I don’t know if the casting director was aware of how apropos (not ironic) it was to have Elias Koteas appear in Defendor, a film about a mentally unstable vigilante. Those who follow one of my favourite Canadian actors’ career will remember that 20 years ago Elias starred as masked vigilante Casey Jones in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And not only was he playing the hockey stick weilding maniac, he was also playing the romantic lead. Talk about a versatile script!
The movie itself was quasi-loyal to the source material, following the escapades of 4 mutated turtles named after renaissance painters and trained in the secret art of ninjutsu by a Japanese rat named Splinter. These teenagers then take their ninja skills, weapons and attitude and hit the streets to fend off a crime spree orchestrated by an ancient society known as The Foot. The Foot, as coincidence would have it, are lead by the same man that killed Splinter’s owner/master, and when The Foot kidnap Splinter, the stage is set for some serious vendetta blood oath violence with swords, knives, sticks and – that’s right – nunchucks; a blood-free bloodbath with a PG rating.
Not to be confused with the sequel that features Vanilla Ice, this movie took make-up effects involving anthropomorphic turtles about as far as they could go. I love this movie, I don’t even consider it a guilty pleasure.
Oh! And I totally forgot the sweet little role for a young Sam Rockwell!
I was a youngin’ I don’t remember much of anything about the movie except it was a fun time! I need to see this again, for the nostalgia factor.
This movie fits right into what Darren was talking about with superhero movies not needing to be super dark. There were some macabre elements in here, with murder and kidnapping and whatnot, but it was totally handled in a fun lighthearted fashion. Good times…on a half-shell.
Thanks for the link. I’ll confess I enjoyed it. Was it the third sequel where they went to medeval Japan, or was I dreaming that as an eight-year-old is wont to do?
No, you didn’t imagine that… I was actually just watching the first one with my mother in law last night and she got so into it that she was asking if I had any of the sequels on hand to watch. I warned her off and threw on the recent CG TMNT instead. Except as we were watching it, cool as it might be, it has very little to do with the spirit of the first three live action films.
Ninja Ninja RAP RAP-Go Ninja Go Ninja Go!
I actually like the whole trilogy and I’m not afraid to say it, though the first is certainly the best.
And as a young girl I had a HUGE crush on Casey Jones, and thought Michelangelo was the funniest turtle in the universe.
I could only ever justify buying the first one for my collection – I get enough flack for owning that one as it is.
I think if you can put your head in a zone where a movie where mutated turtles engage in PG-rated mortal combat at a nightclub while Vanilla Ice sings along is totally cool, it help explain to the younger generation just how strange the 90s were.
Mikey was always my favourite too. An early herald for a whole new generation of pizza-loving slackers.
I bought all three movies at walmart for like 10 bucks about a year ago. And there is NOTHING better than reliving some of your fondest childhood memories! I love these movies and the great thing is my kid loves them too. The turtles are still AWESOME!
Picking up all 3 for 10 bucks would be totally sweet! Despite the lack of CG effects, there is definitely a timeless quality to a bunch of teenagers who eat pizza and play with ninja weapons all day. What did you think of the CG reboot?