Read our preview of the film here.
Giant transforming robots have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. The “Transformers” animated TV series began when I was but two years old. The animated film, when I was four, elicited tears when I witnessed the death of Optimus Prime. I had so many metallic and plastic vehicle/robot hybrids, I became adept at calling them out even as they remained behind my preschool teacher’s back. I was even apparently known for yelling, “Transformers,” when released for kindergarten recess. My long forgotten childhood came rushing back to me in 2007 with the release of Michael Bay’s live-action Transformers and it was the one film that year I just knew would live up to the hype. Sadly, it turned out only about half-true. Apathetic was more the applicable word than disappointed and my view remained that way regarding the impending release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. With expectations tempered, could the sequel to my boyhood dreams make up for the first installment?
Ever since Sam Witwicky shoved the all-spark cube into Megatron’s chest, rendering him lifeless and having the U.S. military drop the leader of the Decepticons into the ocean, Optimus Prime and the Autobots have remained alongside the human race as protectors against any future enemy attack. A new national security advisor to the president isn’t the biggest fan of the new militaristic advisors and accuses them of withholding weapons technology secrets and increasing the chances of Decepticon attack merely by their presence. His aim is to rid the Transformers from Earth, if only to maintain his developed ego.
Meanwhile, Sam is now in a committed relationship with Mikaela, but he’s attempting to retain a normal life after discovery of an alien race, by moving on to college. Mikaela can’t afford the college life and thus remains in their hometown working at a motorcycle shop and keeping an eye on her recently-out-of-prison father. Sam discovers a sliver of the all-spark didn’t make it all the way into Megatron’s chest and instead causes some trouble at home. He hands the sliver to Mikaela for safe-keeping, but while at school he suffers a mental breakdown, seeing and drawing foreign symbols as a result of previously touching the all-spark.
Hidden deep inside the ocean alongside Megatron’s remains lies the title character, The Fallen. He’s one of the earliest Transformers, encountering Earth back in 17,000 B.C. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, he’s a Decepticon and ever since being banished to the seas, he’s been awaiting his revenge on the human race. When the Decepticons get word of Sam seeing alien images and still possessing a piece of the all-spark, they make it their mission to hunt him down and strip him of the information trapped inside his mind. Such a result will give The Fallen a chance to rise and Decepticons another chance at taking control of Earth.
Devastator dwarfs the competition.
One of the massive problems I had with Bay’s first venture into the world of Autobots and Decepticons was the cheesy humor. Bumblebee pees on John Turturro, Autobots try to hide in suburbia and Wheelie attempts to inconspicuously shield his face from anybody who might recognize him. It seemed out of place in a giant robot movie and put a damper on all of the “Bayhem” released. Sadly, Revenge of the Fallen is an even worse offender. Dogs hump legs, mothers go on pot benders and two new Autobots make Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves look like Stephen Hawking. Frankly, it was embarrassing to sit there and watch how these things play out onscreen. The sad thing is that it’s all completely unnecessary, because during tense, action-oriented moments the film sustains itself perfectly well.
While the “humor” weighed this film down more than the original, Bay managed to improve his directorial style this time around. He’s always been known for the ADD-style editing with no shot ever lasting longer than a beat or two, but he didn’t help his cutting technique when the majority of his robotic in-fighting shots were obscured by other pieces of the set. This could very well have been done to make the job easier on special effects house ILM, but it made it difficult for the viewer to follow the action and make out just who was who. Thankfully, the intrusive objects have been removed and the audience now has a better semblance of the action taking place. Although why the choice to make Decepticon leaders Megatron and Starscream both gun-metal gray fighter planes, I’ve no idea.
The film is complete spectacle, only compounded when projected on the IMAX format. Bay shot two action scenes, one in a lush green forest and the other near the pyramids of Egypt with IMAX cameras, and the scenes have a magnificent pop to them. The detail is startling and works as a perfect device for which to display meta-Transformer, Devastator, made up five individual Decepticons. The film works at a massive volume, both visually and aurally, which is perfect for intensity in the action, but only makes the transition to scenes of pure human interaction more jarring.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen delivers in its promise of giant fighting robots, but sadly believes more is needed for which to draw the viewer into the world. The human relationships are canned at best and attempts draw in the child crowd like Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace works just about as well as that film. IMAX is certainly the only format for which to see the film, as the visuals provided are glorious. The film is the latest case in style over substance and its only hope for a redemptive inevitable third outing is to drop the “funny” business and remember the robots are what we’re here for. A boy can still dream, can’t he?
Yeah, I was definitely disappointed with Transformers. One, its way too long for an action/sci-fi movie. Two, there was too much plot thrown in. Three, the humor was awful. The mother-eating-the-pot scene was pointless and unneeded, plus the character was worthless this time around. Another worthless character was the Ramon Rodriquez character, Leo Spitz. What purpose did he serve? The John Turturro thong shot was horrible and you still couldn’t tell who was who when the Transformers were in combat. The CGI, however, was excellent. The effects looks very real. The Skids and Mudflap characters were very racist and should be quite offending to the black community. Megan Fox is not a very good actress and she was borderline worthless as well. The movie did lag, despite the action. Not very good, thumbs down, two stars.
I obviously abhorred Skids and Mudflap, but I honestly thought their characters were as black-oriented as they were redneck-oriented. They were just pointless and grating on the nerves. I was only offended by the fact that they were characters in a film I was watching.
