They're the world's most famous fighting team, they're heroes in a half shell and they're green... But the fact that they're turtles notwithstanding, you won't get much sense of skin tone from this artsy new set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character posters. Perhaps with an eye on those beautiful The Wolverine banners of yesteryear, these images are all about the black ink, in this case rendered as grafitti stencils, with just splashes of colour for those famous bandanas. For those who like their turtles a bit more comic-booky, however, there's also an image of the whole gang by street artist Mike Johnston.
Given the emphasis on cutting edge effects when Empire was on set last year, it seems odd that, while we've seen them in trailers, at this late stage the marketing drive is still not really showcasing the finished look of the performance-captured Turtles. Benefit of the doubt would allow that maybe their full glory is being saved up for the release of the film itself. Naysayers might counter that fan controversy over their look means it's still, even now, being tweaked.
The film sees the Turtles going through the motions of their origin story once again, except that this time the origin itself changes. Exactly what those are have yet to be disclosed, but we do know that their background is tied more closely to the scheming businessman played by William Fichtner, who takes on the guise of Turtle nemesis Shredder. Also involved is plucky reporter April O’Neil (Megan Fox) who becomes a staunch ally of our heroes.
The cast - some of it voice-only - also includes Will Arnett, Whoopi Goldberg, Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Johnny Knoxville, Tony Shalhoub, Abby Elliott, Jeremy Howard and K. Todd Freeman, and the director is Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: LA, Wrath Of The Titans). The Michael Bay-produced** Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles** is out in the UK on October 17.