Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Right off I have to address the other critics out there. Those of you stating things such as: “The sad thing is, I’m pretty sure there’s a good film in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” The real bummer is, Michael Bay might even have been able to make it. On the other hand, if he did he probably wouldn’t be Michael Bay anymore.” seem to be ignorant to me. If it wasn’t for Michael Bay – and Steven Spielberg I doubt that we’d even have a live action Transformers. For anyone reading all the downplay that this movie is getting don’t let that stop you from seeing it. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is not a bad movie.

SYNOPSIS:
Ok, so we’re a year or two later now from the last Transformers movie and we find Sam getting ready to go off to college. Why anyone would leave Megan Fox behind is beyond me, but Sam must need to just get away for awhile and try to figure out his life – “be normal” … So Sam goes off to college, and the movie starts from there. Basically what you have is Sam and Co. trying to keep Sam from the Decepticons all the while saving the planet from the Fallen. (if you haven’t done your research – the Fallen is one of the original Transformers and was the very first Decepticon aka – the really bad, bad guy…)

PROS of the FILM:
So for me still the biggest Pro of this film is how the Transformers look and interact with the humans. The CGI is just amazing and I’m always completely convinced that the Transformers are right there. You can see every part that makes them up and the detail this time around has been increased. (I think because we are given a lot of close ups of the Autobots faces as their speaking…) Right away the movie starts off with a bang (as did the first one) and we see Iron Hide transform and there is a sequence when his hand pops out as he is transforming and the attention to detail of where all the parts go as he is transforming is just extraordinary! I’ve got to give it to Bay and his team, I didn’t know if they could look any better – but they do.

Next we’ve got Action, Action and yes More Action! I think that a lot of people have complained about the amount of action in this film, but I tend to like a good action movie. I for one thought that there was just enough to push through the slower moments and really keep you going through this 2.5 hr. film. The explosions seemed to be on a bigger scale, and the overall range of the battles were much larger than the first.

Optimus Prime in his prime is the next Pro. I’m not sure what they were holding back in the first film, but this movie definitely shows Optimus as the bad ass that he rightfully is. It’s funny because the whole destruction of the bad guys always somewhat hinges on Optimus. The very beginning of the movie and the middle part of the movie have Optimus basically doing what he does best. Putting himself in harms way to get the job done – and to get it done right. I’m really trying to not be a biased fanboy about this – but honestly when you see Optimus pop out both swords and just go to town in the forest scene – it’s a draw dropping good time!

Taking tips and hints from fans and critics alike was a good move by Bay this time around. I’m not sure who out there remembers, but the critics were not kind to Michael and his cast and crew with the first film. They didn’t give it much praise other than the good looking special effects – which with this time around, once they’ve seen it they don’t get the magic from it. (and that’s a sad point in of itself – but I’ll touch on that later) … Both the fans and critics suggested that Bay try and do a plot that centered more around the Transformers and less about the humans, check. They wanted to see more transformers more so on the Decepticons but also with the Autobots, check. They asked that he up the action, check. They all agreed that Megan Fox was hot and to keep her around for the sequel, check. Bay even added a more in depth plot this time around … and yet with all his efforts, he still receives negative reviews…

They kept the original cast – which was a bonus. The fact that they got John Turturro to come back was awesome! He does such a wonderful job. Even the addition of the new character – Sam’s roommate didn’t bother me. (he was even humorous at times…)

There is also the point about the plot I want to make. I think that this movie has an overall better plot this time around because instead of some Cube that the Decepticons are after, it seems as if they are after what they should’ve been after all along. (which kind of down plays the previous film but whatever) With that, we got to see some glimpses of Cybertron and what state it’s in now that the Autobots have fled, and the Decepticons are basically destroying their own planet. Thought that was a nice touch that they threw in there.

I could actually rant off a few more Pros – but I’ve gotta get to the Cons before this review gets longer than the movie …

CONS of the FILM:
Let’s state the biggest Con for me. I will say this, I loved that we got to see so many more Transformers added into the fight – but we weren’t given any explanation about any of them. Who were the motorbike trio? Who was the concept Corvette? Who were the annoying Twins? Who was Devastator? (the robot who adds up a bunch of different machines to make one big one) Who were some of the other Decepticons? (oh sorry – there were like 13 added at the last battle and without names or reason – they just needed more metal to blow up) It seemed like Bay took the hint to give everyone more Transformers, but decided to kind of leave us hanging to any explanations as to who they were, how they got there, why they were there etc.

