TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS

It has been a relentless few months of superhero stuff, with DC and Marvel shooting one after another. Superhero flicks overlapping each other so much that we actually have trouble not mixing up storylines. Into this mix of Batman Vs. Superman, Captain America and X-Men, we now get the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Honestly, these are the real freaky superheroes of cinema, four brothers who are amazingly fast turtles, working from the shadows to protect the city the live under and love. The Turtles are definitely the lightweight superheroes of Hollywood when it comes to box office power, and the exhaustion factor of all these superhero movies so close to one another definitely dimmed the enthusiasm associated with the Turtles sequel. Actually, one can say that there was a degree of pessimism with Turtles coming into theaters, making expectations naturally a little lower, which might end up being a good thing!

So, how is the Turtles sequel? It is very much a regular superhero movie. The premise is very

straightforward; evil villain sets sight on total control over the world, and the turtles have to stop it. The unique factor with a turtles movie of course is that they have do it under complete anonymity, almost, working only at night, much like the Batman. Also, much like the Iron Man, the turtles are totally chilled out while kicking ass, giving away sage advice, sarcasm and cheeky lines all the time. The villain from the first movie returns in the sequel as he is plucked away into thin air from a police convoy. But it turns out there is a bigger villain waiting with more sinister plans, and then there is a mad scientist to facilitate the execution of said plans. There is nothing much about the plot that you cannot guess or predict.

But, offsetting that predictability is the pace at which the screenplay moves forward. After a racy title entry of the turtles, we are quickly taken into action. Megan Fox enters, and the cheerleader scene which was perhaps the single most hyped scene in the trailers is done away with quickly, and we are shown that the mad scientist is up to something. A road chase between a police van and a garbage truck later, we know that the scientist and the villain have schemed together to create a teleportation device, which would, as said in the movie, make Isaac Newton and Steve Jobs footnotes in the history of science. The USP of the turtles movie is that the action almost never stops, and the script has been written smoothly to flow from one encounter to another. To add to the excitement, we have a human rhinoceros and a human warthog, freaks who can match the turtles in the freakiness quotient. The showdown between them on the aircraft and then in a grand turbulent river is enjoyable.

By this time you have realized that the script has also got ambitious. It just doesn’t want to cause trouble in a city, it wants to end the world. And then we have some astrophysics, and space-time distortion stuff thrown in. To avoid spoilers, let’s just say that the proceedings at the end remind us a lot of what happened during the end of the first Avengers movie. But, the final confrontation has been well crafted.

Is there anything special in the new Turtles movie? No, absolutely not. There is nothing new that you

haven’t seen before. But, a tight no-nonsense screenplay, well shot action scenes, and witty/funny dialogues at some points, especially involving Will Arnett’s Falcon, keep things going along without making you feel bored. Stephen Amett seems to be a bit confused as to whether he is a hero or a sidekick. The writers have tried to bring in a bit of emotion, about the way the turtles feel about their place in society, but they have kept it to a bare minimum realizing it could hamper the flow of the action. You wonder what Laura Linney would do in this movie, and you are left wondering till the last scene, where some sort of justice is done to the casting. This one could be a fairly good way to have a fun evening.

Good visuals, good action, no yawns!

2.5/5