Ideas in the Platinum Dunes movies that weren't bad

[Andrew NDB]

I'll start.

* Nostrils. Yes, they probably always should've had them.

That's all I got. What do you have?

[AquaParade]

I liked the clothing in terms of design. It was clearly coming from the same place as the unused Baron/McCarthy designs for what would have been the fourth live-action film. To me, the clothing makes as much sense, if not more, than the masks, and they add an interesting texture, visually.
Overall, I didn't like the designs of the turtles, but that element in particular, I quite enjoy.

Also, the mo-cap was pretty impressive. I guess the faces could be somewhat off-putting, but I didn't mind the nostrils either. I'm sort of ready for the turtles to have five fingers, while we are at it. Sounds gross and unfamiliar, I know, but it just recently dawned on me that I find the three-finger thing a little awkward. Huh..maybe the 2012 toon had something to do with that. Remember how weird it was when we learned the turtles would have more than two/three toes? I no longer mind that.

Another element I appreciate is that the action choreography is pretty good, compared to most other comicbook adaptions.

Yeah, these films definitely had some potential but the people in charge were aloof, so they're pretty unwatchable imo.

[neatoman]

... Well, let's preface here that I might not like the execution of the idea, it's more like I can see a nugget of potential in .

Alright, the martial arts book. Yes, it is lame that it is the sole reason Splinter knows martial arts, it is lame that he decides to learn it as a parenting tool and it is lame to remove Hamato Yoshi entirely in favor of the book. However, it is an acknowledgement that Splinter can easily learn and teach martial arts after his mutation because of the 15 year time skip, he doesn't have to learn it all by watching Yoshi or be Yoshi himself. He doesn't need to be good enough to teach anyone the instant he mutates, as far as I can tell, PD is the only time where this was explicitly acknowledged.

I'm really trying to think of something else but it's kind of hard. The first one might have some decent action scenes but that's not really an idea, and don't feel like watching it again just to comb through the concepts present and trying to determine if I'm seeing a good idea or not. The second one is an abomination, I'm not even considering watching it again.

[IndigoErth]

Wow, pick a tough one, why don't ya. lol

Been mulling it over and coming up empty, as most of the things that were okay aren't ideas original to PD.

Agree on the nostrils, and clothing (if not overdone, i.e. Leo 2016), and the footwear part definitely makes sense for them to help avoid injury when antibiotics are inaccessible.

Something else original to PD though... They made a better Vern(on)? I have to stoop to that to think of something.

Also, Krang having a frozen collection of beings was interesting, too bad all that was only for a 5 second shot.

[Galactus]

I don't think the Platinum Dunes movies did anything that well. There were however certain aspects that I thought were interesting that could been focused on more and/or executed better.

TMNT (2014)

First 15 minutes
This may sound controversial seeing as a lot of people hated that it took the movie so long to get to the titular characters. We know this was done out of necessity since the 3D models took up so much budget they couldn't have the screen time from the beginning. Still at times it conveyed an almost intriguing tone with April investigating these mysterious creatures. People might have tolerated the first act of the movie had leaned in on the mysterious nature of the turtles and Foot...and had better actors to carry those scenes.

Designs
I can see what they were aiming for with the designs. There's nothing really wrong with depicting the turtles as bigger and edgier and more 'realistic'. It's all been done in the franchise before in fact you can tell they took a lot of inspiration from the 2003 animated series and the Zulli turtles. The problem is they overdid it to the point it looked weird to see them in action or even interacting with regular size people. Toning it down so they weren't so huge and jacked would have worked better.

I also thought their more edgy look was undermined by the silly costumes. Again I get what they were going for but frankly they looked more like a 90s Playmates toys variants than a serious take on what a ninja turtle would were. The reason for accessorising them at all was to convey each turtles personality for the un-initiated but other than Donatello none of it really did that. If you didn't know that Raph was the angry one how is him wearing a loin cloth going to clue you in on that.

I regards to the nostrils and lips. Personally I think most people are fine suspending their disbelief on this issue but they were fine enough on Leo, Don and Raph but they gave Michelangelo the uncanny valley human-like face with an actual nose. That was always going to look horrible and hugely distracting even without it being front and center in the trailers.

Same with Shredder. There is nothing wrong with him wearing mech armor and he's done it before..again this was also clearly based on the '03 versions even including the Foot symbol from that series. Just like with the turtles they complete overdid with blades tech coming out of everywhere.

