Official 2014 Review Thread

[Galactus]

This isn't really to do with the movie's content but every so often I stumble upon interviews that were done to promote the movie that I've never read and I have to say this is probably my favorite quote from one of the creators involved in this movie that I had to post it somewhere...

I think the movie gets a lot of **** when people say, "Oh, I can't believe that happened. Oh, that's convenient." No. We did our research. We did what you fans wanted us to do and went and looked through every ****in' creation story and picked what we thought was really great in some of them. With the permission of the creator.

Hey we all remember that comic series were April rescued the baby turtles in Splinter from a lab and then dumps them down a sewer grid. My favorite comic series is the one were Splinter learns ninjitsu from a book.

[Xiewin]

thank god Jonathan Liebesman is gone, his unprofessional attitude toward fans put him in the same lead as Uwe Boll and Michael Bay in my book.

Seriously, the guy is such a hack.

[TrickOrTreater]

Originally Posted by Galactus

This isn't really to do with the movie's content but every so often I stumble upon interviews that were done to promote the movie that I've never read and I have to say this is probably my favorite quote from one of the creators involved in this movie that I had to post it somewhere...



Hey we all remember that comic series were April rescued the baby turtles in Splinter from a lab and then dumps them down a sewer grid. My favorite comic series is the one were Splinter learns ninjitsu from a book.

Wow. F*ck that guy.

[IndigoErth]

Re..research? Did what us fans wanted them to do?

Haaaahahahaha! No really, what's the punchline?



There is good research and then there is bad research. This many months later, which do you guys think you did.

Hint: It wasn't the good kind.

Spoiler:

If it was, you wouldn't have randomly grabbed Knoxville and thought "Gee, upstanding, noble boyscout Leo is a great fit!," and without requiring Knoxville to research/know about him either and just "played a big hillbilly," as stated by him. I kind of resent that still.

Edit: And honestly, with fan sites like this filled to the brim with every possible TMNT topic of discussion and debate, that wealth of information online to get an idea of what fans like most and least... there is no excuse for pulling some wackjob origin out of your butt and claiming to do what fans wanted.

Originally Posted by ernesth100

I guess they feel sorry for the turtles.

Pretty much where I'm at at this point. Differences from the norm aside, at this point I'd be somewhat ok with seeing more of this group, if only they could be put into different hands in terms of the writing, directing (✓check - please be good...), and producing.

[Galactus]

To be absolutely fair I imagine it's hard keeping civil when you're getting a constant stream of criticism. That's before taking into account the possibility that most of the creative decisions that people are "hating" on may not necessarily be yours but that of a certain producer or production company. If so then sadly I think that will be the case for whoever directs next.

It is very clear that I don't think anyone did anything more than skim through the material. I think in another interview Form claimed that April naming the turtles comes from the original Eastman and Laird comics.

There is quite a lot from various versions in there. If you squint Shredder's armor kinda looks like the '03 version were he used a mech suit but completely missed the point that it's supposed to fool people into thinking it's real armor. Similarly out of armor Shredder looks a lot like Oroku Saki from the new show but they missed the point that the appeal of that version is that he's the one probably most steeped in the Yoshi rivalry back story.

I think their other assertions that they just looked at still images to be closer to the mark. I wish they'd been honest about this - that they were pulling minor visual cues from previous iterations but it was all new. I think we'd still hate it but at least it would be honest. As it stands anyone who knew better but fell for that load of bunk must feel jipped.

[TurtleTitan97]

Originally Posted by Galactus

This isn't really to do with the movie's content but every so often I stumble upon interviews that were done to promote the movie that I've never read and I have to say this is probably my favorite quote from one of the creators involved in this movie that I had to post it somewhere...



Hey we all remember that comic series were April rescued the baby turtles in Splinter from a lab and then dumps them down a sewer grid. My favorite comic series is the one were Splinter learns ninjitsu from a book.

Oh my gosh, that's hilarious!

Just goes to show these guys are a bunch of complete morons.

[Xav]

Here's the review from Half in the Bag starts around the 14:00 mark.

[judasghost]

I finally watched the DVD that my wife gave me for Christmas. I had to watch in in spurts as my daughter was very awake and very in my face some of the time.

The following is my initial reaction to the movie...

I laughed only one time when Raph zips by in the snow in front of Mikey. The quick entrance/insult/exit was just perfect.

