The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action movies have plenty of limitations, but still manage to entertain with some exciting fight scenes. Across the many different Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series and movies that have been created over the years, the two live-action movie series are rated relatively low. That being said, the in-person limitations of the films have still managed to come up with some brilliant battles featuring the turtles, their allies, and some bizarre and varied villains.
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Between the vast number of incarnations of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, there have been two official live-action movie series, with the original 90s films using animatronic suits and the 2010s Michael Bay-produced films using photorealistic CGI animation to represent the turtles next to real actors. Both of these methods have their own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to fight scenes, though the latter is little more successful due to the increased budget more than anything else. Still, there’s a surprising variety in Hollywood turtles’ various battles.
10 Raphael Vs. Casey
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
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As far as personalities go, Rphael and Casey are usually depicted as being quite similar, with the latter being a contact-sports-obsessed human version of the anger-prone mutant vigilante. While this similarity often causes them to get along, it’s just as often that Raph sees a reflection of his own temper as a reason to fight. This happens during their first meeting in 1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where Raph comes after Casey for his excessive punishment of two purse-snatchers caught red-handed.
Here, Raph and Casey exchange some pointed banter while taking slow, deliberate swings at one another. Certainly not a life-or-death battle, this confrontation is more of a tense sparring match that’s interrupted when Casey sees the true extent of the disguised Raph’s mutation. Low-key as the duel is, it is nice to see Raph keeping up with Casey with fists only while wearing his trademark fedora and trenchcoat disguise, attitude on display all the while.
9 The Turtles Vs Tokka, Rahzar, And The Foot
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Oooze
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For the second installment of the 90s TMNT series, the turtles’ opponents upgrade from simple human ninjas to fellow mutant animals. Perfecting a version of the same ooze that created the turtles, Shredder and The Foot unleash their own mutations with Tokka and Rahzar, a wolf and a snapping turtle that are warped into hideous mutant monster warriors. The first time these baddies clash with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, they more than outmatch their mutant brethren, handling them soundly alongside some Foot ninja support.
The fight is mostly played for laughs, as many of the battles in the 90s series were, with Tokka and Rahzar providing some endearing comedy hijinks while tearing through the turtles. Standouts include Rahzar tossing Donny clear over the horizon and using Leonardo as an improvised bowling ball. Mildly entertaining, this fight is more exciting than Raph and Casey’s bout in the first film by only a slim margin, being mostly the two new mutants tossing the turtles around before they’re able to escape.
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8 The Snow Chase
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
Interestingly enough, many of the battles in the Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles duology of the 2010s play out more like chase sequences than proper fight scenes. One of the most exciting of these in the first movie is the snow chase, which was heavily featured in trailers for the film for good reason. Here, the turtles are sent careening down a snowy mountainside with some well-armed mercenaries in pursuit, leading to a tense race down a slippery summit.
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There’s a lot of fun to be had with this premise that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles engages with, such as Donatello flipping a car with his bo staff, Leonardo sliding around on his shell using his katanas as ski poles, and Michaelangelo leaping from car-to-car on his rocket-powered skateboard. The chase gives plenty of opportunity for this version of the turtles to show off just how physically dominant they are, with bulletproof shells and arms strong enough to punch straight through car roofs. Still, the frantic editing, nauseating shakycam, and mediocre opponents bring the excitement down a hair.
7 The Club Fight
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Oooze
As far as 90s movies go, it’s hard to find a better time capsule that encompasses everything the decade deemed cool quite like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Oooze does. The ultimate scene in cheesy 90s goodness, the turtles’ final battle with Tokka, Rahzar, and Shredder’s right-hand-man, Tatsu, sees them interrupt a happening club. Of course, none other than Vanilla Ice is performing at the venue, giving the turtles a great soundtrack for their re-energized round two.
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The turtles are able to trip up Tokka and Rahzar, curing them of their mutation via fire extinguisher, all to the chanting of “Go ninja go!” led by Vanilla Ice. Half fight and half dance number, the scene features some impressive movement from the awkward animatronic turtle suits thanks to the stunt performers within, who are able to pull off the turtles’ signature “shell shock” combination attack against Tatsu as they all ram themselves into him at the same time, shell-first. Though hardly worth consideration as an actual battle, the club fight is simply too entertaining not to give credit.
6 The Riverbed Fight
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
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The lowliest of the TMNT movies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III took the series in a bold new direction by sending the reptilian quartet back in time to feudal Japan. The film was surprisingly modest with its fight scenes, but by far the biggest exception was the chaotic river battle set shortly after the turtles arrive in the past. Disguised as samurai warriors, the turtles get into an altercation with some locals after they’re mistaken for the soldiers of a local warlord.
