One Fight In TMNT: Mutant Mayhem Was Inspired By Oldboy

"Oldboy" is a hugely influential film, one that helped usher in a new age of Korean cinema and also made it popular in the West. The film is an adaptation of the manga of the same name, written by Garon Tsuchiya and illustrated by Nobuaki Minegishi, and it's a phenomenal tale of revenge. "Oldboy" is arguably best remembered for not only its plot twist — which remains one of the best ones in cinema – but an insanely well-choreographed hallway fight scene.

This scene has become something akin to the bike slide in "Akira," in that it became synonymous with the film, and it has since inspired countless homages and parodies. The Netflix universe of Marvel shows that started with "Daredevil" were essentially built off of hallway fight scenes, while James Gunn recently paid homage to the scene in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," as did an episode of "Superman & Lois."

The latest project to homage Park Chan-wook's seminal thriller is a bit unexpected: the new "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem." This is a movie that follows the long tradition of revamping and reimagining the "TMNT" with every single new TV or film, rewriting backstories and changing character dynamics in exciting new ways. 

The film is also a visual marvel, giving the Turtles a fresh new look and presenting a world that looks as if a teenager was drawing sketches on a notebook during class. To achieve this, the film draws from a variety of inspirations, including popular anime shows, and also, well, "Oldboy."

In "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem," we get a montage of the turtles fighting that features several different sequences cut seamlessly into each other, looking like a single sequence when pieced together.This includes a brief shot of Donnie just beating up some dudes at a pool bar. The scene is shown at a wide angle, just like the "Oldboy" hammer fight, showing the physical prowess of the turtles but also, occasionally, their inexperience and quickness to break into chaotic fighting.

"Mutant Mayhem" director Jeff Rowe took to Twitter to confirm a fan's suspicion that the scene was inspired by the hallway scene in "Oldboy." Rowe said:

"This is one hundred percent the inspiration and I've been trying to put an 'Old Boy' hammer fight in everything I've done since 'Gravity Falls.' Glad we finally got one in!"

Rowe, of course, worked as a writer on the fantastic cartoon "Gravity Falls," where he wrote the open-ended series finale. The idea that we could have gotten a scene where Soos or Dipper got involved in an "Oldboy" hallway fight on "Gravity Falls" is hilarious, but the fact that we got Donnie to pull if off instead adds to the eclectic influences in "Mutant Mayhem," and that's what helps make it so special.