Review: Back to 2014, a hard reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles re-introduced the Cowabunga brothers with a new light - not an anarchically explosive one, but still goofy and comical as it should be. Most criticism to the predecessor is aimed towards its dim-witty plot and its tendency to be ' April O'Neil and TMNT ' which really 'censors' audiences' craving towards the titular heroes.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows presents a slightly sheer improvement on its run. At least, the sub-title is honest in defining two major improvements the sequel has made. First, those turtles are finally going non-underground, partially leaving the traditional ninja's standard of operation, with garbage truck as a war-truck. Second, and most importantly, our titular characters are finally stepping out of Megan Fox's April O'Neil's shadow.
First of all, I might a little forget about the plot of the first TMNT, but I remember those Bay-inspired bayhems with tons of explosions, CGI-laden action sequences, and slo-mo highlight. To put it into synopsis, Shredder from the first movie unexpectedly escapes from judgment with excessive assistance of genius, Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) - which kinda reminds me of Richard Pryor's character on Superman III. Shredder also gets help from nihilistic alien - actually brains with tentacle - Krang, to make super-soldiers upon two dumb low-criminals, Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (Stephen Farrelly).
The plot is quite basic, although there are some sci-fi and philosophical gimmick. The humor is sometimes off the beat, but mostly hitting the right tones. The action sequences are basic; most of it are not choreographed well and offer nothing new to summer blockbuster pattern. TMNT 2 only serves a mediocre popcorn entertainment, in short.
TMNT 2 falls short in making enormous gap with its predecessor as it fails to dig up all the potentials. The 'Out of the Shadow' title could actually post a real issue to take into concerns, alas, it ends up as a non-impactful gimmick. Also, it has all the most hyped characters in TMNT universe: Casey Jones (Stephen Amell) with his hockey gear and, most importantly, Krang. In fact, Casey Jones ends up as one-hit-wonder sidekick and Krang is just disappointing.
The movie relies much on the goofy humor and once again without witty plot, just like its predecessor. But, at least, we still got more ninja turtles within its lengthy, tiring duration.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Adaptation Directed by:
