Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Apr 1, 2017 13:08:46 GMT
Chalice_Of_Evil and lostinlimbo like this
Post by stefancrosscoe on Apr 1, 2017 13:08:46 GMT
"Where do they come up with this stuff?"
New York City have become the latest victim of a crime spree, set out by a brutal and highly skilled underground organization. And with little or no help from the Police Department, the citizens have only themselves to rely on.
But unexpected help rises from the sewers, as four concerned residents decides to stand up against the unstoppable and faceless army, known as the Foot clan.
As a kid and growing up in the early 90s, and having somebody asking you what you wanted to do the rest of your life, the answer would very often be: "I want to become a mutant ninja turtle."
You know, living in the sewers of New York City and eating nothing but pizza all day, and then go out at night time and beat up a whole bunch of criminals.
Of course my mum and dad grew tired of hearing this from me and my friends, so as a firefighter my dad had a friend who did a lot video taping of the city sewers in Oslo, you check safety and that everything was all right downstairs. And he decided to show me this clip of how a sewer really looked like.
Turned out it was very far away from cozy and friendly sewers in the Turtles cartoon show.
Instead of a nice enviroment, you had to deal with stuff like gas leaks, rats the size of a cat, lots of bugs, raw sewage and often very dangerous and tight/small places.
It kind of put a serious dent to my childhood dreams of moving down and live all happily in the sewers of New York, but I still wanted to become a crime fighting turtle and master the secret art of ninja.
Back then, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was HUGE.
Between 1987-1993 the Turtle-mania seemed to be an unstoppable force.
They were almost everywhere and every possible thing that could be linked up to the product, seemed to be sellable.
Through toys, foods/drinks, TV-shows, video games, clothes, music, movies, bathroom articles, comics and it had become such a big and powerful thing of a sales product, that even the mighty Disney caved in and gave entry to their very own, Turtles themed park from (1990-1996).
For me, I was a bit too young to remember if Turtles broke through in the late 80s in my country (Norway) that is, but I do remember that my first taste of Turtle-mania came through the awesome 1987-1996 TV-show (the longest running cartoon show on TV before The Simpsons broke it later on) and I was instantly hooked by just watching the epic intro and hearing that incredible catchy theme song (written by Chuck Lorre, yeah the guy behind sitcoms such as Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory).
This was around fall 1990 (I think) and it was a show like no other on TV.
None of us kids knew back then that the original Turtles comics was based on a parody/tribute to comics such as Dare Devil and Frank Miller's Ronin, written by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. I did not know before early 2001, and it was a pretty cool surprise, as the original Turtles, black and white comics was much more graphic/gritty and very violent, compared to the more "cheesy" and kids themed showed, that I grew up with.
Anyway, Turtles was the big deal, even girls in my class loved the show, and from fall 1990 and up to spring/summer of 1994, every weekend I (along with probably every other 5-11 year old kid) sat around, eagerly and awaited for a brand new episode.
Now, when you are 5-6 years old and you hear the news that there will be a Live Action movie based on your favorite show, it was like waiting for Christmas.
Only that you knew or at least had a certain knowledge of what to expect.
Turned out that Steve Barron the director and his crew decided to go completely against the more "watered" down kids show, and instead go straight to the original source, by making a full movie based on Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman's far violent/dark comics, which must have taken a lot of guts, considering that the money men in Hollywood would probably hope to see out a far more commercial and child proof film, to cash in on the Ninja Turtles craze, as effectively as possible.
And when learning that Barron would go against that, it must have heated things up quite a bit.
In the end, it payed off big time. With a budget around 10-11 million dollars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would end up as one of the biggest hits of the 90s.
The chances of seeing the film, either on the cinema or by home rental movie, was very slim. As the film (in my country) had gotten a rating that said: 15 years and older.
The waiting part was pure torture, as I felt like the only kid on the whole planet who had not seen the film, and got little backing from my mum who hated the Turtles and everything related, but my big chance for success came when my dad and I were home alone, and we ended up renting it on VHS in 1992, only to find out that the film was damaged.
I was so angry and disappointed, that I began tro cry, and even though my dad tried his best to comfort me, it felt like I was never gonna see the film.
Thankfully, older brothers can be of a good use, as one of my classmates had a 13 year old big brother who was the lucky owner of a VHS copy of the Turtles film, and as a result, 12 kids sat around in a dark and very small basement, all quiet and full of tension awaiting for the movie we all had talked about for over a year.
Of course (everybody had already seen the film, at least 50-100 times before). In the end, turned out that nobody had seen it before.
We were not let down, this movie was awesome.
From the epic intro and seeing the live action Turtles for the first time, to witnessing in awe, the most bad ass movie version yet of The Shredder.
The way he first enters the scene along with music playing in the background.
It was like my generations first glimpse of classic movie villains such as Darth Vader or the Joker.
This was not the silly, goofy Shredder you knew from the cartoons, being a damn sidekick to a talking, purple brain.
No, this was a truly menacing, evil bastard who took use of kids and outcasts and turned them into doing the dirty work for him, and when not delivering the goods, he would show them no mercy.
Then you have his loyal, second in command, Master Tetsu (boy what a lunatic that guy was). Who might at first strike you as a bit of a hilarious figure, with his funny grunts and antics, but all that were soon to be forgotten the moment we see him almost kill one of his young students in a savage attack, only because the student showed him respect by bowing in front of his teacher:
"Never lower your eyes to an enemy!"
And that was a big surprise too, as the Foot soldiers were not some dumb, mindless robots that got put down by one blow to the head, and then exploded like in the TV-show.
No these were real human beings. Kids and teenagers that came from broken homes or had a tough time in life, being brought into the evil Foot clan by the promise of a better life.
Even now in my early 30s, I still love this film and I was very glad when I saw it around 2001 that the movie had held up far better than most of my other childhood favorite movies, I mean compared to stuff like Batman & Robin, The Power Rangers movies or 3 Ninjas and so on, Turtles felt like a cinematic masterpiece.
The fight sequences was very well done, the costumes/special effects too and it did really come off as more than just a typical "kid" movie, with a lot of rather brutal scenes, bad language and a tone/atmosphere that were a long way from the cartoon show of the time, and as a result it did cause a lot of riot among parents, which sadly ended up with having one sequel more watered down after another.
I liked the 2007 Turtles movie, and I went in "hoping" for the best with the new version of 2014, but the only positive thing I can remember from it, was seeing the lovely behind of Megan Fox, hanging out of a car window. I have not bothered with the 2016 sequel, even though it comes with a lot figures from the 1987-1996 TV-show.
What I enjoy most of the 1990 movie, is not the just the fighting scenes or the nostalgia but how many of the small and really well done/written parts that it includes, and seem to capture a more mature/tender side, such as this beautiful little scene with Master Splinter and Raphael.
"I have tried to channel your anger, Raphael, but more remains. Anger clouds the mind. Turned inward it is an unconquerable enemy."