2014 Splinter - Did he work?
 

Guys, I'm yet to see the movie and will see it for free in the next month(thank god for movie reward points) but I haven't seen any threads specifically on Splinter, so I thought I'd create a thread for those who have seen it to discuss what people thought of the new Splinter. What they didn't like about him and what they did like about him, etc.. (Spoilers are fine, I've seen the last 8 minutes of the movie and read pretty much everything, still going to see it anyway)

Because as it stands right now from what I've seen he does not work at all. Apart from Splinter's terrible design (the turtles are able to have human like eyes yet his are all black go figure) and what seems to be unfinished cgi his personality seems to have no warmth what so ever, his voice is just so jarring.

Does he get better or is he really that bad?

I didn't mind his look, his voice was average, and he was a bit of an a-hole.

I liked Splinter in this version, he's strict and keeps the turtles disciplined when they are being disobedient. But that's the only side we ever get to see of him in the whole movie. So it was hard for anyone to feel any sympathy for him when he was defeated by Shredder. The film never really expanded on his character.

He's OK, woops ass with his tail but he is really freakin ugly (yes,I know he is a mutated rat but still). Would have been cool if he looked like Mateus' Splinter from IDW.

If you look at a real rat (minus the tail) they are a little cute... But once that bugger gets in your house all the cuteness is gone!

The voice was okay. It was his design that sucked.

In the movie, he shows hints of being a caring father in flashbacks, but at the present, he is really mean, actually outright abusive to the Turtles (he grabs Raph by the throat and lifts him up off his feet while lecturing him about going to the top side, nothing like the compassionate Splinter we had in the 1990 movie)

Because of the scene, I had a hard time getting behind the Turtles to save him, I would have been more behind them saving April for some reason, since she is the one that helped give them a second life.

I have to agree with this. Splinter in the original film was stern but showed some compassion. Splinter comes across actually as an abusive father in a scene that's supposed to be played for laughs. I enjoyed Tony's work and thought in the trailers and TV spots that his voice suited Splinter well, but in the final film I found it wasn't as enjoyable as I'd hope.

I thought his dialogue during the "pizza teasing" of Mikey was way too hammy. I can't help but laugh AT the film when Splinter flips open the box and goes on this almost senile rant about the pizza. I get what he's doing, but it's execution was poor.

Oh and Splinter's CGI at moments was horrible.

His design was a bit too realistic for me...very ugly looking. Wasn't too big on his voice..the way that he learned/got into ninjutsu I really HATED...but he did have an awesome fight with Shredder-bot and the G.I. Joe soldiers, so there's that.

Glad I'm not the only one who thought that.

Even though Splinter was clearly an abusive jerk, he was still an awesome fighter. He has no business being around kids though.

Nothing beats the cuteness of 1990's Splinter

The voice was alright. He sounds like a man. Not as much personality as the turtles. He's protective, stern, into physical discipline, and not decrepit. Basically, he's like the Nick cartoon Splinter.

I just got back from watching the movie and this was the worst Splinter ever. Tony Shaloub was an awful choice for his voice and I have to agree with others that the reason he learned martial arts was kind of dumb. But I have to say that I did get chills when he is gettin. Ready to fight robo-shredder because he did kick ass especially with his tail.

Only taken to the EXTREEEEME. I actually like he's wasn't decrepit though.

His FX were better on the big screen than the clips/commercials led me to believe. I guess you can see more of the detail. Not a super fan of his design though. More hair on his face and more humanoid eyes would have grounded him a little more.

I didn't mind the voice. I have no Shalhoub baggage.

Nick Splinter smacks his kids around, too. People here thought he was too rough, anyway... I dunno. For a father, that's excessive, but it's in line with a kung fu movie sensei. Those dudes are hard on their students. That's probably what they were going for.

Design was awful. The fact that most his CGI work looks like it was done after they ran out of money doesn't help. Some of his appearances wouldn't even make it into a Pixar film. He looked like a cheap cartoon.

