A couple of important things hit my inbox today. This is the big one. The first trailer and, official, image for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Hero Ninja Turtles hit the web.
Michael Bay is involved so, yes there will be a lot of explosions and dubious plot. Jonathan Liebesman is directing. A director with an “interesting pedigree” with such films as Battle: Los Angeles and the Clash of the Titans sequel, Wrath of the Titans. Two spectacularly expensive films to make but, especially with Wrath of the Titans, not to spectacular results at the box office
It’s yet another reboot of the franchise and not a continuation of 2007’s TMNT so we will have to go through the whole back story about how our heroes were created. That comes across in the trailer with the “green ooze” in a lab sequence.
We also see, briefly, the villain of the piece, Shredder. We don’t see Master Splinter in the teaser but I have to hope he will be there to guide our pizza loving turtles to find their inner strength.
We also see Megan Fox as April O’Neil. Not, in my opinion, the best casting choice as she does tend to come across in other films that Michael Bay has been involved in as someone who can’t act that well! With this reboot April is back, as I remember the character being, a fearless local TV reporter. She has been portrayed as different things over the different incarnations of the franchise. From a teenage girl via a lab assistant to our plucky reporter that we saw when we watched the, slightly censored, cartoons in the 80s
The choice of releasing an image of Megan Fox and not the Turtles I think isn’t a great move. It will get people talking about the image but, probably, for the wrong reasons. I would expect a lot of “Why Megan Fox” being the major one and not “There’s a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle film out soon”. Don’t pander for the teenage boys who would drool over Megan but aim for the hardcore fans who want to see what the turtles are like.
This is basically taking the franchise back, again, to the early 90s when we first saw the turtles on the big screen. They still seem to be ready to crack a joke or take a pop at each others expense.
The city needs heroes. Darkness has settled over New York City as Shredder and his evil foot clan have an iron grip on everything from the police to the politicians.The future is grim until four unlikely outcast brothers rise from the sewers and discover their destiny as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The turtles must work with fearless reporter April and her wise-cracking cameraman Vern Fenwick to save the city and unravel Shredder’s diabolical plan
Coming up from the sewers and into UK cinemas from October 17, 2014
