which has a lot to do w/ Bay...uh... Bayisms. At least Gunn, tries to do something different. Liebesman is just a director following the production needs wanted.

Draven

I enjoyed both TMNT and Guardians. As much of a fan as I am of the original movie (I'm watching it with my kids right now as a matter of fact), it was more fun seeing the Turtles kicking some legitimate ass. The fact that they were so massive was actually really neat and brought the harder hits that they always had in the comics. The downhill snow chase is particularly cool.

Overall, it worked for me.

RocShemp

Yeah, I loved that sequence in the snow. And I really liked the fights. They said they were inspired by The Raid and Fist of Legend and it shows. Not in length but in how fast and hard they were hitting everyone.

fumanstan

I had plenty of nostalgia for Ninja Turtles, both the old cartoon and the original movies, but this movie just shit all over it. As much as I do like the idea of watching the Turtles fight more realistically in a live action movie, the rest of the movie was dumb as bricks. Don't get me wrong, i'm not even one of those people who rave that GotG was the best Marvel movie ever or anything, but i'm genuinely surprised at the contrasting reaction since I can treat GotG as just a fairly basic and fun action movie (albeit a little dull, sans for Rocket/Groot) while the characters and plot in this bothered and annoyed me far more.

RocShemp

<iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/gbk7g7ayCQI.x?p=1" width="720" height="433" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#gbk7g7ayCQI" style="display:none"></embed>

Solid Snake

ooooof. 35 minutes. I don't think I have the time for that.

RocShemp

Early April Fools? It's okay casting but I think they should have gone with Christopher Meloni.

Mike86

That review by the Nostalgia Critic and the Angry Video Game Nerd was pretty funny and well thought out. I'll admit that they did make a good point about the film at the end in that we shouldn't judge too harshly as the original series that many of us loved so much was largely based on toys and stuff and that there will always be various versions of the Turtles with some cringeworthy stuff not everyone will like. Still doesn't change the fact that I thought the film was a piece of shit though.

RocShemp

Which was also their final conclusion as well.

But I did like how balanced they were in regards to what worked, what could have worked (had they not changed it at the last minute), and what flat-out doesn't work.

Hopefully the sequel amps up the good and downplays the bad.

Mike86

Yeah I actually really like reviews that James Rolfe (the Angry Video Game Nerd) does when he's not in character to be honest. He tends to have a pretty balanced way of looking at things and doesn't always necessarily tear films apart even if they aren't the best. He's funny in character too but I enjoy just watching his regular videos almost more at times. I don't watch the Nostalgia Critic that often but I am familiar with him a bit.

Solid Snake

<iframe width="660" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lIMr7tOLdk0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Troy Stiffler

This is on Netflix now.