The action here is exciting and fast-paced, with some impressive choreography and gymnastics as the turtles effortlessly navigate a raving mob of attackers. It’s nice to see the turtles unequivocally win a fight after being battered around so much in the previous films, and the action choreography, great lighting and visibility, and capabilities of the turtles’ animatronic faces are all raised to a new level. Sadly, the fight is held back by being intercut with the boring wrestling of April and the forgettable new human characters.
5 The Apartment Fight
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
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Speaking of the turtles facing off against hordes of basic human enemies, few scenes across any of the live-action TMNT movies do the concept as well as the apartment fight in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Following April to her apartment, the turtles are split up after Raph and Leo have a falling out, with his spot on the roster soon being replaced by Casey Jones. This makes things complicated when a flood of Foot ninjas swarm the claustrophobic environment, making for a whirlwind of a battle.
The fight is split across multiple locations as Raph tears through a massive group by himself on the roof while the others contend with a different horde big enough to cause the floor they’re standing on to collapse from the weight of so many fighters. Leo hanging from the ceiling to deliver some bicycle kicks and April’s boss firing her via voicemail in the middle of the fight, only for the phone to knock out a Foot solider all make for fun beats. If only it was a little easier to see the action in the dark, tight space.
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4 The Turtles And Splinter Vs Shredder
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Among the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ villains, Shredder is by far the most noteworthy and respected, as demonstrated by his final battle with the turtles in the first movie. Whereas the 90s series was generally quite lighthearted, the tone takes a remarkably serious turn for a few stark moments when the boys finally face off against the harrowing villain. They start the battle with their usual tactics, with each turtle rushing Shredder one at a time only for them to slowly grow wearier and wearier as he easily bats them aside.
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Panting and flustered, the turtles are filled with renewed vigor when they learn that Shredder supposedly killed Master Splinter. This sends them into a rage until Splinter himself shows up, taking down Shredder by flinging him off a rooftop only for him to land in a trash compactor that Casey “accidentally” turns on. The tonal whiplash between the different halves of this fight is a bit odd, but it’s an overall emotionally effective and well-realized battle that pays off the first live-action movie with a thrilling climax.
3 The Turtles Vs Shredder
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
In their effort to reboot the movie series, Paramount ended up positing Shredder as the major big bad once again for the 2014 movie of the same name as the original. To enhance the modern update, this Shredder is equipped with a high-tech suit of samurai armor laden with expanding mechanical blades that take a variety of forms. Much like the first movie, Shredder initially makes easy work of the turtles as they desperately race to shut off his doomsday device at the top of the New York City skyline.
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It’s interesting to see the different tactics Shredder uses against the turtles, forming a two-handed twinblade to deal with Donny’s staff, stealing Mikey’s nunchucks and using them against Raphael, and flinging Leonardo off the edge of the building’s roof with a well-placed throw. When the turtles finally get in sync, it’s a thrill to see them use each other as stepping stones to deliver a devastating series of blows to the metallic menace. The only thing dragging this fight down is the amount of time each character spends dangling off of a skyscraper, a gimmick that gets old quickly.
2 Splinter Vs Shredder
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
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As great as the turtles’ final stand against Shredder in 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is, it’s the villains’ earlier one-on-one duel with Splinter that’s far more exciting. Confronting Splinter in the turtles’ subterranean hideout, Shredder and his army seek to unlock the secrets of the mutagen which created them. Luckily, Splinter is there to demonstrate just how he earns his title as Master, holding Shredder off with some impressive martial arts skills.
Both fighters use every advantage available to them, with Shredder flinging his retractable knives at Splinter only to return them to his gauntlets with a magnetic mechanism and Splinter using his tail as a creative fifth limb, creating his own homebrewed martial arts forms on the fly that compliment his rat physiology. Sadly, in the end, the battle is a loss for the turtles as Splinter is too old to keep up with the well-armed and armored Shredder. Beyond the downer ending, this fight is nearly perfect as a showcase of the bizarre combat of the franchise.
1 The Turtles Vs Krang
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
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Outdoing the action of the previous film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows introduced plenty of exciting familiar faces to the Paramount series, such as Casey Jones, Bebop, and Rocksteady. However, it’s the Krang as the film’s main antagonist that works shockingly well as the climactic villain for the turtles to face off against in a live-action movie. As the technodrome looms in the sky at the edge of completion, the turtles confront the alien mastermind Krang, taking the fight to him in the thrilling climax.
Each turtle gets to show off their specialties here, with Leo and Donny holding Krang down in close combat, Michelangelo showing off his gravity-defying skateboarding tricks, and Donatello handling some tense last-minute hacking in the background before springing out to deliver the final blow to Krang with his electrified staff. Krang is also a menace in combat, his android body capable of swapping out his weapons, firing a massive cannon, spinning his torso, and nearly cracking Mikey’s shell with a bear hug. Only the upcoming sequel The Last Ronin could hope to best this as the best live-action TMNT fight.
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