Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (9/20/2016)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence.

Starring Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Stephen Amell and Tyler Perry

Directed by David Green (Earth to Echo)

Turtles in a half shell? I would have preferred half the movie.

Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael are back to battle bigger, badder villains, alongside April O’Neil (Megan Fox), Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett), and a newcomer: the hockey-masked vigilante Casey Jones (Stephen Amell). After supervillain Shredder escapes custody, he joins forces with mad scientist Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) and two dimwitted henchmen, Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (WWE Superstar Stephen “Sheamus” Farrelly), to unleash a diabolical plan to take over the world. As the Turtles prepare to take on Shredder and his new crew, they find themselves facing an even greater evil with similar intentions: the notorious Krang.

OK let’s be clear, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Out of the Shadows is clearly aimed at 12-year-old boys. There are a lot of fart jokes, ninja fight scenes, childish dialogue and the ridiculous Megan Fox-in-slow-motion-revealing-outfit.

The 2014 film tried to be edgy and reach an older audience, and that was a disaster. Out of the Shadows is goofier…a lot goofier. The film opens with the turtles in the rafters of the arena watching a basketball game and they drop a piece of pizza on the court. The dialogue is also really silly and at times annoying, like when Leo says, “We live in the shadows”…over 57 times! But it’s not just the dialogue; the turtles’ personalities are over the top as well.

Maybe there is some ‘90s TMNT nostalgia with Bebop and Rocksteady, but their absurd dialogue and catchphrase – “My man!” is even more annoying than the turtles’ dialogue. They also added Stephen Amell who plays the hockey-obsessed vigilante Casey Jones,

Out of the Shadows is a simplistic and silly sequel that is worth seeing…but “Only if it’s Free.”

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
There is no sex or nudity. And the language is pretty mild.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is a sequel revolving around four mutant turtles in humanoid form with ninja skills. In this installment, the turtles fight against their old nemesis Shredder as well as the alien, Krang. The film is notably tamer than the first installment.

There are several scenes that involve the turtles engaging in hand-to-hand combat with ninjas.

CONVERSATION STARTER:

1. How would you describe the relationship between the four brothers?


2. How do they overcome their differences?

Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.



3. How did the Turtles demonstrate this kind of unity and teamwork?


4. How can you be an effective part of your church?