What did you like about TMNT (2014)?

[sethmartin]

I accept it for what it is. It's like a bad, cheesy, b-movie with some fun parts. I didn't like the plot much.

Fichtner was great and should have played Shredder. Sure, he's not Japanese, but if we can have a cartoon where April is a teenager, why can't we have a movie where Fichtner is the Shredder. He was much better than the dull hunk of wood we got instead.

Didn't mind Megan Fox, just wish that there was less focus on her character.

The actors playing the turtles definitely did their homework.

Splinter/Shredder fight. Would have been better if they had some sort of history, but the fight was still good.

Raph/Shredder fight was good. Just wish it had more context to the story and it was confusing why Shredder just walked away.

Turtles/Shredder fight. Felt like I was watching someone play a video game but still enjoyable

Snow chase is one of my favorite sequences. I also liked Splinter taunting the turtles with pizza. Vernon was pretty good. Elevator scene, of course. I liked seeing the turtles as children, just didn't like the ninjitsu book aspect.

Shredder falling off building shot was one of the best falling shots I've ever seen. Certainly better than Walker's lame falling shot in TMNT 3

All in all, I don't think it's as bad as most people do. Yeah, it's not good, but there are parts I enjoy watching.

[Bombshell]

I think my favorite part of the movie was when Leo jumps up to avoid being run down by the jeep, bounces off the windshield, hits the snow and starts yelling and then after a second he starts laughing instead.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by sethmartin

if we can have a cartoon where April is a teenager, why can't we have a movie where a white guy is the Shredder?

Because The Shredder is Japanese. It's a fundamental part of his character. April's age, is not.

[Dr. Terminus]

Originally Posted by LeotheLateBloomer

You make a very valid point. The turtles are themselves and they (except Mike of course) all don't act like four Mikeys. There are two biggest problems I have with this movie. The first being the story; and again, I think this goes back to the whole blue script rumor and Eric Sachs being Shredder controversies. Hollywood is a stupid business but truthfully not even them would pull something THAT idiotic to keep people away from the movie; turtles being aliens, Raph and Mike having radically different personalities. Even for them, that would be insane. Because of this, I feel that some of these aspects led to so many bad cuts and plothole confusion that led this movie into a mess. The second is the tone; with how the turtles looked, a part of me looked at it through another view. Maybe they wanted to tell a dark gritty version like the Mirage novels only completely different, ala The Dark Knight. If this movie had a sense of direction, who knows how it could have ended up but that's also what's so frusturating about it.....what would this movie had been and what could it have been?!



Well at least you're seeing the good qualities in this movie which are far and few in between.

Absolutely. The designs of all the turtles, in my opinion, seemed to point towards maybe a grittier form. Maybe that's my mistake and they wanted to just make them appear more life-like but it just makes me think what could have been.

[sethmartin]

Originally Posted by Powder

Because The Shredder is Japanese. It's a fundamental part of his character. April's age, is not.

I agree in most cases. However, the new movie had no Japanese tie-in plot. No Hamato Yoshi/ Saki backstory, etc. So, the fact that Shredder was Japanese was not a fundamental part of his character. In that movie, Eric Sacks would have been better because at least he was an interesting character, instead of the shoehorned in, dull, scarecrow, who speaks Japanese occasionally that we got instead. He had no logical plan, no focus on his character, and no backstory whatsoever. He was in the movie for no other reason than the fact that people complained about white Shredder. So, it made no difference that he was Japanese.

If they had tried to tell a story that was a little closer to the true origin, I agree that Shredder should have been Japanese. However, in the story they were trying to tell, all of the Japanese elements seemed forced and unnecessary.

[Powder]

Which wouldn't have been the case if they just went with the Saki/Yoshi thing in the first place.

It's not even Shredder if it's a rich white guy who wants to gas the city.

[Foombamaroom]

Originally Posted by sethmartin

However, in the story they were trying to tell, all of the Japanese elements seemed forced and unnecessary.

If that's not proof that the movie f*cked up the Turtles, I don't know what is. The Japanese elements/backstory are/is essential to the Turtles and their origin. Instead, they decided to crackerize it.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Foombamaroom

If that's not proof that the movie f*cked up the Turtles, I don't know what is. The Japanese elements/backstory are/is essential to the Turtles and their origin. Instead, they decided to crackerize it.

Japanese culture is as essential to TMNT as having dead parents is for Bruce Wayne or getting bitten by a spider is for Peter Parker.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

But then, I think Superman wearing red briefs over his blue uniform is stupid, so apparently, my opinions don't matter.

Damn right buddy. Y'ever worn that sh*t? Seriously. They're absolutely necessary. I'm something of an expert in the form-fitting gear department; there's a million functional reasons they need to be there. I don't even have time to get into it in detail.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by sethmartin

However, in the story they were trying to tell, all of the Japanese elements seemed forced and unnecessary.

