I watched Mutant Mayhem over the weekend (which was great). I haven’t watched the 1990 movie in years, but I was suddenly reminded how powerful this scene is for what is ostensibly a silly action movie for kids: the elongated shadow, the percussive score with ominous electric guitar accents, the camera tracking down from its starting position to sweep in behind him, the light gleaming from the blades on his helmet as he slowly turns to scan the room, and the ritualistic unrolling of the cape from his shoulders. All in a single, imposing 75-second take.
Great stuff.
This entire movie is incredibly underrated, and what I’ve heard about the original cut/script being even darker really makes me wish more detailed info about it existed.
I read today on wikipedia that the co-creators of the comics have both praised the film, with Kevin Eastman saying it will always be the best Turtles film adaptation. I don’t know anything about it’s development, but it strikes me that the production team must have been making a deliberate effort to incorporate some of the source comic’s DNA beneath the more family-friendly, commercial surface.