I've always been a pretty big fan of the Ninja Turtles franchise. I've owned the toys, the comics, the games. You name it, I had it. So when I heard they were making a new Ninja Turtle live-action film I was hyped beyond belief. That was until everything started falling into place. The cast was announced and the script was changed. I was not a fan of what I was hearing, but I still had hope. And while my expectations were low, I still had expectations.
The moment of truth was finally here, and I, like many other American males in their mid-twenties, flooded the cinema. Long story short, I enjoyed the film, but not as much as I had planned. While watchable the film just seemed like a total miss. April O'Neil seems to always be at the right place at the right time, the turtles didn't have enough screen time to get to know them and being Asian is treated as something you just learn in a book. Obviously, I wasn't impressed, and my bar tab can vouch for me. That being said, I'm not one of those people that thinks my childhood was ruined or some crazy shit like that. I just expected a little bit more from Bay and team. What I saw seemed phoned-in and, for lack of a better word, rushed.
So with the initial entry behind us, all we can do is speculate what will happen next. There hasn't been much leaked as far as a story, but a few of the cast members have been announced. So far we have confirmation that Casey Jones will be played by Green Arrow. I'm not sure about the over-sized hockey mask, but we'll see what the deal is with that. We also have been told that fan favorites Bebop and Rocksteady will be make an appearance, and there have been numerous reports that Madea herself has signed on to play Baxter Stockman.
I'm hoping for more this time around, and when I say more I don't mean more characters to take precious screen time away from the turtles. When I say more, I mean... love. I want the fight between Shredder and Splinter to mean something. I want there to be a method behind the madness. I know this is a lot to ask, but I want Michael Bay to actually give a shit. What I don't want is a who's who of every villain in the TMNT universe type movie. If you saw X3 then you know what I'm talking about. When Baxter shows up, give him a purpose other than having another toy mold at your exposure.
Anyway, I'm not here to just shit on the first film. I'm actually here to share exclusive set photos from the new movie. While not a lot can be made out from the submitted pictures, they still are interesting and definitely tickle my optimistic bone. What do you guys think? Did you like the first turtles movie? Will this one be any better? Check out the pictures and let me know what you think in the comment section below. Cowabunga dudes!
Jessie Hobson