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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) | OT | Hey Dude, This Is NO Cartoon

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Prologue

Member
I loved this movie. Now, I should say that the only ninja turtles media that i have been exposed to was that one 2d game over a decade ago. Just a good ride and I'm glad newer generations can be introduced to these characters.

Loved Splinter. He as my Yoda.
 
i still haven't made it to see this. i've just been so damn busy between work and this side-project i'm doing. i'm definitely going to see this before the weekend is over. may even try to catch a matinee one day this week. i'm excited to see it.
 

Timu

Member
As a TMNT fan who watched the shows, movies, played games and such, I find this to be a bland movie besides some action here and there. This is easily one of my least fav movies of the year, but it's better than Transformers so that's something.
Saw the movie, thought it SUCKED.

no, that's a bit harsh. I thought it was something good to watch if you are utterly bored and you have seen everything and there is nothing else to do.

I am usually not harsh on movies, but as a kid, ninja turtles was my thing. I remember running into an old elementary school classmate and she was telling me how me and this other kid in class use to just talk about ninja turtles all the time.

So I go to see this expecting the worst (and usually when this happens, I am pleasantly surprised, but not this time) and I leave feeling neither satisfied nor disappointed.

I was just confused I guess.....yea, I guess thats the best way to describe how I FELT about the movie. I was confused about what to FEEL. I rarely feel like that about a movie.

Things I liked

- The action - action was great. Some of the scenes were just ridiculous fun.
- Megan Fox - I dont know what it is about this woman but she is just to beautiful. I know some of it apparently is plastic surgery but damn, she is just captivating to look at, at least for me. I thought her acting was passable to, maybe because I was feeling that THIRST.
- Shredder - I thought the guy they got to play Shredder and the way they portrayed was on point. It felt like they treated this character with respect as opposed to ALL THE OTHER CHARACTERS, though his biggest problem is he has no REAL motivations except, "I'm a bad Guy"
- Splinter - As a character, they got him right. With that said, i dont think it's hard to get splinter right.

Things I hated/disliked

- Splinter- He looked fucking terrible. Who greenlit this? That shit was just terrible looking. Could they not make him look more appealing?
- Ninja Turtles looks - Im sorry, I thought I would be able to get use to how they looked but they still looked like shit.
-The NInja turtles personalities - They never give you a chance to have an affinity towards each turtle and find a fondess to each one and the difference between them. They show you the differences but its not done the right way. which leads to my next 2 points...
- Character development - entirely rushed with basically NONE of this whatsoever. So you never get a feel for the characters or get a true understanding of them
- Pacing - Terrible Terrible Rushed pacing. It's basically just Wam Bam Thank you Mam. Which is good for an action movie where the characters dont matter I guess. But for something like Ninja Turtles, pacing is very important imo and I think this is the biggest problem with the movie.
- Will Arnett - Everything he did in the movie felt forced and unnatural. I love Will Arnett, and I dont particularly blame him for the failure of his role. More to the director/writing.
- Comedic Beats - this ties back to the pacing of the movie, but NONE of the jokes which I could tell were intended to be jokes worked for myself or the audience I was with and it was because of the pacing and comedic beats. Comedy is timing, and the timing of everything was just OFF. The only joke that worked was the Elevator rap scene. Thats IT. (and that was well done).
- Directing and Writing - obviously all of the above can be attributed to these 2 things.


Listen, I went in and turned my brain off hoping that would help me enjoy this film, and it did during the action scenes. but I couldnt help but see how terrible of a product this was. Maybe cause I was secretly expecting to be blown away as a old time fan.

I guess the best way to describe the film is it's just a really Empty, Soulless and Shallow film.
Everything you said is spot on, definitely about Megan Fox and the hated/disliked section.
 

BDGAME

Member
Finally I watched it. Its has a weak plot, with very good action scenes and the turtles are amazing.

They say April ruined the film, but its not her fault. The plot is the weak "beginning story" that turtles ever have. At least they maintain the oozy and the bond of turtles.

Speaking of the turtles, they are a show here. The characters are perfect, Donny is Donny, Raph is cool but rude and etc...

