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After weeks of excitement in the GulfWeekly office at the impending release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Assistant Editor Charlie Holding and I finally went on our first official ‘man date’ to the cinema.
Many a conversation has been spent reminiscing about our favourite shelled heroes from our early childhood (or teen years in Charlie’s case...), but there was some apprehensiveness that it wouldn’t quite be the same as grown adults.
Luckily, I can report that the movie exceeded our expectations!
It takes a good half-an-hour or so before our reptile friends even make a full appearance, with the film establishing its angle with Channel 6 News reporter April O’Neil (Fox) investigating a gang called the Foot Clan who have been carrying out terrorist attacks across New York.
One night, she finds herself snooping around the docks when she learns that the Clan are smuggling in chemicals. In the middle of recording the dodgy dealings, a shadowy vigilante appears and defeats all of the foot soldiers with ease.
Cue a game of cat and mouse (or rather, Fox and turtle) with April tracking down the shadowy figure, which eventually leads her to the sewers, and, of course, the home of our four ninja friends (Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello) and their rat Sensei, Splinter!
It emerges that April has much more in common with the four heroes than it first appears, but their meeting is cut short when the Foot Clan, led by a vicious samurai robot named Shredder, attacks the sewers as part of a wider plan that threatens the whole city.
The film’s strongest aspect is its pacing, for which a lot of credit should go to the editor and director Jonathan Liebesman. The action scenes are fast, frenetic and never drag on too long, while the intermediary quieter scenes are peppered with laugh-out-loud humour and amusing exposition.
Of particular note too are the special effects, which make the turtles look mostly realistic and lead to some spectacular scenes, most notable of which is a breathtaking sequence with the turtles sliding down an icy cliff while fighting bad guys and armoured trucks.
I was genuinely surprised by how much I found myself laughing. Usually this sort of action-comedy hybrid has me cringing, but many of the jokes and visual material was right on the button. Look out for an epic scene in an elevator near the end which is almost worth the ticket price alone!
It is the endearing Michelangelo (orange mask) who has most of the best lines, as the least mature of the bunch reminding us that they are ‘teenagers’ after all. Indeed, the film managing to nail each of the turtles’ individual personalities is another triumph. Raphael (red mask) is the moody one who prefers to let his fists do the talking, Donatello (purple mask) is the computer nerd who relies on technology more than martial arts, while Leonardo (blue mask) is the natural leader who has the respect of his brothers.
Although primarily in the anchor role as eye candy (as always), Fox actually manages to show some acting competence in the film as the reporter struggling to break a story that her bosses see as a dead end. While it’s still difficult to take anything she says seriously (the memories of Transformers are too fresh), this is far from her worse performance.
Unfortunately, there were a few disappointments with the viewing. Most notably, my dislike for choosing City Centre as my multiplex of choice was vindicated by the family behind me deciding to bring their far-too-young son to see the movie.
When his attention span wavered and he wanted to play games on his mother’s phone, of course it had to be with the volume turned up. Not only that, but it appeared the back of my chair was a more comfortable seat than the one assigned to him.
That’s before I even mention the gentleman sat on our row who decided to take ‘selfies’ with the flash on and answer a call mid-movie, or even the stream of people who left before the film has even finished. I know cinema etiquette is a little different in this part of the world ... but it gets to a stage where it’s beyond silly and general human courtesy is in order.
Despite my irritating experience, I thoroughly enjoyed this reboot and would highly-recommend it as a thrilling action-comedy mash-up. Days later, the topic of conversation in the office is still about the film and where the sequel might go.
It will no doubt be the biggest gap between first and second dates in history, but this ‘bromance’ can wait!
* Showing in Cineco, Seef I, Seef II