They all look terrible, but Donnie's appearance is extra horrible, and his voice makes me shudder. Splinter's design makes the turtles look bearable.

Worst version of the story. I don't like that Sacks guy, or how Vernon was a useless love interest character that I didn't care about. Heck, I didn't care about ANY of these versions of characters..

I DID love the Shredder armor. It reminded me of what we should have gotten out of Super Shredder in TMNT II SotO.

As an action movie, it's a mediocre "6" on a scale from 1 to 10.
As a turtle film, I would give it a "2".

[shuriken]

^^ Fair enough. Splinter was especially hideous while the turtles' designs were just busy busy busy.

[Autbot_Benz]

did this really need its own thread. you could have posted this in the Review section at the top of the page.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

did this really need its own thread. you could have posted this in the Review section at the top of the page.

While I agree, the irony of your signature is far from lost on me.

[IndigoErth]

I still swear this Splinter must be suffering from a case of mange. Someone get him treated before he's edited into the next film.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by Xiewin

thank god Jonathan Liebesman is gone, his unprofessional attitude toward fans put him in the same lead as Uwe Boll and Michael Bay in my book.

Seriously, the guy is such a hack.

Even if he is gone, will they make any new improvements for the sequel? It could potentially get worse.

[Mew]

Do you think the best part of going to see BayTurtles 2 will be playing Turtles in Time at the little arcade section in my movie theater?

[GiveMeBackMyRaphXLeo]

i don't buy this movie, the customs look so fake n the turtles looks clumsy n no facial expression, i don't understand whats the selling point in it...

[TurtleMikey]

I enjoyed the movie for what it was. Overall, its just a decent take. There are far worse iterations, but there are far better also.

Part me of wishes they had kept to original script. Because, despite featuring a terrible plot twist (which could've easily been deleted) was a great Turtles script. It had awesome action sequences, and great scenes between the four brothers. Also, with the exception of Schrader, the villains (Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady) were handled well.

Luckily, the charm and the humor those Turtles remained, and the turtles we the best part of the new movie (despite not being the main focus).

I'm glad the original writers are back for TMNT2, and I hope they and Bay learn from their mistakes and give us a more straightforward incarnation.

TMNT 2014 gets a 6/10.

Oh, and this movie totally proved everyone who said bay style humor wouldn't work for the turtles, when it was pretty much a perfect fit.

[Sarigar]

Okay...so I finally checked out the 2014 Ninja Turtles film after much trepidation. I avoided it like the plague in the theaters, didn’t bother to buy it when it was released on DVD or even rent it for a buck at Redbox. It was only after I ran across a copy in my local library, that I said, “Hey, what the hell. They may get my time, but not my money.” I was dreading this experience, having heard nothing but crap about it from friends and the online TMNT and movies sites in general. Being appalled at the design-choice to the turtles (Shrek?). Shaking my head when I saw what a simple tweak by a fan fixed the design giving them back their classic look..Only to being dismayed seeing that what we saw in the previews was what was really going on screen.

I am a life-long Turtles fan, going back to the original B&W Mirage issues. Remembering back to the days of seeing an issues #3 and 4 of on the shelves of my local comic shop and being blown away by such a bizarre concept taken seriously. Requesting issues #1 and 2, only to be told how much they were going for and to move along. Jumping to years of collecting nothing but independents (due to the influence of TMNT), ignoring DC/Marvel, looking for the next comic to replicate that feeling of discovery. Being excited, but dumbfounded when a Playmates ad appeared in a comic showing the toys...with different colored headbands and letters on their belts? That pissed me off at first, but I got used to it. Making it through the first 5 episodes of the Fred Wolf cartoon and really just calling it good on that whole thing. The comics were ore in my wheelhouse. The toons were a little to silly for me.

Loving the 1990 movie when it came out, hating Danny, loving Casey and April’s portrayal. The attack on the antique shop. The trip to the farm. The campfire scene. April’s voice over when sketching the turtles. Digging Splinter’s look and voice. Laughing at Shredder’s comically big wicker-basket helmet and stupid death scene. After the movie I really just remember tuning out of Turtles media blitz by the time Vanilla Ice was infecting the silver screen. Didn’t see TMNT 2 or 3 until years later on VHS. I was much more forgiving to these films then I would have been had I saw them upon original release.

