The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trailer Is Here: What Do You Think?

  • 28 March 2014

After all the rumours, criticism and general feelings of nervous anticipation ,a teaser trailer for the upcoming ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ has been released. In the clip, which is only a minute and a half, we get our first real idea of what to expect from the upcoming reboot. So is it time to finally put our anxieties about the new Turtles to rest, or is the fate of our heroes worse than we could have ever imagined?

Image caption Leonardo is ready for action

The synopsis reads, ‘The city needs heroes. Darkness has settled over New York City as Shredder and his evil Foot Clan have an iron grip on everything from the police to the politicians. The future is grim until four unlikely outcast brothers rise from the sewers and discover their destiny as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Turtles must work with fearless reporter April and her wise-cracking cameraman Vern Fenwick to save the city and unravel Shredder’s diabolical plan.’ Which doesn't give too much away, but we also know the movie will focus more on the Turtle’s origins.

Next page: Megan Fox in the trailer

The trailer begins with scenes of New York City where ‘crime, violence and fear’ are now running rampant. The voice over is done by Shredder in his original guise of Eric Sachs, who tells April O’Neil (Megan Fox) that ‘people want heroes’. He goes on to tell her that ‘heroes are not born they are created. That’s what your father and I were trying to do’. This is an indication that it was he, along with April’s father who created the Turtles. Why he was once working with April’s father to stop crime is something we’re still trying to work out.

Image caption Donatello, sans mask, still scary

In a very 21st century nod, April is seen with a camera phone as the reporter films some of the violence surrounding her. We also see Sachs looking at his Shreader suit. which thankfully looks plainer that was first suggested by the leaked toy designs. As it is a Michael Bay movie there is of course plenty of explosions, pieces of buildings falling off and things on fire. Although he might not be in the director’s chair, his influence is certainly going to weigh heavy on the end product.

One thing that’s very notable while watching this with 90s Turtle fan eyes is, it all looks pretty dark, almost gritty. This time the Turtles are aimed at a more mature audience and here it really shows. We remember them eating pizza and saying cowabunga, there's not even a pizza slice in shot here. Still it looks as if the opportunity for laughs isn't going to be passed up as demonstrated when Michelangelo takes off his mask in an attempt to reassure a terrified April (it doesn't work). Actually April seems to be frozen in terror throughout, but maybe that's just Megan Fox.

Image caption Megan Fox in the Turtles Trailer

As for the Turtles themselves, they actually don't look as bad as we were led to imagine they might. They’re certainly scarier than ever before and extra emphasis seems to given on the ‘mutant’ aspect. Compared to the foamy looking Turtle suits of the 90s, these guys look like they’re made from real hard muscle. It's more realistic of course, well as much as any mutant Turtle could be. But the characters loosing their softness might not really be in their best intrest. Doesn't it kind of remove their oringal charm?

Really from what we’ve seen it doesn't look too bad. The main problem might just lie in the very attempt to make it more adult. In the end they are ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, so if they take themselves too seriously it may backfire tremendously. As much as some people may want to hate it there are also Turtle fans who’ll want to love it as well. Neither parties will be able to give a solid verdict just yet. Either way this is one we're defintely going to be watching out for over the summer. For better or worse the '‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ have joined us in 2014, let's just hope its for the better. __

More: See photos from the 'TMNT' shoot in New York in our gallery.

More: First 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Trailer Released: Take A Look

Watch the trailer for 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' here:

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