Teenage Mutant Ninja Reboot

This is the type of news that has potential to be insanely awesome…or simply inconsequential.  Collider reports that Paramount’s live action reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is courting a new director.  As of now, Jonathan Liebesman is in negotiations to helm the Heroes in a Half Shell.

In my professional opinion as “A random dude on the internet,”  I think Liebesman would be a good choice for this project.  All too often we see these “reboot” projects getting a tiny budget and are then thrown to an unproven or first time director.  Here, Liebesman has some credentials that should excite you if you are an old school Turtle fan.  Sure his movies haven’t all been stellar, but he’s cut his chops on more than a few big budget action films (Battle: L.A., the upcoming Wrath of The Titans).  Above all else though, he’s done R rated films.  If you are a classic TMNT fan, then you know where I am going with this.  You have been BEGGING for a remake of the Turtles that would see them back amidst their hardcore origins:

Wait, no…that’s not what I meant.  THOSE are the Turtles of the 1980’s Saturday morning cartoon, and while many might remember them as the very first incarnation of the Turtles, they are not the original amphibious ninjas.

Here we go, THESE are the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  No colorful bandanas, no pizza boxes lying around, and no Krang (sorry Krang, you were admittedly fun).  These Turtles were created in the original 1984 comics.  They were brutal, violent, and awesome.  Remember in the 80’s cartoons how the Turtles never really used there sharp, pointy weapons, like the sais or katana blades?  Yeah, well the O.G. Comic Turtles used to decapitate fools like it was going out of style!  THESE are the Turtles we should see in an upcoming reboot.  I think Liebesman, if nothing else, is a small step in that direction and should be encouraging to fans.

We also have quite the backing on board with Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, and Andrew Form of Platinum Dunes all producing.  If you recall, they have been bringing us reboots of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.  Say what you will about the quality of these remakes, but at least they didn’t cop-out and go PG-13 on any of them.

All that being said, I could easily write another several paragraphs on how this can go straight down shit creek, but I’ll spare you.  Let’s be optimistic for today!  Will we see a hard R-rated TMNT movie?  Meh, probably not.  But here’s to hoping the cartoons get ditched and the bad ass comics get their time on-screen!