Movie reviews: 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem' takes a decades-old franchise and makes it feel contemporary

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM: 3 ½ STARS

When I first heard there was a new “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie in the pipeline, I wondered, “Why?” From their beginnings as a superhero parody comic by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird to becoming a surprise cultural phenomenon, the anthropomorphic turtle brothers have been rebooted as a television show, toys and a bunch of movies.

The difference this time around is that “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” a new animated adventure now playing in theatres, captures the irreverent, rambunctious spirit of the comics that inspired it, without losing any of the heart that made turtle brothers— Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael—so beloved in the first place.

An origin story, the new movie is a coming of age for the resourceful Donatello (Micah Abbey), the charming Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr), the reliable Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu) and the brave Raphael (Brady Noon). Raised by a mutant rat named Splinter (Jackie Chan) in the sewers of New York, under the orders of their overprotective, adoptive father, they only visit the human world to gather supplies. Splinter does not trust humans, and fears for his son’s safety if they are exposed to the human world.

But the turtles are restless. They long to be accepted, to go to high school, to do the things they see human teenagers do on television and in movies.

“If we weren’t monsters, shunned by society, what would we do?”

On one of their clandestine visits to the city, they meet April O'Neil (Ayo Edebiri), an aspiring journalist who wants to tell their story.

“This is insane,” she says. “Turtles. Mutant. Karate. Teens. I want to know everything about you.”

Meanwhile, New York City is being terrorized by Superfly (Ice Cube), a mutant housefly with a plan to kill and capture all humans and turn all animals on Earth into mutants.

“Humans will be executed, enslaved, turned into food. Could be pets,” he says. “Any crazy thing you can think of, pitch it.”

Teaming with April, the turtles plan to take on Superfly and become heroes.

“We take out Superfly and then everyone will think we’re cool,” says Donatello. “They’ll accept us!”

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” has a loads of scrappy heroes-in-a-half-shell spirit. The gorgeous rough ‘n tumble animation is computer generated, but feels organic, like a mix of the hand-drawn aesthetic of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and Gerald Scarfe. It’s vibrant, exciting and will give your eyes a workout.

The story isn’t quite as exciting. It won’t take you anywhere really new, superhero movie wise, but it does update the TMNT lore. The use of actual teenagers to voice the four turtle brothers brings youthful energy that also adds some oomph and even poignancy to their coming-of-age/outsiders storyline.

The real stars of the show are Edebiri, Chan and Ice Cube. No longer just a supporting character, Edebiri gives April three-dimensions, with foibles–sometimes her nerves get the best of her—and objectives that help guide the story. Chan is very funny, but also humanizes the rat with his overly protective fatherly concerns. Ice Cube brings a considerable amount of swagger to the megalomaniac Superfly, spitting out his lines with humour and some cartoony menace.

Seven feature films in, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” does something kind of remarkable. It takes a decades-old franchise and makes it feels contemporary with humour and heart while still providing a nostalgic blast for long-time fans.

MEG 2: THE TRENCH: 2 STARS

Five years ago “The Meg,” a prehistoric creature feature starring a CGI shark and underwater actionman Jason Statham, took a US$500 million bite out of the worldwide box office. This weekend, Ben Wheatley, a director best known for the arthouse, satirical thrills of movies like ”High Rise” and “Kill List,” dives in for the sequel, hoping to make a splash by reteaming Statham with a super shark. Question is, will “Meg 2: The Trench” be fin-tastic or does it jump the shark?

The fishy business centres on billionaire philanthropist Jiuming (Wu Jing) and eco-warrior Jonas Taylor (Statham). Jiuming owns an oceanographic institute, home to its own captive Meg, a nickname for a megalodon—think Bruce the Shark from “Jaws” on steroids—once thought to have been extinct for about two million years. Taylor is a former U.S. Marine whose steely gaze is rivalled only by the dead eyes of the Meg.

The unlikely pair lead a dangerous mission to an “ancient ecosystem untouched by man,” an oceanic trench 25,000 feet under the surface of the ocean. The mission goes sideways when an illegal mining operation sets off an explosion that creates a breach in the thermocline, trapping Jiuming, Jonas and crew six kilometres deep, surrounded by colossal, Megs and all manner of aggressive, primordial undersea creatures.

“Three massive Megs and who knows what else have escaped the breach!”

Midway through “Meg 2: The Trench” Statham rasps, “This ain’t good.” It’s a meta moment that feels like the actor has broken the fourth wall to comment on the movie. He isn’t of course. The movie isn’t clever enough to have that kind of built-in self-awareness.

But he’s not wrong.

From the reams of cliched dialogue seemingly borrowed from other, better action movies and half-hearted homages to “Jaws” and “Jurassic Park” to the rehash of Statham Stock Character #2—the man with a past who must protect a young, innocent child—and lame attempts to create a catchphrase (“See you later chum.”), “Meg 2: The Trench” doesn’t add up to much until it becomes a creature feature in its last half hour. Even then, the alleged giant octopus is left mostly to the viewer’s imagination and seen only as a tentacle or two sticking out of the water.

