'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows' Review: Better Than the Last One, But...
(Left to right) Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (Photo: Paramount Pictures)
By Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
It’s a sure sign of summer when the two films likely to dominate this weekend’s box office feature mutants of both the human and turtle variety. Yes, it’s X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, the sequel to the 2014 reboot of the popular vintage kiddie franchise. To say that this installment of the latter series is superior to its predecessor is damning it with faint praise, but it’s likely to reasonably satisfy tykes (and certain nostalgic oldsters—you know who you are). And, of course, certain male viewers are likely to appreciate the sight of star Megan Fox in a fetish-ready schoolgirl outfit.
‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows’: Spotlight on Megan Fox:
The film, frenetically directed by Dave Green (Earth to Echo), doesn’t exactly take its time getting started, beginning with a manic segment in which the four hard-shelled heroes leap off the Chrysler Building because, well, they can. They then proceed to watch a Knicks game from the rafters of Madison Square Garden while chowing down on their trademark pizza, causing the team to miss a shot after an errant slice accidentally falls on the court.
Related: Box-Office Preview: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2’ to Battle 'X-Men: Apocalypse’
TMNT fans will be pleased by the appearance of many of the familiar characters, including intrepid journalist April O'Neill (Fox); the smarmy Vern (Will Arnett), who’s been treated as a hero and given the key to the city after taking the credit for the Turtles’ exploits in the last adventure; and Casey Jones (Stephen Amell of Arrow), the corrections officer turned crime-fighting vigilante armed with a hockey mask and stick. The villains include the returning Shredder (Brian Tee); his dimwitted goons Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (wrestler Stephen “Sheamus” Farrelly), who are transformed into a rhino and warthog early on; mad scientist Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry, sacrificing the credibility he earned with his excellent dramatic turn in Gone Girl), and the disembodied alien brain Krang (unrecognizably voiced by Brad Garrett), whose looks are enough to turn children off eating grilled calamari for the rest of their lives.
You’ll have to turn to other sources to find out the details of the narrative, which involves Krang attempting to destroy the world via a magical “purple ooze” that affects DNA, or something, because frankly, critics don’t get paid enough to give films like this their full attention. It doesn’t matter anyway, because the thin plot is essentially an excuse for a constant series of action movie set pieces—including the heroes jumping out of a plane onto another plane, and then landing in white-water rapids that send them over a waterfall—that wouldn’t be out of place in a Fast and Furious movie. As if to acknowledge the debt, one of the Turtles mutters to himself, “What would Vin Diesel do?” before executing one of his stunts.
‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ plane-to-plane leap: Sneak preview:
The film fares best when it slows down a bit and allows the Turtles’ personalities, which are quite engaging, to shine through via their amusing comic banter. There’s genuine fun to be found in such scenes as when Michelangelo gleefully marches in a Halloween parade without anyone glancing twice, although the joke is undermined by a gratuitous reference to producer Michael Bay’s other franchise, Transformers.
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Noel Fisher (Michelangelo), Alan Ritchson (Raphael), Jeremy Howard (Donatello), and Pete Ploszek (Leonardo) expertly go through their motion-capture paces, and their vocal work is not to be faulted. They certainly outshine most of the strictly human cast, which also includes three-time Oscar nominee Laura Linney, who may indeed be giving the best performance of her career simply by keeping a straight face during her turn as a no-nonsense NYC police commissioner. One hopes that she at least got a nice beach house out of the deal.
‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows’: Watch a trailer:
