Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 - Splinter, Shredder, and Ninja "Blings"

Saw the 3rd trailer to this TMNT "reboot" (it is a reboot isn't it? I'm guessing so) some days ago when it came out... and I couldn't be more hyped to see this than I already am. You should be too, and I'm going to help you find out why.

Being only a trailer there is usually not much to go on due to either the small amount of content that is shown or purposefully edited plot ambiguity, but in this case there is much that can be said indeed.

First of all, you need to be some form of TMNT fan in one way or another to appreciate some details, some more than others I guess (like Ralphs depiction in all posters, always facing in an opposite direction to the rest of them even when all that is shown is simply their hands and weapons).

(Check out the trailer bellow to get in touch with the points I am making if you have not already seen it)

1) The Turtle Faces - Some are after the impression they toned them down till this trailer came out, or made changes. Highly unlikely as it would have been a lot of re-editing and costume work on their behalf, but who knows.

I don't think they toned them down since we did have access to some sneak peeks. Furthermore even in the first trailer Leo looked exactly the same and damn he looks badass. There wasn't much to go on with Ralph and Don but the sneaks gave the impression that they were all a little different to each other. I reserved judgement till I saw more footage, and I have to say it looks great.

Provided Don looks a little like a grandma however. They probably went for a "grandpa" look with him being smart and all but those glasses kinda throw me off.

Other than that, facial features and costumes look varied and compliment each character to being something so much more than just the same design and different colours.

This could also tie in well with showing us scenes with the turtles without their masks.

Mike still has the bigger lips, but I remember plenty of iterations if not all where Mike was always the smooth and cool one. With his skateboard and all, he did remind of a black person back in the 80's and 90's and lets not forget how far back the turtles go (some may call this facial resemblance racist, I barely care about such stuff).

It is quite nice with this film how they are putting in each turtle characteristics from real life humans and lets face it, especially in the 90's and 80's, everyone thought black people were so cool and always had a smooth thing to say. On the contrary, it is far from being racist and in a way honorary.

Each turtle has his own style. And did I not already say it? They look badass.

2) Shredder... I reserved thoughts on this too, steering always clear of commenting on him since I was thinking that "we know nothing of Shredder and how it could turn out, this other guy could simply be the bond between Japan and America, he provides the weapons and tech, and the real Shredder might still yet have to be revealed"... Thankfully, this is what it is shaping up to be from the looks of it. Glad I reserved comments on it and was sceptical over what others thought. So far they seem to be doing justice to all our concerns one by one.

3) Splinter. I too was all over the place with this. I'm thinking "hell no, they wouldn't be that stupid to kill him off right? It is so risky that if they did something like this then they probably would have thought up of something really really impressive to allow them to do it, too risky... we can't be sure from this trailer."

Then Ralph says lets go save my brothers. That line gave me the impression that A) Splinter is alive but out of action as Ralph is talking to him (possibly, and April too unless I am mistaken). This Splinter out of action could work great for a plot as a "coming out of their shell" film for the Turtles, and B) Ralph was as always arguing with his brothers and off somewhere else alone to come back now and unite with them, which is also a great thing if they did it, Ralph was always an outcast (I also got this impression from the fact that Mike, Don and Leo are alone in their own shot, they are the only ones captured, and from Splinter giving that speech about unity.... I mean what else could be going on?).

Ralph is also a little more edgy even towards April when Leo (I think) tells him to back off. Posters, lines, shots, it all points to this plot structure however this is all speculation after all.

Lastly, it is a trailer. Seriously? They would be that stupid to introduce and kill off one of the main characters to the entire franchise in a TRAILER? Think people think.

  

  

4) Shredder gets an armour upgrade... Something tells me we might see him in a more traditional armour as well. Perhaps even being beaten by the Turtles a first time and later forming an alliance to come back? I'm just making assumptions here. Who knows. Either way, the line "lets get your armour an upgrade" justifies the new Shredder look as well in many ways. 

They didn't even need to put in the line, they could simply have popped him in with this new armour. These are all extra kudos to the makers of the film on fan service.

5) They are not Aliens (some people are still stuck on that believe it or not, even thought the film naming was changed more than a year ago from Ninja Turtles to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). They were thinking about going another way once, but listened to fan feedback and that is always a good sign from any such studio. They go as far as even including in their own trailer the lines "so they are aliens"... "no, that is stupid, they are turtles"... Ok, they even went as far as calling their own initial thought stupid. That is fan service right there.

6) The visuals look amazing, the detail on their costumes gives so much character to each and every one of them, Mikes ninja "blings", Don's entire rust bucket attic machinery collection of gadgets, Ralphs "bandanna" look (which is more ninja like too... the glasses on it look pretty cool too and fit the "outlaw" style of Ralph), even the Japanese characters painted on their shells or Don's eye bands, and pretty much all other traditional elements, Leo's chest armour, Don's waist armour, differentiation in gloves and weapon details (Japanese writing on Ralphs sai, and that traditional Katana finish always gets me). Even the small NYC badge on Leo.

Whilst the shells.... What is seen cannot be unseen. I can't imagine them with smaller shells any more. They look, amazingly badass. (For those that said ninjas are meant to be small and stealthy... your skills make you a ninja, not your size.)

Every attention to detail looks awesome. And yes, it's Michael Bay, but I seriously don't get what the big deal is with him.

All I ever noticed is that his action sequences are a little too ahead of their time for some. To me they looked great. His signature rotating shots are simply his signature "filming technique" and calling someone out for having a style is really absurd. Especially when these shots are cool and work great in so many ways. They partially add up to 360 visual shots of characters too and setting a location bearing of an action sequence.

Definitely worthy of being a part of a TMNT film (as I noticed that they probably are from the trailer)

 7) Verdict. Plot seems to keep true to the TMNT heroes and characters that we know of, visuals have upgraded them to look a million times better than they ever did, their style seems comical as well as serious (as they were), fan service is there to comfort the skeptics and the overall feeling they created from a trailer alone is as Ninja Turtle as it could be. With so many itterations of this franchise out there and each side hating on another, this isn't exactly the easiest of franchises to film either. So kudos to what they have delivered to us so far from the little we have seen.

Here is to hoping the film lives up to expectations, though I would be lying if I said I am not hyped. Fingers crossed.

They're back it seems and still in style... Go Ninja Go Ninja Go......!!!

Here is the trailer itself for those that missed it:

And here the older trailers too... for those that missed out on those as well (both pretty much the same thing with different endings) :

(I can't help but wonder, it's been 30 years, how come they are still teenagers? Something about turtle years I'm guessing?)

p.s.... yes, Megan Fox was probably cast for her looks and not her acting skills.... And? This was not a problem for so many other films out there before this (much more serious films, I mean, how did Raz Al Ghul's daughter die in TDK trilogy and her whole acting? That was lame... and don't get me started on the female version of Adam Sandler, Milla Jovovich) and people have a problem with Megan Fox in a movie with mutant turtles that are teenagers with a mutant father-figure sensei rat and are also ninjas? lol. Not defending her but come on people, you all have embraced much worse.