It has increasingly become the norm for big production houses to think of a popular comic book as the goose that lays the golden eggs. But an answer to why they are not making an attempt to retain the USP of the original comic still eludes us. Barring a couple of spectacular action set-pieces, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles adaptation, starring Megan Fox as Channel 6's lifestyle reporter April O’Neil, is a hollow attempt at making an action film based on the comic about four mutant turtles named after Renaissance painters and trained in martial arts by a wise, mutant rodent. The characters are re-imagined as more ‘real’ and more ‘human’, pulling the film further from the breezy, non-serious vibe of the original.
The comic has been distorted considerably to fit the blockbuster formula, which goes: aspire to be profoundly deep, talk about the economy and the state of the world, but also water it down considerably to appeal to all audiences, including kids.
If one is in the mood to deconstruct, the film could be interpreted as one with a feminist core: how a young female reporter, in a desperate bid to get a major story, stumbles upon a group of four vigilante humanoid turtles fighting the dangerous mafia, Foot Clan, in New York City. Or as a message about the dangers of big pharmaceutical companies creating and exploiting human tragedies to reap profits.
Though one doesn't expect a masterpiece from filmmaker Jonathan Liebesman, whose speciality is making barely watchable films such as Battle: Los Angeles or from producer and filmmaker Michael Bay, who loves aliens, car chases and explosions, it is still inexcusable to blatantly plug consumer products in the narrative, such as pizza and lingerie brands.
Yet, when the film tries to be non-serious, it works. If you can get past the grotesque close-up images of the turtles and the rodent (children need parental guidance for sure), the film becomes interesting: the long sequence in the snow (with superb special effects) where April, her colleague Vernon Fenwick (Will Arnett), and the four turtles in a large truck are chased by the bad guys shooting indiscriminately from their Humvees is not only a spectacle, but also funny. The turtles make use of their shells to fight and slide across the ground, reinforcing their superiority over non-mutated humans.
But, for the most part, the film takes a dive into the deep sea, killing the goose once and for all.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Storyline: Four mutated turtles fight a dreaded mafia in New York City
Bottomline: Apart from some spectacular stunt scenes, the film dives into the deep sea.