Jonathan Liebesman's Splinter was poorly done in my opinion. The look was quite obvious, he didn't have enough hair covering his face and his cg texturing was poorly done. He didn't look realistic enough compared to the turtles and he stuck out like a sore thumb. Aside from the bad looks, his voice was really bad due to the fact that he didn't have a Japanese accent. I personally didn't like his acting in this; he was "too serious" which made his performance come off as really cheesy instead of mature. He didn't have the same quality father aspect like we've seen in Steve Barron's Splinter. Overall, this 2014 Splinter doesn't cut it.

No.

As has been pointed out, he was a bit of an abusive dick. I assume because it was easier for the filmmakers to convey "funny" violence than it was legitimate emotion. Either way, I found him hard to like or care about.

Removed from the Hamato Yoshi element, there's not much in the way of tragedy or loss in his backstory to drive any emotion at all. He's just sort of their father because he decided he should be, not for any deeper reason that would have been naturally informed by his previous experiences. So the character loses a lot of strength there right away.

Tony Shaloub was... fine. Far from my favourite version of his voice. But considering the version of the character we're dealing with, he was okay.

Action-wise, he was decent. The tail attacks were relatively cool at first, but got a bit silly real fast (how long is that thing!?). I never really needed to see Splinter hopping around like Yoda in "Attack of the Clones", but if that's something you're looking for... enjoy?

Looks-wise... oof. He is ugly. Like a mostly-hairless capybara with a stupid-looking topknot and fu manchu. And the CGI seemed pretty not-up-to-snuff on his design for some reason. Legitimately unpleasant to look at.

He didn't feel like a really significant role, really. He provided some (bad) backstory, was a jerk to the Turtles, got beaten up and left behind, then just turned out okay in the end. If you took him out entirely I doubt the movie would've changed much at all. Not the character's strongest hour.

The design was horrible. I do admit the scene with the discipline was ok... but that's all we saw. based on his backstory he has no reason to know of or hate Shredder, and he has no reason to be 'Japanese'.

Yeah, that too. He found an old ninja how-to book in the sewer and suddenly he was just totally into Japan. He's Weeaboo Splinter!

I'm sure in the sequel they'll reveal he was Hamato Yoshi and Shredder is Oroku Saki.

They can't be that stupid not to.

They were stupid enough to try and change it in the first place, though, weren't they?

No. No they won't. They are THAT stupid.

I'm pretty sure the good folks at Platinum Dunes and Paramount have already proved their stupidity by making this film.

"You underestimate our stupidity"

Agreed, if Splinter had more hair on his face he would have been easier to take in. Although I understand they were trying to show his age with the flash backs showing how much hair he had to begin with.

I think the biggest problem I had is Splinter only existed for telling their origins. He really shined in his fight with shredder, that whole scene was amazing but beyond that he really didn't do much.

well... we couldn't have him take too much screen time away from Megan Fox.

His design was ugly as shiz, and sadly they didn't give you much of a history or screen time to really know him. We saw his discipline side, but not his compassionate side. (Aside from the flashbacks)

Aside from that one part that felt a little TOO forceful (the tail around Raph's neck) His discipline style was pretty funny and his Hashi(?) reminded me of the 2012 Splinters Randori. He kind of trolled them while disciplining them.

I guess it depends on how you view parenting honestly. Some people think a time out and a grounding is all you need, others think that you need a whoopin'.
Splinter is clearly more of the whoopin kind of parent.

Though they didn't show much, they did a really good job of showing how much Splinter loved the Turtles in his small screen time. You could really see the worry and passion he had for their safety and he was practically sacrificing himself to the Shredder to give the turtles time to run and hide. (even though they didn't)

I didn't mind him. I like the versions of Splinter that aren't all bed ridden and so old they could croak at any time.

I think he really needed more development and more time to show his fatherly, and loving side and I think he would have been easier to connect to and sympathize with.