Action
The battle in the lair and the snow chase were pretty well done and it was great to see that these scenes had some 'teeth'...the taming down of the action in the sequel was something I felt really hurt it. Again the continuing problem is that they overdid it. Toning down some of the Michael Bay-inspired bits would have been good.

TMNT: Out Of The Shadows

Plot
While there was a lot of stupid stuff in the movie like the explanation for Bebop and Rocksteady's mutation. Krang coming out of nowhere and Shredder just working with for no reason and going out like a punk for it...the actual plot was easy to follow and didn't have any glaring holes. It's basically the plot of the first Avengers movie which fits well with adapting the '87 show were the early episodes were all a hunt for some mcguffin that can open a portal to bring the Technodrome and Krang's soldiers from Dimension-X. The big problem was that they didn't have the budget for Ch'tauri-like invasion so we got the silly Technodrome coming through in small pieces. Obviously influenced by the Eyes of Sarnath mini arc and we know thay wanted to have the turtles globe trotting but since they also didn't have the budget for multiple countries they weirdly set it up that the Foot already had first piece (although weirdly didn't know what it was) the second was conveniently in the area and third in Brazil. They should have just had one mcguffin in South America and we could have devoted more time to the main character arc of the movie. Speaking of which...

Sub Plot
I railed on this pretty hard when the trailers came out and frankly I hate that it's now becoming a recurring theme of the franchise but the turtles wanting to be human was done about as well as it could be. The writing of the scenes that handled this arc had shades of X-Men: First Class about it. I think we should have gotten more time devoted to this. We never do find out why Leo is so against becoming human or why Raph is so for it. What does Splinter think if it all?

Filming
Both Platinum Dunes movies have the best cinematography of all the live action TMNT movies. I would give the slight edge to OOTS since I think it makes better use of colour grading. Other than the odd penchant for portraying Manhattan at night with a greenish tint and the turtles themselves being a bit too bright I like that it doesn't go in for the slight desaturated that the first has in places.

[Barkworm]

I liked the elevator scene in the first one. Apart from that it's one of the most terrible cinematic crimes I've ever witnessed. Possibly even worse than the second Transformers film.

Didn't bother to watch OOTS in its entirety but what I've seen looks like it's not as much of a mess than the first one (probably because it wasn't re-shot to hell). But the horrible Bay style, weird bulky Turtle designs, over-the-top-action without any consequences to it and Megan Fox are all still there.

[CyberCubed]

The elevator scene was done better in the 2012 cartoon. I forgot what episode it was in, but the Nick show parodies the movie version.

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I'll start.

* Nostrils. Yes, they probably always should've had them.

That's all I got. What do you have?

Nah. Kermit the Frog has proven that it's ok to have nostrils that you don't see.

[neatoman]

I don't get why people like the elevator scene, it made me cringe in the cinema and it made me cringe when I rewatched the movie out of boredom.

[IndigoErth]

Personally, it's Leo's initial reaction that gets me, looking at Mikey like "Wtf are you doing?" then looks away, maybe just the vaguest bit annoyed, determined to ignore it... until he gets caught up in it.

Though I've chosen to forgive his actor for what then took place, because Pete otherwise did a good job with him. lol

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Personally, it's Leo's initial reaction that gets me, looking at Mikey like "Wtf are you doing?" then looks away, maybe just the vaguest bit annoyed, determined to ignore it... until he gets caught up in it.

Though I've chosen to forgive his actor for what then took place, because Pete otherwise did a good job with him. lol

There's nothing organic or funny about four CGI monster Turtles doing exactly what the script says.

[Sir5R]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I'll start.

* Nostrils. Yes, they probably always should've had them.

That's all I got. What do you have?

That they quit after 2 films instead of doing a 3rd one. Thats all I got.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

There's nothing organic or funny about four CGI monster Turtles doing exactly what the script says.

Ah... but... if I recall that part wasn't in the script. It was the actors goofing off and they decided to put it in the movie. I remember it being rather ironic that the part many liked most was just an extra they threw in, not in the actual writing.

[Barkworm]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Ah... but... if I recall that part wasn't in the script. It was the actors goofing off and they decided to put it in the movie. I remember it being rather ironic that the part many liked most was just an extra they threw in, not in the actual writing.

I also thought that part looked rather improvised, I remember an extended version from a TV clip that was even crazier with Leo twerking and whatnot.

But yeah, the actual 'writing' was complete dogshit.