My second complaint is going to be the pushed comedy that wasn’t needed. Mainly this focuses on two, sorry, three different characters. First off – the MOM! There is a whole entire segment in the film where she just downright annoys the hell out of me and it’s not funny. It’s more or less stupid and idiotic. It also detracts from the movie and brought me out of the experience every time she opens her mouth. Next, the twins. If you haven’t caught a glimpse of the twins – they are two Autobots who speak in some ghetto language and are just flat out stupid. This is supposed to be an advanced alien species, and these guys make us all look like geniuses. Not only that, but the way they decided to make the twins look when they were out of car form was ridiculous! I mean hell, one of them has a gold tooth? Not only that but the tooth is part of a gangly looking set of what look like rabbit teeth! I mean come on – that’s just f*cking stupid?!?!

The twins also lead me to my next tangent. The dialogue that is spoken between quite a few robots and humans is not acceptable. Why do a lot of them speak as if they were Jazz from the first movie – but worse? Jazz was supposed to be ghetto – because he was the only one and it fit who his character was. The language and just the interaction with the Twins and especially Wheelie (some of the language he uses towards Megan Fox’s character is just wrong) – was just a bizarre direction to take those characters. I just didn’t get it – and every time they delivered a line I was more and more underwhelmed…

Next, if you didn’t know it by now – I’m going to go ahead and ruin it for you because you’ll figure it out in the first 10 seconds when you see her anyways. But there is a girl robot. Now when I say girl – I mean that it’s actually a robot that looks like a chic – and no – not a Fembot. (Austin Powers reference there for you slow people) … Now I was not upset that they put in a robot that could be a Human (or at least look like one) what I was upset with is that it was completely pointless. She is seriously in the movie for about 20 mins and then we never see her again. I hope that actress got paid quite a bit to show her but to the screen because honestly I think that’s all Michael Bay was shooting at – I mean for.

So I’m going to mention the time that this movie took to play out. I’m not all that opposed to long movies. Rather I’m for them. It makes me feel as if I get what I paid for. (which now a days is a ridiculous amount of money to see a movie) Yet with this film – and I know this is a Michael Bay thing to do … I felt as if there were so many slow motion spots, and times where you were saying to yourself “come on already, just get there!” or something like “would you just kill him!” … stuff like that makes me think that the film didn’t need to be as long as it was. Even though it was nice to see each scene played out and not rushed. Except for towards the very end of the film, I’m not going to say what happens, but it seems like there is this huge build up – and then it’s over so much more quickly than a lot of previous scenes prior to it.

My next complaint is for the critics – for all you bastards out there who tore this movie apart and said that it was horrible and that Michael Bay should stop making films – for you who are telling people to not see this movie. I feel sad for you. Apparently the kid in all of you has died. Why can’t you go see a movie and be entertained? Just enjoy the ride – that’s what movies are supposed to be. They are supposed to pick you up and take you on this venture that you wouldn’t otherwise ever be able to participate in. They are meant to be an escape from our normal every day lives so that we can have fun and get out of the house. I feel like this movie is already taking so much flak from the critics – that the bad word is getting to people’s ears before any good information does. Which will then in turn stop people from going to see this movie on the big screen where it’s meant to be seen. If you expect to see this movie on your widescreen 42″ plasma – then you will miss out. I’m sure it’ll look good, but it won’t look near as good as what I got to see last night.

SUMMARY:
I’m sorry – maybe I’m a fanboy and I shouldn’t be able to provide my opinion to others, yet I’m a critic so I will glady do so whether you like it or not. I liked Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I wasn’t complaining on my way out nor did I have a smile on my face that couldn’t be removed (as I was when I left the first film) … the point is this. There was so much magic created from seeing the first Transformers, that this film had to have something new to bring to the table to really make you go WOW and it didn’t. That’s not to say that this movie was bad, it just wasn’t as good as the first – but it had really big shoes to fill in my opinion.

FINAL MOVIE RATING: 7.5/10

~ by phoenixwave on June 25, 2009.