With the Turtles I always feel like one of those music fans who discovered a group before they made it big. Success changes things. The sound changes. The band eventually “sells out”. They no longer “belong” to you. Obviously for the Turtles this was a very short window of time from initial success to conquering the world. They belong to everyone now. They’ve survived countless interpretations and bastardizations from Fred Wolf to The Next Mutation.

Flash Forward to news that Michael Bay is producing a new TMNT film and they are going to be aliens! WTF!!! I scream bloody murder like all the fans. Then comes 2014 and I see a pic of Mikey/Lego looking like Shrek and I just flip the hell out. What have they done?!! Okay, calm down...some fan has run the pics through Photoshop and made them look decent. Maybe the producers will take notice? No such look. The ship has sailed and they are going to look like this. Aliens or not, we are doomed.

So I secretly hope for the film to die a quick death….but it doesn’t. It’s making money. This thing is going to get a sequel, and today, that means a guaranteed threequel, because everything has to be at least a trilogy for, god forbid, a trilogy PLUS one, with the final film split up into two parts. That means we’ve got at least half a dozen more years of this warped version of the Turtles dominant the box office. The whole prospect is depressing….

Months pass and I finally put the DVD in...the soundtrack starts….it just sounds so wrong...too “Superhero” too “Americana” I fully expect Keith David’s booming voice for those Navy commercials to start up. “America’s TURTLES. A Global Force...For Good!" That or Optimus Prime to pipe up about how it’s been working with N.E.S.T., ratting out Decepticons around the world.

The animation starts and I hear Tony Shaloub’s rat-like voice spinning some yarn about how the Shredder and the Foot (So called because yada-yada) have already taken over the city...and the turtles will stop him..but not yet...oh no, not yet. Okay, so what’s your big f’ng plan then rat?!

Cut to Megan Fox on the docks, and I’m just transfixed by her face. I’m trying to figure out why she would get plastic surgery to look even more uptight than she already does. Her face doesn’t look the same right? I decide I’m being mean and just let the film play out. I feel sorry for April and how bad she was treated when she called Mr. Bay a Hitler and I’m along for the ride.

At the film’s end I’m shocked by quite a few things. The foremost thought in my mind is how did Nickelodeon allow the filmmakers to F up the Turtle’s origin so badly, let along their design? Their origin is so simple and poetic. Where is the Shredder/Splinter backstory/rivalry that drives every interpretation? Who the F is Eric Sachs, and why should I care? Nick had to have known what was in the script and APPROVED it, but why? I’m reminded of when the 1998 Tristar Godzilla film came out and the filmmakers were bragging how for years TOHO wouldn’t let anyone in America touch Godzilla, but when they saw that their design and take on Godzilla was going to be sooo different, that they approved it. The logic being, I guess, the two versions could exist side-by-side, and neither one would be deemed better than the other? Is this what happened here? Was Nick afraid the Movie would overshadow the cartoon? I don’t get it. Nick must have signed off on the early switch to their alien origin, the whole Erick Sachs as Shredder thing, the turtles as April’s pets, etc, and only relented on a few course corrections when fan outrage was so big.

The other thing that shocked me was that beyond all of my fan outrage and the filmmakers F’ups, my love for the Turtles made me appreciate parts of the movie and HOPE beyond HOPE that the sequel fixes a lot of the mistakes of the first film. Call me crazy, but I really don’t want a reboot. There is a lot here to work with. Much of what they messed up can be fixed with good writing/retconning. So far, they’ve done more to make fans happy than anything they did on the first. We are getting Casey/Stockman/Rocksteady/Bebop/Hoag. Perhaps they are listening.

One simple fix for me is as follows...Hamato Yoshi flees Japan...gets an apartment in NY and takes on a stray rat for a pet...who watches him and learns martial arts from him...Shredder follows and sends foot soldiers to attack and kill Yoshi..His rat escapes….only to be picked up in the apartment hallway by Baxter Stockman, who had been told by his boss to restock (get it?) the lab with new test subjects. On the way back to the lab he buys 4 turtles from a pet shop or steals them from a kid in the streets. So when Splinter picks up that book in the sewer, he is only remembering what he already learned from his master.

