9.0/10. Oh hell yes, Captain Rex! I enjoyed so much that was going on in this episode that I didn't even care it doesn't really function well as an individual episode rather than a series of moments. Those moments are so enjoyable, and laden with meaning that comes from mixing The Clone Wars, Revenge of the Sith and Rebels together that they carry the day.
More than anything, I love the way the old crew mixes with the new crew. There's so much consistency and naturalism in the way these people would respond to one another. The clones are, understandably, leery about seeing a Jedi and suspect Kanan is out for revenge. Kanan, for his part, is also understandably unable to feel copacetic the Clone Commanders, feeling the betrayal of how they slaughtered the Jedi.
The rest of the crew warms up to them pretty easily as well. Ezra has swung the pendulum the other direction in his idealism/cynicism and is almost preternaturally trust and open with these old warriors, instantly having what feels like a grandfatherly relationship with Rex. Sabine (who changed her hair, I think?) gets a thrill when her talents as a mechanic are recognized. And Zeb, while initially a bit reluctant, is a military man himself, who quickly feels at home with these guys despite being their bait.
That sequence, where the Ghost Crew and the old clones use Zeb to lure and fight a giant worm alien is one of the best and most inventive in the whole animated Star Wars canon. One of the great things about the original Star Wars films was this sense of adventure in the unexpected, the way the films always explored new locales that seemed to have their own unique quirks and surprises. The hunt for that big "bongo" was that idea to a tee. It had the thrills and the quips and the design work necessary to make the scene exciting and fun. Seeing the repurposed republic tanker go on an elaborate mechanical chase for a giant worm is the sort of funky Star Wars-ian fun that the show needs.
We also get so much world-building and continuity! The Emperor has retired the clones! As we saw hints of in Clone Wars, Rex questioned the point and purpose of the war once it ended! He and his buddies eventually took Fives's warnings to heart and dug out their control chips! The conflicted commanders don't really know how to feel about The Empire, or how it taints the way they felt they were serving The Republic!
That's probably what I enjoyed most about this episode. Seeing Rex & Co. again is a boon, and the bongo chase is a great sequence, but all of the nostalgia-fueled fun and visual excitement comes with the ballast of the difficult relationship between the clones and the jedis now. The lines between who the good guys were and who the bad guys were used to be so clear in The Clone Wars days, at least on the surface. But now we see Rex trying to be a good guy but not wanting to get involved in a conflict after his last round of involvement didn't go so well. We see Kanan and his inability to trust the people whose genetic copies took out the Jedi, skeptical of the protestations that they weren't control. We see Hera, trying to remind Kanan that the Jedi and the Clone Troopers once worked together to save billions, including, apparently, her. (Could she have been the little Twi'lek girl we saw back on Ryloth in The Clone Wars?)
For all the gnashing of teeth over the stifling qualities of franchises and cinematic universes these days, this is the benefit of them. In a vacuum, the story of old soldiers facing the friends of the people they killed in a war they didn't plan is strong all on its own. But buoyed by the fact that we know those soldiers and those friends, that we've seen the clones have their doubts about the nature of those battles, or seen Kanan have difficulty resolving the present and the past, makes that story so much more vivid and effective. There's a history there, one that informs every moment we see in that delightful old clanking tank. It makes nearly every moment of this one a thrill, and portends great things for the rest of this arc.
Action scenes 8\10
Animation 8\10 (except splinter maybe)
Megan Fox 7\10
Story 3\10.
Why does this always happen? Extremely large budget movies have terrible, terrible stories.
One would think that an essence of a movie is the story it's trying to tell,and all the other elements like: special effects, choreography, soundtrack, and so on are there to enforce and help the storytelling. Here it seems that the story is just there to excuse why the fight\action scenes are happening.
When I was watching this, I could hear this conversation in my mind.
-"Mr writer, we want a fight scene here, and a car chase there, make something up."
-"But Sir, it's not making sense story wise."
-"I don't care! We need to have explosions and fights in the trailer! Explosions and fights sell movie tickets, not stories!"
