Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

[Deckard]

Thought many people really enjoyed Battle: LA.

I know I did. If he can come close to some of the heart I thought that film had I'd be happy. The least interesting thing in that film to me was the aliens because I thought Harvey Dent and how he earned the respect of those troops was done well.

It got horrible reviews here, 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. I thought it was terrible but no where near as bad as Wrath of the Titans. That is one of the worst movies I've actually ever seen and what has me really worried.

 

[GodzillaSpawn]

It got horrible reviews here, 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. I thought it was terrible but no where near as bad as Wrath of the Titans. That is one of the worst movies I've actually ever seen and what has me really worried.

Yeah, Wrath of the Titans still has me pissed off. Commercial looked so cool. I love greek mythology. But I had a feeling it was always going to be a turd.

 

[Deckard]

Clash was bad but Wrath took it to the next level.

 

[BuddyGus]

I thought Battle:LA was good for what it was. And as a Marine, I feel I was very critical of it.

 

[Deckard]

Meh, 35 on RT, 37 on Metacritic, 5.8 on IMDB. I just thought the movie was incredibly dumb. The writing, the dialogue. It was just a very mediocre Independance Day without the talented actors. No character development, horrible dialogue etc.

IMO the director hasn't made a good movie.

 

[Bardoon]

It's the designs, the fact Bay is attached, the fact that they are intentionally pushing back a trailer and toy reveals so it doesn't interfere with Transformers. Shredder is a white man, Megan Fox can't act for her life. They are ninjas not samurai, do you know the differance? How can a ninja sneak around or do a flip or high kick in jeans and a proton pack? The only turtles that dress this stupid are action figure gimmick variants. Bay just wanted an excuse for all 4 to have a foot long dangly thing between their legs. Mike's jeans, Raph's loin cloth etc. ***** jokes already. Raphs clearly the weightlifting token black guy. Learned their lessons? Is that why they are still making Transformers 4 that looks the same if not far worse than the originals.

Or is it the director who inspires confidence with his resume of horrible soulless garbage?

2012 Wrath of the Titans

2011 Battle Los Angeles

2009 The Killing Room

2006 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

Using GI Joe or Transformers as a positive is the saddest arguement ever.

Do you actually know that there is no historical recording of ninjas ever wearing black garb? That it's actually more of an artistic representation and popularized by the media? Do you know history's most famous ninja Hanzo Hattori actually is depicted in period art dressed as a samurai and was actually a master of SPEAR fighting?

First off, this is a movie. If you're going to ask how they sneak around with a proton pack then you might as well ask how four giant mutant turtles can exist anyways. Your point is moot as reality is going to be stretched and skewed for the benefit of the movie. Shredder will probably be stealthy even though he looks like the offspring of a box of nails and a tank. The Turtles are also TEENAGERS, it's in the name and it goes with their characters to want to look hip and cool, especially Mikey.

I can understand your hesitance with Bay's involvement and the director's track record. I thought Battle LA was pretty good but I suppose others didn't. Is Megan Fox the best choice for April? Nope but they could have gotten worse!

As for those jeans, clearly the Turtles will be wearing this pair:

 

[Deckard]

If you're going to ask how they sneak around with a proton pack then you might as well ask how four giant mutant turtles can exist anyways. Your point is moot as reality is going to be stretched and skewed for the benefit of the movie.

Han Solo is just a human that exists in a big tech advanced galaxy. That doesn't mean he can run 500 mph on the ground with his human legs.

Captain America can't fly like Superman.

Who said anything about ninjas in black, I'm saying that when you're calling them Ninja Turtles, don't dress them like Samaruais, or Medieval Knights, or robots for that matter. And it is Ninja Turtles according to that official banner. They aren't teenaged in this one.

 

[Bardoon]

So dress them buck naked with belts only? Cause that's more ninja-like? Traditional Japanese ninjas actually wore samurai armor. Read up on it if you don't believe me. The armor they're designed with looks efficient and lightweight to me and even though it's scrap at least it is TRUE to their Japanese martial art roots.

I'm sure if the ninja turtles originally looked like this in the 80's then there would be less fussing. Fans need to realize that their idealized looks of characters WILL NEVER stand the test of time. They will always be changing and film makers as ARTISTS will always want to put out their interpretation. I would redesign the Turtles' looks if I was in charge just as much as these guys have.

Last I heard it was back to being called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I know at first they were going with Ninja Turtles and have been dancing back and forth on the name and promotional material was created with that title but they're still thinking about the final title. Have they confirmed it as Ninja Turtles now?