This film has good jokes and references, the action scenes are top notch and its has everything needed to be considered a good action movie.

I can't wait to the sequel. I hope they put Krang on it.
 

Ecto311

Member
Seen it yesterday at the cheap theater. I really liked it but forgot about it today. Guardians stuck with me and was a lot better in my mind. The action in this though was better because it was not the normal Marvel type. Insane action but goddamn how splinter learns ninja shit is retarded compared to the first movie in the 80's. Good as a TMNT fan for the action and the look of the turtles was really bad to me at first but after this movie it grew on me more than I thought it would. Also Vern sucked in this movie also - all his shit felt forced like he did all his stuff in a single day of filming.
 

Ithil

Member
So was there like 40 minutes missing from this film or something?
As I expected, the writing and acting were poor (Megan Fox in particular is just a bad actress and she carries much of the film), but the pacing was like the film was on fast forward.
We start with an exposition dump, then April is tailing the Foot, then she's met the Turtles, then she's in the Turtles lair and also the Turtles' lair is attacked immediately, and then we find the villains' evil plan, then it's time for the modern action climax, and then Splinter is fine and the movie is over.

There is no development of anyone, including the Turtles and especially the Shredder or April, it flies by in the blink of an eye. Was there a huge amount cut from the film or was the script just short?
The action and special effects are good, even if the Turtle and Splinter designs are bad, their actual effects aren't. The Turtles being such huge powerhoues makes them sort of impressive, but also means they sort of breeze through every fight scene as invincible juggernauts. But it's all so brief and weirdly paced, and what is there isn't well written or acted (and the villains' evil plan makes NO sense) that it's really all just not very good.

Swing and a miss.
 
So was there like 40 minutes missing from this film or something?
As I expected, the writing and acting were poor (Megan Fox in particular is just a bad actress and she carries much of the film), but the pacing was like the film was on fast forward.
We start with an exposition dump, then April is tailing the Foot, then she's met the Turtles, then she's in the Turtles lair and also the Turtles' lair is attacked immediately, and then we find the villains' evil plan, then it's time for the modern action climax, and then Splinter is fine and the movie is over.

There is no development of anyone, including the Turtles and especially the Shredder or April, it flies by in the blink of an eye. Was there a huge amount cut from the film or was the script just short?
The action and special effects are good, even if the Turtle and Splinter designs are bad, their actual effects aren't. The Turtles being such huge powerhoues makes them sort of impressive, but also means they sort of breeze through every fight scene as invincible juggernauts. But it's all so brief and weirdly paced, and what is there isn't well written or acted (and the villains' evil plan makes NO sense) that it's really all just not very good.

Swing and a miss.

Definitely. The original leaked script and ideas were a clusterfuck. Shredder wasn't even Japanese.
 

Van Owen

Banned
I can't believe how bad this is. Splinter learned ninjitsu from a BOOK and then taught it to the turtles? Seriously?

The voices are also awful. Fucking Johnny Knoxville is the noble leader and Monk is the wise sage rat. Jesus Christ.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
I watched this very recently, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was constantly wondering what 10-year-old me would think of this movie, I think I'd like it quite a bit. It's easy to point out the flaws and overall the movie is mediocre at best, but I realised pretty early into the movie I'm not the target audience [anymore].

However, Michaelangelo and Will Arnett endlessly horndogging Megan Fox was deeply disturbing and made me feel very uncomfortable.
 

wetwired

Member
watched this last week, I'd honestly take a transformers movie over this, so bad.

Completely butchered Splinter (who was a complete prick) a Shredder (who just seemed like the main guy's lacky transformer)

The whole climax made no logical sense I don't even know where to start.

My "favourite" part was when shit started falling off the building a cop says something like "we've got a 1030, debris falling from the building" then 100 swat guys show up in response...what?
 
I'm going to be honest, this movie and the franchise in general has potential. The action during the snow scene was pretty damn good, I also enjoyed the shredder fights. The dialog and story were meh, and Knoxville stood out like a sore thumb. The turtles were themselves, though. The personalities were all super on point. The origin was dumb. 2/5, would watch the sequel.
 
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