Hey there turtle-fans! Today I am going to address something very close to your hearts. I know it’s close to your hearts because I’ve heard you bashing it for months now; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the movie. Now I’ve heard your complaints that Micheal Bay is going to ruin it with his “Alien Turtles” and that Megan Fox’s perpetual duck face doesn’t fit the red headed reporter we have come to know and love. The thing is, you are getting another TMNT movie, with a great budget, and worthwhile actors. So I’m putting my faith in you that you want to see your heroes in a half shell stealthily take to the silver screen this August.
Without further adieu, the trailer!
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Now the first thing to notice is the very “Bayish” city. Kind of gritty, plagued by crime and what looks like terrorism. The whole place is given a desperate feel with just a few shots of explosions and helicopters patrolling the city. We see a lot of men marching around in tactical gear and guns, and even what might be a squad of the Foot Clan moving through the sewers.
The narrator claims to be in the hero creating business, and is actually monolouging to April O’Neil, which we all know is played by Megan Fox. At first glance, I thought perhaps the man was Baxter Stockman or even a new incarnation of Professor Jordan Perry from the second movie in the original trilogy. Turns out that William Fichtner is actually playing the Shredder, which seems to confirm the foot presence, and adds a little more meaning to the clip of him staring at the serrated facemask we’ve all come to associate with the evil ninja master.
Now, our turtles have always been lean green fighting machines, but judging by the smackdown we see April recording, (you know, the one where gun toting bad guys are sailing into walls and ceilings like superman had some time to kill?) our heroes pack a way more serious punch then we’ve ever seen before.
We now know that the TGRI ooze makes an appearance, seemingly shooting the alien rumor in the foot, but fans of the comic know that the ooze is of alien origin anyway, so feel free to cling to that rage if you want to.
Finally, Leonardo is our first glimpse of one of our beloved brothers. Damn, did they make these turtles intimidating. It was hard to imagine them looking like this after seeing shots of the filming where the actors were wearing those enormous black motion capture shells, but they certainly pulled it off.
For those of you wondering if the action as going to be high throttle, I feel like I should be shaking you wildly and screaming “Micheal Bay doesn’t DO anything else!” Since it’s the internet and I like having readers, my assault will have to wait, as I point you towards the segment of the trailer showing at least three of the turtles sliding down a snow covered mountain side. High speed, acrobatic, and judging by the amount of damage Raphael does to the side of that truck, the action won’t be lacking in any way.
Now, my main worry was the balance for comedy. The ninja turtles have always been a beacon for action-packed fun; full of one liners, bad jokes, and teenage hijinks. With a darker, more gritty, movie, I knew some of that was going to hit the wayside. I was relieved to see that, at least Michelangelo, is still intact and funny. Lets just hope that Micheal Bay has learned from his mistakes with the twins from Transformers 2, and will keep things a little more reigned in.
meh. looks very michael bay.