Suffice to say, the project was not shipped elsewhere and it continued to gather steam under Bay's name. The longer it went on, and the more information that was released about the production, the more negative reaction became. The turtles were to become aliens; they would have visible nostrils; a decidedly not red-headed Megan Fox was going to be April O'Neil; and it would all come from director Jonathan Liebesman, who previously gave us the likes of Battle Los Angeles, Wrath of the Titans and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (itself also produced by Michael Bay).
Let's be honest, even in that brief list, there should are some legitimate grounds for concern. At the very least, the names attached inspire little confidence in crating anything other than dull, uninspired, but very shiny pap.
Well, now we're getting our first real look at what the movie will be like... and it's pretty much exactly as you'd expect. Don't get me wrong, I love me some William Fichtner, but there is almost nothing here worth really showcasing because it is exactly what you'd expect. It's dark and gritty, but oddly childish; lots of action that will no doubt go on forever in the final product (though I am perfectly willing to eat my words if that isn't the case); and the turtles look..... well, let's be fair, they look about as good as you'd really get from the process, but they still don't hold up to the original live-action flicks. And yes, I know they were themselves flawed, but they still felt more substantial than what we have here.
I don't think this trailer will away early opinion on the project too much for those who have already set up camp as defender or attacker. Perhaps the worst thing that can be said for it at this point is that, currently, the trailer deserves neither. It's predictably bland, predictably shiny, predictably meh.
Don't attack it, don't defend it. That's what it wants. Just let it sit there like that jar of fig in the cupboard.