Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows - C4

By Jason Best
( What's on TV )
published

Michelangelo tucks into his favourite food, pizza
(Image credit: © 2016 Paramount Pictures. All)

The sewer-dwelling heroes are back for another rollicking live-action adventure. 3/5 stars

This sequel to 2014's reboot sees the band of pizza-loving giant turtles again teaming up with their journalist friend April (Megan Fox) and again tangling with their evil ninja foe Shredder.

This time, they also have to contend with the supervillain's mutant henchmen Bebop and Rocksteady, two dumb thugs transformed into a talking walking warthog and rhino, and with megalomaniac intergalactic warlord Commander Krang, who doesn't just threaten their beloved New York but the future of the planet as well.

It's empty-headed nonsense, of course, but the action has a rowdy vigour and the turtles' boisterous high spirits will please fans.

Jason Best
Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.