“Meg 2: The Trench” spends much of its runtime underwater, which makes sense, because for 95 per cent of its running time, it’s all wet.

SHORTCOMINGS: 3 ½ STARS

The anti-rom com “Shortcomings,” a new film directed by Randall “Fresh Off the Boat” Park and now playing in theatres, is brave enough to centre its story around an annoying twerp whose pretentiousness is matched only by his negativity and the ignorant remarks that fall so effortlessly from his lips.

Based on the 2007 graphic novel by Adrian Tomine (who wrote the script), Justin H. Min plays the antisocial Ben, a wannabe filmmaker and Berkeley arthouse theater manager. He has lots of personality, all of it bad. He says in school he was discriminated against, but not because he is Asian.

“It was because of your inherent bad personality,” says his BFF Alice (Sherry Cola).

“Exactly,” he says.

When his long-suffering girlfriend Miko (Ally Maki) accepts a temporary internship across the country in New York, he uses their “break” to selfishly dip his toe back into the dating pool. He pursues Autumn (Tavi Gevinson), a young performance artist who works at his theatre, and strikes up a relationship with Sasha (Debby Ryan), a friend of Alice who just broke up with her girlfriend.

When he realizes that he didn’t know what he had until it was gone, it’s may be too late. “Is this your rock bottom,” asks Alice. “High school was my rock bottom,” he replies unconvincingly.

“Shortcomings” does a great job of making, and keeping, its main character as toxic as possible. Director Park and Min make no attempt to shave down Ben’s rough edges, or make him more agreeable. But as unlikable as the self-loathing character is, he is compelling in his toxicity. Min is fearless in his portrayal of Ben’s foibles and flaws, and yet you feel empathy for him because he is so lost.

As Alice says, “change is hard for a**holes like us,” and it’s up in the air if Ben has it in him to put in the effort to embrace the change that will make his life better. It’s an unbending character you don’t normally find in movies with a romantic edge.

Clocking in at just under ninety minutes, Park’s economical film is stacked with ideas.

“Shortcomings” delivers laughs—Ben and Alice are a playful odd couple—and examines cultural expectations, but it really succeeds because of its uncompromising character study.

A COMPASSIONATE SPY: 3 ½ STARS

“A Compassionate Spy,” a new documentary from director Steve “Hoop Dreams” James, should work as a compelling companion piece for audiences in an Atomic Age state of mind after seeing “Oppenheimer.”

Like “Oppenheimer,” the documentary’s main character is a nuclear physicist. Ted Hall was an 18-year-old Harvard undergrad when he was brought on to help Robert Oppenheimer and his team create a bomb as part of the Manhattan Project in 1944.

Three years later he met, and courted Joan, a left-leaning undergrad at the University of Chicago. They connected quickly, but his marriage proposal came with a catch. He quietly told her that he didn’t share the jubilation felt by his scientist colleagues for their part in ushering in the Atomic Age.

Disgusted by the destructive power of the bomb he helped build, he attempted to level the playing field between super powers by leaking secrets to the Soviet Union. He felt if both countries had nuclear access the idea of mutually assured destruction would keep either from hitting the button.

(SIDENOTE: In “Oppenheimer” the Manhattan Project spy was reported to be German theoretical physicist Klaus Fuchs.)

Joan, who appears in the film, agrees to keep Ted’s secret, and does as they raise a family under a campaign of intimidation by the FBI, in a marriage that lasts more than 50 years. Using Joan’s words coupled with (sometimes overtly) dramatic recreations, archival footage and a tell-all, never-before-seen video, taped before Ted’s 1999 death, “A Compassionate Spy” details their life together and the lengths they went through to keep their secret.

Set to a soundtrack of Ted and Joan’s favorite music—Mahler, Mozart and Schumann—“A Compassionate Spy” is part family drama, part historical drama and part hagiography of a controversial and complex person. Like any good espionage story there are plenty of unexpected twists and turns, mostly told in first hand by people who were there. It’s the personal touch that elevates the story from historical and geopolitical tell-all to a different, and in many ways, more compelling story of intergenerational secrecy.

The political underpinnings of Hall’s actions are observed and commented on by historian Daniel Axelrod and physicist Michio Kaku, but the title gives away the filmmaker’s point of view. “A Compassionate Spy” is a forgiving look at Hall, painting him as a man who acted against zealous nationalism, not against his country.

“A Compassionate Spy” is a very compelling story knocked down a notch or two by an overuse of dramatizations. They don’t add much to the overall presentation, and often reduce the power of the interviews. Nonetheless, the story of one man who changed the world, for better and for worse, and why, is one worth telling.