Yeah, the more I think about this movie, the more I’m beginning to dislike it greatly. I hope they really revamp the series for part 3, if one is made. Perhaps it should be someone else other than Bay
There no doubt will be a third film with this one raking in so much money, but this one was horrendous. The effects were pretty amazing,except for a few human robot interaction shots which looked very green screen. The humor was so pointless and juvenille. The worst part for me was the audience I saw it with laughed hysterically at every stupid line the movie contained. Most of the “humor” that was in the movie seemed super inappropriate for the younger audience this film is supposedly aimed at. Don’t even get me started on the plot, which seemed as if it was written as the movie was being filmed. The only time I laughed out loud was at the absurdity of the Transformers “heaven” scene. I would have to give this only one star.
Hahaha. The Transformers “heaven” was definitely bizarre. Also, I kind of thought the film violated it’s own logic with the female Decepticon. Why was she a human? I thought they could only zap themselves into electronic equipment?
Yes, that was the worst thing is that people were LAUGHING along with the film. I couldn’t believe it. B*tch, p*ssy, sh*t, the little kid behind me was loving every moment.
Ultimately, I didn’t think this film was too far a drop in quality from the first (I’d give the first 2 1/2), when I completely expected it to be worst thing of the year.
Im a big fan of the first film as I thought it was a lot of fun and a terrific summer film. This is sequel was a shell of the original. It was very flat and uninspired. I loved the humor in the first film as Anthony Anderson was hilarious. The humor here is a total misfire. 3 out of 10 from me.
chuck
I have yet to see the film and as it stands probably wont until it drops on disc. I am very disappointed in the film, from what I’ve heard, and felt that the first, while entertaining at points, made the transformers, especially the Autobots, look like dumb versions of Gremlins. Destructive, lewd, and just annoying.
Now I dont really know how much control Bay has over the script, but since he’s probably a producer, as is Speilberg, they really need to get in there and make these films more true to the originals and drop the “comedy”.
Bays movies typically dont center around that type of comedy. Bad Boys was a comedic action film but its comedy was geared towards young adults, the 18-24 age group, but The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Island, none of them had excessive comedy and if there was comedy in it, typically it was beneficial to the film and didnt detract from it.
I dont think that taking Bay out of the directors chair is needed, but they need to realize that this film can be hugely successful with all age groups, sell millions in merchandise, and do all that without the dumb childlike comedy. They need to get their mind right.
Sadly, Bay apparently has complete control. He’s stated that he’s always wrote the scripts for his films, whatever that really means. He admitted on the commentary for ‘Transformers’ that he was the one that came up with the Bumblebee peeing on Turturro gag. Apparently, he was also the one that came up with the gold tooth for one of the twins, as the writers admitting it wasn’t in the script.
I agree that none of Bay’s previous films have that type of juvenile humor, which is what makes it so strange. If he’s not the entire problem, he’s at least a piece.
It appears that most of the film’s problems with others (certainly with me) is with the “humor.” The hope is that somehow that gets excised in the future, whether it be through writer or director replacement.
When I think of the new transformers movie only one work comes to mind SH*T! One way I know a movie is good is when I am not looking at my watch saying when the hell does it end or start making sense. I looked at my watch 50 minutes into the movie hoping to read, “the nightmare is almost over” and I was horribly disappointed to read, “gotcha you have to sit through are thrown together crap movie for another 90 minutes.” One good thing about Transformers is Megan Fox, not her acting just her everything else.
1 nest from me.
Compared to the original, was it really that much of a drop-off? I didn’t feel so. I thought there was a little more jokiness, but it seemed very similar to the first in that respect.
I’m just trying to gauge everyone’s thoughts in comparison between the two.
Prodical Son- Its funny how people see things. I really liked the first Transformers movie especially the humor. Its one of my favorite summer films of the last decade. I thought this film was a BIG dropoff from the first and it actually felt like a hollow shell compared to it. Tranformer-8.5 out of 10. Revenge of the Fallen 3 out of 10.
chuck
The inconsistencies in this film were a big problem for me as well. The plot didn’t flow well at all. It would introduce plot points and then seemingly drop them, only to move on to the next set piece. Where did Sam’s bandage come from? Why did they not use the piece of the all spark Megan Fox’s character had to bring Optimus back as the Decepticons had with Megatron? None of it makes sense,even for a summer blockbuster where I can usually ignore minor problems like these. The film could of been about 30-45 minutes shorter, the ending dragged on far too long.
I just read a piece on Yahoo! today about the top 10 plot holes in the film. Sam’s bandage suddenly appearing was funny. The writers talked about how it was very easy to come up with a moment where his hand gets injured, but the bandage appears instantaneously. Usually I let things like that bypass me, although the one that will forever trouble me is the use of the video camera during the tripod scene in Spielbergo’s ‘War of the Worlds.’ This is RIGHT AFTER all electronic devices, including an analog watch, cease working! Anyway…
I’m positive that reduced expectations had something to do with my relative enjoyment of the film. I truly did expect the worst film of the year, which I don’t think it was.
It’s certainly a shame, because I think we all want and expect more from our ‘Transformers,’ whether we came in as fans or not.
Speaking of the Transformers heaven scene, that was horrible now that I remember it. HOW IN THE HELL WOULD A ROBOT BE ABLE TO GO TO A “HEAVEN” I know they are aliens in some way but the movie NEVER, NEVER established if they were living machines. This makes the heaven scene even more ridiculous. If they were living robots, then yes, a Transformers heaven would be possible, but it NEVER established if the Transformers were actually alive or just nuts and bolts. Boy this movie gets worse and worse when I think about it. There’s a reason why most major critics pan this movie.