TMNT: Out of the Shadows once again stars Megan Fox and four CGI ninja turtles in a superior sequel that has more fun with the source material. The franchise has had a balancing issue these last few years, one that you would think wouldn't even exist. How can you take this stuff seriously in film form? It's four anthropomorphic turtles that eat pizza and fight crime...that sounds like drama to me. This was the issue with 2014's Michael Bay film, a film with a lot of great action however it acted as if this was a very dark dramatic action flick, which luckily 'Out of the Shadows' moves away from.
This time, the evil Shredder escapes custody and begins his plan to bring the alien warlord Krang from Dimension X to our world, along with his henchmen Bebop & Rocksteady. The turtles also try to understand themselves and how to work as a team while Megan Fox's April O' Neil mostly just tries to look hot. The performances for the film fit the film well enough, with Tyler Perry of all people standing out as the crazy giggly Dr. Baxter Stockman. Brad Garret's Krang works alright, however I think I hyped up the introduction of this character (it only took five films to get the best villain in the franchise on the silver screen) he let me down somewhat. It was still nice to see him when he was on screen, but I always want more Krang.
The films falls below the line in the structure department. The film's 1hr 52min runtime is plenty of time to tell a TMNT story, however the film feels rather rushed. We go from one scene to another without any time to absorb some important information or even character development. The biggest negative I really have with the film is that it may actually have TOO MUCH fan service thrown in. Many new characters are introduced in this film, but again its short runtime does not give us any real insight or even enough entertaining scenes with them. April O' Neil and Casey Jones are almost completely not needed in this film, they mostly pop in from time to time. Laura Linney is wasted here...nothing really much to say about her.
The fun and action scenes are the best part of the film, with some great scenes on the infamous Technodrome, the fight with Krang, The fights with fan favorites Bebop and Rocksteady, and many others really crank this one up above the others in the franchise. I recommend seeing TMNT 2 if your a fan of the series, as it brings a lot of the fun and imaginative creatures to the silver screen for the first time, however for anyone else even action film fans, I'd stay away. It needed more time to establish these great characters, but that will have to wait for the sequel I guess.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS GETS A:
(B-)
Pros:
-Fans will be pleased
-Action Sequences
-Great Humor
Cons:
-Too Short
-Some Characters Seem Unneeded At Times
-For Fans ONLY
Rated: PG-13 (Action Violence)
Runtime: 1hr 52min
All Images Are Property Of Nickolodeon Studios, Paramount Pictures, And VIACOM
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