There are a lot of plot holes and nonsensical stuff going on in this movie, here are some that bugged me especially:
1)
Master Splinter learned Martial Arts form a book:
My problem is not that it is logically improbable, but rather that it lacks epicness in the character background.
How did Shredder learn Martial Arts ?
Well he is a Japanese Master who dedicated his life to learning martial arts. He practiced from early age and was instructed by the most knowledgeable masters in Japan.
(Btw why would a Japanese crime lord/Clan leader call himself 'Shredder' in english? But I digress.)
How did Splinter learn Martial Arts?
Well He found a martial arts book with drawings in the sewer.
You see what I mean? It’s not Epic, not Awesome, and yes does not make logical sense.
2)
April's stupid behavior when trying to prove the existence of the crime fighting vigilante:
April being a reporter, wants to air a story about the vigilante ninja turtles who fight back against the bad guys.She knows they exist because she saw them first hand, and also she managed to take an obscure photo of them.
When trying to convince her editor about their existences, she mumbles about some symbols the turtles are leaving as their calling card, about how she saw them and how they fight against evil, but when asked for proof, April comes empty.
So of course she gets fired(I assume because the editor thinks she is crazy.).
In the next scene she goes to an insanely rich guy's house who has been working with her now dead father in the past(Oh, I wonder how would that come to play later).
This guy is obviously a bad guy(I mean seriously, you can figure out he is evil from the first time he appears on screen).So she arrives at his house and shows him the picture of the turtles she had taken.
I’ll say it again, she shows him the proof her editor wanted to see just a few minutes ago, but somehow April forgot about that. For some reason she thought “Look at all those symbols around the city, they must be somehow connected to the vigilante.” Is a much more convincing argument then “Here is a freaking picture of them! Look!”.
Did she forget about the existence of this photo ? Did getting fired jogged her memory?
3)
Evil guys motivation for being well... Evil.
The first two points I can forgive, but this one really ruined the movie for me.
This movie doesn't offer any explanation why the bad guys want to 'Take over the world' or New York city in this case. There is no sense of what they are trying to achieve besides being evil just for the sake of it.
Their plan is to release a poison in New York and because they have the only antidote to it, they would sell it or get a government contract to manufacture it or whatever, and the rich guy would become rich-er while Shredder's clan would get to "rule".
Let's ignore for a second that this particular evil plan was used to death, what's the point of this? What will you gain?
Let's say it works and you do get rich-er ... But you are filthy rich as it is, and you already have like 10 companies who have their hands in all the pots.
There is: Obviously-Evil-Guy's construction company,Obviously-Evil-Guy's medical company, Obviously-Evil-Guy's science company and so on.
What would be the point of your evil plan if you already have all that?
And what is Shredder's motivation in all this? So the obviously evil rich guy gets rich-er and Shredder gets what exactly? He could rule the city? What that even mean? What would he gain from ruling it? What's the point of ruling a city that you just bombed with chemical weapons and killed half the population?
Also what do you mean by ruling? What like a king? You want to be the King of New York? To what end ?
If by 'ruling' you mean being the dominant criminal gang, than thats what you already are…
So the dominant criminal gang leader wants to attack the city with chemical weapons so his gang could become the dominant criminal gang in the city and he would be the dominant criminal gang leader ? Makes no sense whatsoever.
My opinion about whether or not this movie would be better without Megan Fox:
Short Answer:No.
This movie has so many faults that with or without Megan Fox it's pretty bad.If the writing budget was cut because how much it costs to bring Megan Fox onboard than perhaps it could be better. That being said, I don't think she did a bad job.Her acting was fine, I didn't feel like it was urged or artificial too much.Except for the scene in the beginning where April is reporting about ‘bird summer fitness’ or something. However I think the acting in that scene was bad intentionally. Showing that the character of April does not really wants to do this kind of work.
Being a bad actor is not the same as being an actor who plays a character who is a bad actor.
In conclusion, if what you want in your movies is fight scenes, car chases and awesome cgi, this is a movie for you.
If on the other hand you have a brain, and it bugs you when a movie makes zero sense, then don’t bother.
