Jonathan Liebesman, Michael Bay, Josh Appelbaum, and anyone else involved in the casting, writing, production, or direction of the film should be beaten with their choice of a sword, a bo staff, sais, and nunchakus. I didn't think it was possible to ruin a franchise more thoroughly and absolutely than they did. Let's start from the beginning, shall we? The concept of the movie was a complete and total failure. From the introduction sequence of the film to the look and origin of the turtles and Splinter to the overall storyline to how April O'Neil's character would be integrated to the absence of other key characters (Casey Jones anyone?) to how the conflict would be established to the decision to show Shredder's face and eliminate part of the mystery behind his character... it was all bad. I would assume that after they had the preliminary blueprint for the film, they would begin the writing process. Oh man, the writing was terrible! The dialogue felt forced and disingenuous and the script made it just about impossible for any cast to save the film. The characters are not developed at all and the plot is developed even less. How about the casting decisions? Megan Fox? Really? What about Megan Fox screams April O'Neil? Nothing, that's what. Why not go for Emma Stone, Amy Adams, Isla Fisher, Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain, Christina Hendricks, Emma Stone, Karen Gillan, or Rachel Nichols to play everyone's favorite redheaded reporter? Any of them could've provided the appropriate overall look for the character and they all would have their own unique spin on the feel. Whether it be sense of humor, acting style, sensuality, etc. What they all have in common is that they all would've been a better choice than Megan Fox. Oh, and did I mention Emma Stone? Because why bother going after the one actress every single TMNT fan wanted to see in the movie when you can land a brunette with too much plastic surgery and not enough acting chops. Yeah, that makes sense. The casting decisions for the turtles was nearly as bad. Outside of Alan Ritchson (Raphael), none of the other turtles even remotely sounded like their characters and the casting of Johnny Knoxville as Leonardo may have been the worst decision of them all. So now we have a mediocre script and cast, maybe the cinematography and special effects will be good, right? Ha! That's funny. No, instead we got a combination of some of the worst shaky cam, cgi, and overall cinematography I've ever seen. Honestly, it feels almost as if some idiot studio exec gave $125 to some bums off of the street and told them to reboot this beloved franchise. Actually, no, I think they would've done a better job.
Review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
