Behold: the next chapter in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. Megan Fox, Will Arnett, and William Fichtner return for duty, Brian Tee is the new Shredder, Tyler Perry replaces the no-name Baxter Stockman actor, Arrow‘s Stephen Amell is Casey Jones, and finally, Bebop and Rocksteady show up:
When the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action movie came out in 1990, it was the greatest thing ever for a kid, and the direct sequel feat. Vanilla Ice was a blast as well – except for one thing. Shredder created himself two mutants to fight at his side, but strangely (and because of legal conflicts), he didn’t pick his traditional companions Bebop and Rocksteady. Instead, we got Tokka and Rahzar, two dimwits created from a snapping turtle and a wolf respectively. They made acceptable additions, but for a kid it was such a disappointment. Thinking of the absolute turd that was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, they didn’t exactly hold kids’ wishes in the highest regard. The cheap third one did’nt even feature Tatsu. Then they released Part IV as an animated flick, titled TMNT. Having become a grown-up by then, I didn’t really care much for the guys anymore, but even though the choice of no-name villains sucked once again, it was actually a much better movie than the last one.
Anyway, the Jonathan Liebesman reboot from 2014 had a terrible design for the Turtles themselves, but the movie itself worked surprisingly well. It was never “good” as in “Raiders is good”, or “Captain America: The Winter Soldier is good”, but as simple, harmless summer entertainment mainly made for kids, it did its job. It was way better than the last three Transformers flicks, and each of the three big action scenes were fun. I was especially fond of the Silver Samurai version of the Shredder.
This sequel by David Green looks like an honest continuation. Finally, we get Bebop and Rocksteady, and they look rather great. Does the casting of Tyler Perry as Stockman imply that we get to see him transform into a human fly? And what’s with the swirling steel fragments? I bet the movie is going to end with a surprise visit of Krang and his Technodrome.