Comic Action
Returns
Film:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Cast: Megan
Fox, William Fichtner, Whoopi Goldberg
Directed by:
Jonathan Liebesman
Duration: 1
hr 40 mins
Rating: * * *
A reboot of the franchise and a remake of the 1990 film of
the same name, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may not be the most popular comic
book around and the title of the film also suggests that it meant for young
kids but TMNT surprisingly turns out to be a decent compact film that has to
offer some entertainment for all age groups. It is not the kind of film that
you might remember in the years to come, but it is not a dreadful as it
appeared to be initially.
TMNT traces the origins of the story much like the 1990 film.
April O’ Neal (Megan Fox) is a television reporter who mostly covers ‘frothy’
lifestyle events. But she is determined to be the next Christiane Amanpour by
reporting on serious issues. Meanwhile a spate of crimes hit the city of New
York and an underground organization Foot Clan is responsible for it. But a
vigilante group is also there fighting the Clan and April happens to witness
one such encounter – 6 foot something talking turtles that also happen to by
Ninja warriors with other skills beat the bad guys to pulp.
Turns out they are named after Renaissance artists -
Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello who were trained by a rat called
Splinter are quite a handful in their own right. April also discovers an old
connection with them and her scientist father. Most films now-a-days have a
villain who wants to control the world and here it is Eric Sacks (William
Fichtner) a billionaire who wants to create a conflict and make money by
resolving it.
Whoopi Goldberg has a cameo as Aprils boss but her character
vanishes out of the blue and doesn’t even make the cursory comeback in the end.
The story is pretty much the standard and predictable one but
it’s the characters that make the film more interesting, especially the
turtles. Each one has its own trait and they are fun as a team, they look
bigger and stronger than the ones we saw in the previous film.
At 100 odd minutes, the film is pacy and there is enough
humor from time to time to keep it light weight, the scene in the elevator for
example is a hoot. Technically, the combination of live action along with CGI
is quite impressive. And since Michael Bay is one of the producers, it shows in
the action scenes which bear his mark. And no prizes for guess whose idea it
must have been to show Megan Fox’s backside during a chase scene.
All in all, the turtles offer some harmless entertainment.
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