Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) - Jonathan Liebesman

Darkness has fallen on New York City as the criminal group, The Foot Clan, runs amok with little resistance from the outgunned and undermanned police force.  With  the evil sensei, Shredder, behind this new menacing threat, New York City's future has never been grimmer.  That's until four unlikely outcasts, giant mutant ninja turtle brothers, rise from the sewers to protect New York City's innocent, parterning with ambitious reporter April O'Neil to save the city from Shredder's diabolical plan.  Jonathan Liebesman's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a fast-paced, dumb action film that puts action first and narrative a distant second, struggling from never knowing what it wants to be.  The film desperately tries to appeal to both children and its older built-in fanbase, sacrificing its character development for a barrage of disorienting action, quips, and product-placement.  Outside of one thrilling and fun action set-piece that takes place in a snowy Moutain setting, Liebesman's direction is very poor, with nausiating action sequences that are hard to follow and quite frankly head-ache inducing.   The narrative of Teenage Mutan Ninja Turtles isn't bound to appease many fans of the original, with a storyline that centers around Megan Fox's laughably ambitious and uninteresting reporter persona that simultaneously makes Shredder basically an after thought in its uninteresting and generic narrative.  The one thing the film does get right is the wise-cracking Michelangelo, who is easily the highlight of the film, delivering fun quips that breakup the otherwise over-serious tone of the film.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles isn't directed by Michael Bay but his fingerprints are all over the film - and no, that isn't a good thing.   

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