 

[Deckard]

I'm sure if the ninja turtles originally looked like this in the 80's then there would be less fussing. Fans need to realize that their idealized looks of characters WILL NEVER stand the test of time. They will always be changing and film makers as ARTISTS will always want to put out their interpretation. I would redesign the Turtles' looks if I was in charge just as much as these guys have.

Another person who obviously does not watch Nick's TMNT. You sir, are a bad Turtle fan.

It is far superior to the campy 80s movie, the over the top dumb 80s cartoon, and certainly will be better than this trainwreck.

 

[Bardoon]

I have watched Nick's TMNT and I agree, it's much better than the 80's cartoon but I don't think it's better than the 2003 series.

I know the turtles look virtually the same as they have and that's great, I'm just illustrating that those designs will not always be prevalent in the different forms of media and you're gullible if you think they will ALWAYS look how you want them to.

 

[Deckard]

Sorry but even still, thats a load of ****.

The Turtles have always been drawn a certain way. "naked" as you call it. There is no need to change that short of selling action figures and thats exactly why they look like they do. They messed with Spiderman in ASM and look how that went.

Standing the test of time? Thats exactly what these movie designs won't do and the classic "naked" ones will.

 

[GasparZizou]

Those turtles don't really look a bit like samurais though.

 

[Deckard]

Leo, Donnie, and Shredder sure do.

 

[GasparZizou]

Nah, Shredder has always looked like a samurai, but none of the turtles do, what? The little chopstick armor? The shoulder pads or whatever? These are very sporadic pieces of "armor", Samurais have a specific looking armor and nothing the turtles are wearing looks anything close to it, besides, they wouldn't be the 1st ninjas to be wearing some kind of protection, nor the heavier armored ones in pop culture history.

It's not forbidden for ninjas to wear some armor here and there.

 

[teemu]

Is it the designs that concern you or that the movie can be crap? What's worries you more?

The stakeholders have far more to lose than gain. A good movie equates to more attention which equals more profit and MONEY!

Also, I like to use G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra as an example of how to do a successful 80's toy line/cartoon movie wrong. It turned into a disaster and you see how Hasbro almost did a 180 with Retaliation. But the damage was already done. They tried to portray ROC as a toy commercial for their figures and vehicles and it bungled everything both as a movie and a toyline. Hasbro even made a "sequel" toy line called Pursuit of COBRA where they went back to the more militaristic designs that fans know and love. They struggled with the sequel and even delayed it to try and touch it up a bit. Was Retaliation a great success? No. But it was closer to GI Joe's roots and away from the Power Ranger spoof that was ROC. I'm sure the crew of the TMNT movie are well aware of how things go wrong.

Sorry,but Retardation sucked! and wasn't much better than the 1st pile of crap (Rise of crap) they did...the biggest problem with these new films is moving away from the source and not sticking with what always worked (even if there is a little camp involved) The original TMNT movie is a great example of this and still being a fun/good movie for it's time.

and I am sure they'll screw up Masters of the Universe too when that gets it's release

 

[Deckard]

Nah, Shredder has always looked like a samurai, but none of the turtles do, what? The little chopstick armor? The shoulder pads or whatever? These are very sporadic pieces of "armor", Samurais have a specific looking armor and nothing the turtles are wearing looks anything close to it,QUOTE]

Every leaked dsc of Leo before the pics were leaked described him as "In samurai armor". That was the first vibe I also got upon seeing it, but it's not just me. Granted, it isn't TMNT3 bad, but it's still pretty obvious.

 

[thenammagazine]

Do you actually know that there is no historical recording of ninjas ever wearing black garb? That it's actually more of an artistic representation and popularized by the media? Do you know history's most famous ninja Hanzo Hattori actually is depicted in period art dressed as a samurai and was actually a master of SPEAR fighting?

That's not exactly the truth. There're quite a few old Japanese paintings that depict "ninja" in the black outfits.

 

[Bardoon]

That's not exactly the truth. There're quite a few old Japanese paintings that depict "ninja" in the black outfits.

Yes but those were early artistic interpretations to convey a sense of invisibility. Which was borrowed from puppet theater handlers who wore black as to give the viewer the impression that they were not there. These outfits were further popularized for ninja thanks to Kabuki theater.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinobi_shōzoku

There is no written history that supports the "black ninja outfits".

Also, here's some ancient "ninja armor" at a Japanese museum. If it is indeed for ninja, you'll notice it is overall lightweight and constructed with chain mail. The chest piece is one seen used by foot soldiers and poorer samurai and the armored sleeves would be layered with shoulder armor on traditional samurai armor. A ninja would wear armor like this under his disguise.

 

[thenammagazine]

^^^ That looks black to me.

These pics seem to disagree with you:

 

[Deckard]

Where did the arguement about black outfits originate anyway. He made it back as a point to me, but I never brought up color to begin with.