Also, April’s dad was killed when he learned that Sachs TRUE plan was to kill off most of humanity with his chemical agent and mutate the rest of humanity and animals into lifeforms that can serve their Ultrom masters. Sachs Industries is a subsidiary of TGRI. Sachs wanted to become “Stupid Rich” in the new Ultrom World Order as they take over the planet, city by city. Ultroms have been trying to take over the planet for years. They failed in Vietnam with Agent Orange. Sachs Ultrom father was killed by his masters for failing. Sachs fled to Japan, etc.

Their looks can be fixed in one of two ways. First, they can still be naturally growing/changing or be mutating spontaneously (Puberty?) or mutate through some new mutagen injection as part of the plot. Secondly, they can drop most of their extraneous/hideous costume tackle/flare. Either way, from a toy buying perspective, we all know they will have some from of look/costume change to sell new products.

Beyond that, Sachs needs to take a back seat or be killed off, explained away or turned into something/someone/anything interesting ala an alien menace.

Splinter needs to looks less like he's a bug-eyed infected/diseased sewer rat and more like Henson's sympathetic version.

Beyond that we needed a new director (check) and new villains (check) and a more prominent role for Shredder (check) if he's still involved.

We might just be on the right track.

[JakeSully]

Originally Posted by ScrewtheMirageTMNT

Nolan's batman movies were boring, too serious and terrible batman adaptations imo. Nolan at some point questioned the idea of batman having a yellow belt and didn't even want batman to have a cape, yeah that is your hero, nolanites. Your god.

Nolan creams Tim Burton any day of the week! sure Burton's first one is a really good movie, gives us a Gotham ripped out of the 80s comics, but the negatives outweight the positives. One of those being that as great as Jack Nicholson is, he is just Jack Nicholson playing Jack Nicholson with Joker make-up. Kind of like how Kevin Spacy was playing Gene Hackman playing Lex Luthor in Superman Returns. Plus, he is too old for the character.

Nolan's movies though, feel like a mix between O'Neil's run from the 70s, especially the way Gotham is portrayed, with a touch of realism even Frank Miller and Alan Moore to Jeph Loeb. Add on top that Ledger's Joker feels more like Joker playing Joker using the name of Heath Ledger, and you have the most accurate adaptation of Joker on screen. Plus, Nolan shows how you can have multiple villians in the movie (Begins had Scarecrow, Ras, Zasz, and Falconi, TDK had Joker, Two-Face, Scarecrow, and Maroni) and still have a focus on a central villian, something Burton failed to do.

You just don't know anything about Batman until you read Frank ****ing Miller, Alan Moore and Denny O'Neil

[samxsteal]

Originally Posted by JakeSully

Nolan creams Tim Burton any day of the week! sure Burton's first one is a really good movie, gives us a Gotham ripped out of the 80s comics, but the negatives outweight the positives. One of those being that as great as Jack Nicholson is, he is just Jack Nicholson playing Jack Nicholson with Joker make-up. Kind of like how Kevin Spacy was playing Gene Hackman playing Lex Luthor in Superman Returns. Plus, he is too old for the character.

Nolan's movies though, feel like a mix between O'Neil's run from the 70s, especially the way Gotham is portrayed, with a touch of realism even Frank Miller and Alan Moore to Jeph Loeb. Add on top that Ledger's Joker feels more like Joker playing Joker using the name of Heath Ledger, and you have the most accurate adaptation of Joker on screen. Plus, Nolan shows how you can have multiple villians in the movie (Begins had Scarecrow, Ras, Zasz, and Falconi, TDK had Joker, Two-Face, Scarecrow, and Maroni) and still have a focus on a central villian, something Burton failed to do.

You just don't know anything about Batman until you read Frank ****ing Miller, Alan Moore and Denny O'Neil

my friend keeps telling me how bad Batman V Superman looks and im Like have you even read a comic i mean say what you will about Man of Steel but Batman V Superman is going to be fantastic

[letscook89]

Hmm it's maybe too late, but I want to give my review of the 2014 movie :

Good points :
1. The turtles themselves (love them, their designs, their acting and their badass attitude)
2. Shredder vs Splinter fight (was pretty badass for a fight opposing two characters who don't even know them )
3. The snow chase scene
4. The elevator scene
5. Shell Shocked

Bad points :
1. everything else was **** (bad writing, bad acting (except for the turtles), stupid dialogues, rape of Hamato Yoshi/Oroku Saki story, Megan Fox, Megan Fox again and... Megan Fox)
2. Brian tyler music