Originally Posted by Foombamaroom

If that's not proof that the movie f*cked up the Turtles, I don't know what is. The Japanese elements/backstory are/is essential to the Turtles and their origin. Instead, they decided to crackerize it.

And their entire source of it was what... a book? A book they had zero reason to ever have any ability to read.

Splinter... a rat probably both bred and sold in the U.S. for lab purposes randomly just decides to be Asian because reasons. Great storytelling.

[sethmartin]

I agree with all the statements. I'm not defending their direction or saying that they should have gone with their story over what we know. I'm just saying that in the version that they were trying to make, it would have been better if they had just kept Fichtner as the Shredder. Obviously, I would have preferred the original story with Yoshi/Saki etc. but if they wanted to change things (especially backstory) it could have worked with a decent angle and script. The same way teenage April works, or the Hamato Yoshi turned Splinter works, or the way that the IDW comic origin works. I'm fine with a different reimagining as long as it's good.

[Slade]

I guess the guy who is supposed to be Saki. I liked his scenes.

[Bry]

Originally Posted by Powder

Which wouldn't have been the case if they just went with the Saki/Yoshi thing in the first place.

It's not even Shredder if it's a rich white guy who wants to gas the city.

Originally Posted by Foombamaroom

If that's not proof that the movie f*cked up the Turtles, I don't know what is. The Japanese elements/backstory are/is essential to the Turtles and their origin. Instead, they decided to crackerize it.

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Japanese culture is as essential to TMNT as having dead parents is for Bruce Wayne or getting bitten by a spider is for Peter Parker.

Exactly. The Shredder & Splinter characters have been tweaked or reimagined more than once. But anyone who knows what they're doing keeps the Saki/Yoshi rivalry in place, because that is the foundation of the entire story. You need that. Take that out and they're effectively different characters, and that negatively impacts everything that follows.

That's why, when people who like the movie complain that fans "don't like change", that argument rings so hollow. This property has had a lot of variations over the years. And most of us posting here are fans of most of them - or even all of them. If someone like me can enjoy the Mirage comics, the '87, 2003, and 2012 cartoons, the Archie and IDW comics, and (most of) the original movies on their own merits, yet absolutely hate this movie... maybe that's not because I'm too closed-minded for "something new". Maybe that's because the movie just got it completely wrong.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

They never even said that his name was Saki. You would think it'd be obvious but there's nothing in the movie that says he's Oroku Saki.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by LeotheLateBloomer

They never even said that his name was Saki. You would think it'd be obvious but there's nothing in the movie that says he's Oroku Saki.

Damn straight. Took me a second viewing to catch this; the first time I saw it, I was just thrilled with a TMNT movie. Second viewing, critical thinking came online and I've been pissed about it ever since.

Originally Posted by Leo656

Damn right buddy. Y'ever worn that sh*t? Seriously. They're absolutely necessary. I'm something of an expert in the form-fitting gear department; there's a million functional reasons they need to be there. I don't even have time to get into it in detail.

Bro, you're a wrestler. Red briefs over blue leotards is probably normal attire for your line of work.

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Japanese culture is as essential to TMNT as having dead parents is for Bruce Wayne or getting bitten by a spider is for Peter Parker.

I've never done this before, but I'mma quote myself... just in case there are still people on this thread who think Saki, Yoshi, and Japanese culture aren't really important to the TMNT mythos.

Japanese culture is as essential to TMNT as having dead parents is for Bruce Wayne or getting bitten by a spider is for Peter Parker.

Comprende?

[Candy Kappa]

Making Shredder white, is like making Uhura from Star Trek white, nuff said about that.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

Making Shredder white, is like making Uhura from Star Trek white, nuff said about that.

I think it's even worse than that, honestly... Uhura's ethnic culture was never a huge part of her character in TOS. But Saki's culture completely shapes his reason for existence; his antagonism towards Yoshi, Splinter, and the Turtles... everything.

I'd say it'd be closer to making Worf human.

[miru]

Eric Sachs was a somewhat interesting character and I'd like to see him again somewhere. The TMNT haven't really had much in the way of enemy corporate executives, and the way he played the Foot Clan as weapons for his cause was nice.

I do actually like the Turtle designs except for their bulk.

[sethmartin]

What ever happened to the "That's what your father and I were trying to do, create heroes" angle from the teaser? That might have been interesting.

The problem with the movie is not that they changed things, it's why. In the 1989 Batman movie, they changed the Joker's origin. In that movie, though, the change worked because it created an interesting dynamic between the characters. In TMNT 2014, the changes they made didn't make the story any more interesting. There was no reason to write out Yoshi, Saki, or change Splinter's backstory. Especially since they didn't replace it with anything equally creative or interesting. Then to try and change it back at the last minute after everything had been shot, just made the movie confusing and bland.

All they had to do was read through the Technodrome forums and they would have had all the info they needed to make the perfect TMNT film.

[TMNT is cooler than MOTU]

It was relatively short.