No, he did not work. His eyes were far too black, as if he was possessed by the demon. His ninja action was good, but the black eyes kept me thinking if he was possessed by the demon lord. It was very distracting.

Design is not my taste, but works for this movie world. At times he looks great and at times not. His compassion is shown during the lair break in. He did kinda come off as a dick, but once he starts to speak with april and tells her about how they came to be, you can see his compassion and willingness to care for the turtles. His fight scene with ol bucket head was awesome. One hander :o

He looked ugly and our first introduction to him is basically him being tough on his kids. We never see him being loving or likable. There was also no personal connection to Shredder. Basically, I didn't care about Splinter at all in this movie. The fight between he and Shredder was so impersonal compared to what I'm used to between the two.
In the original he was cute and fatherly so when he gets captured and slapped around by Shredder, I felt for him and it was upsetting. It also seemed more bad ass when this unassuming old Rat kicked butt.

He actually looks and is dressed Japanese before he finds the book. That's what doesn't make sense. Unless he got his inspiration from the Shredder. Still doesn't make sense because Shredder was originally Sacks. Splinter looks really greasy and slimy too. Wasn't he suppose to be grey?

He's perfectly fine.

I didn't like the CGI but he worked fine. He's tough on his students but that's so in line with kung fu movies I don't see the problem. He obviously loves the turtles and wants their safety, he's just not a push over.

I liked the strong handed discipline. Like others mention, it's very in line with the old school kung fu masters in films. Like Drunken Master where Jackie Chan's character is suppose to be sitting in a squat holding two buckets of water for 12 hours because he mouthed off (even if he did pull a Michelangelo and was actually sitting on a rock instead of doing it properly :lol: ).

As many others said, we didn't get to see too much of the fatherly side, just a few glimpses, but that's really the movie's problem with everyone. There is no bonding, no relationship, not a single scene really spent seeing how these characters interact on a daily basis.

I didn't care for his look too much. Too many inconsistencies with his look compared to his origin (or lack thereof). I didn't care for the yellow they chose for him either. It was loud and didn't seem to "fit" somehow. However, the eyes are the big factor for me too. Why does Splinter look like a humanoid animal rat while they went to such extreme lengths to ensure the turtles look more human in facial structure and eyes?

Just another inconsistency to me.

He wasn't rendered as realistic as the turtles, or Shredder. But his action scenes were cool, Yoda-esque. Wasn't a huge fan of his voice, and I thought his introduction of punishing the turtles was out of character, and pretty violent. At least he wasn't bailing the turtles out in their climatic conflict.

I felt Splinter locking them out while he tried to hold off The Shredder spoke volumes about his love for the turtles. And yeah, he completely lost his **** when he caught them sneaking in but it was also because they went above ground, something he specifically forbid because he was afraid for their lives. He didn't think they were properly trained and ready for it (And really, these turtles have super strength, can crush and throw concrete and flip cars. I'm sure they can handle discipline from Splinter lol). In general though It's tough with this property when you judge the actions of even the good guys. I mean even comic book Splinter technically sent 4 15 year olds to kill a guy out of revenge lol.

Didn't like the new design at all, nor did I like the way he acted. He was kind of a dick. It's no wonder Raph and April left him behind to save the other guys. Splinter didn't look in any shape to be left unwatched! Haha.
By the way, where can I find this almighty Ninjistu book that he studied from. They should have at least had him found Bruce's book The Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Granted it's more Chinese than Japanese and a completely different art, but still holds more info than what looked to be a Barne's & Noble "How to be a ninja" clearance book for $5.99.:lol:

Haven't really weighed in on Splinter yet...

Fairly authentically ratty looking...perhaps with a little mange going on. But dang he can be rough on his kids. :\ At their size and weight it's surprising he can handle them so well. They must have taken that rough handed version from Nick... (I don't want to say 'abusive' but if they were human in the real world it might be seen as such.)

This too however.

I actually think Splinter has the best fight scenes and he is great during the pizza scene :lol: "I have here the 99 Cheese pizza!!!!" :lol: