I’m going to write this review for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in much the same style that I used for my review of the original movie. Before we get started realize that this will contain spoilers so if you want to watch the movie fresh skip this post and come back after viewing.
The Transformers
More of the same goodness that we got in the first movie. Optimus Prime kicks MAJOR ass in this flick. At one point he roars “I’ll take you all on” and I literally got goose bumps. That was of course until he went and got himself “killed”. Silly Optimus. Megatron is back from the depths of the ocean in this one and he’s still a bad ass. Making their first appearances in live action are Soundwave and Ravage. If you remember them from the cartoons Soundwave was the little tape player and Ravage was one of the cassette tapes that went in him. For obvious reasons they don’t take on these forms in a movie set in present day (as they’d have to be antiques in order for it to make any sense). Soundwave is used very well and Ravage is AWESOME in his action sequences.
The title of the movie takes its name from another new Decepticon: The Fallen. Think of him as the main bad guy. In fact, he’s the guy that made Megatron bad to begin with. Without going into too much of his back story he was one of the original 13 Transformers also known as the “Dynasty of the Primes”.
Two other new bots of note are Jetfire and Devastator. Jetfire is a geriatric Decepticon turned Autobot who has been in hiding at the Smithsonian in Washington for decades. Devastator is a Decepticon who is formed out of multiple bots to form one super bot capable of “eating” anything in its path. Both of these characters had cartoon versions and seeing them on the big screen was super cool.
Finally I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention “Alice” played by Isabel Lucas. She’s originally introduced as a dorm mate of Sam at college who has the hots for him. It turns out she’s actually a Decepticon posing as a human. This is one of the big problems I had with the flick. I have not problems suspending disbelief but this was a bit much for me. For what it’s worth… Isabel Lucas is smokin.
The Humans
More of the same here. If you enjoyed Shia LaBeouf (Sam Witwicky) and Megan Fox (Mikaela Barns) in the first film you’ll enjoy them here. Shia talks like he’s on speed the entire movie and Megan wears outfits that should probably be banned. If possible Megan Fox is hotter in this flick than she was in the last. Wow. Back again are Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson playing U.S. special forces and John Tuturro as former agent of Sector 7.
Sam’s mom and dad are once again played by Kevin Dunn and Julie White. These characters are given an over the top treatment in this flick culminating with mom mistakenly eating pot brownies while visiting Sam at college. While kind of humorous, it’s this type of stuff that could have been left out.
Ramón Rodríguez plays Sam’s roommate Leo Spitz who runs an Internet site all about conspiracy theories. Of course he’s got a ton of information about the events of the first film which Sam denies. His character is included more from a slap stick humor perspective as opposed to a true plot-driver.
The Backlash
This film was pretty much universally destroyed by critics. Based on that I went into it with pretty low expectation but as I said in a previous post I was still really excited to see it. After seeing it I really don’t know what all the uproar is about. The problems that I had with the first one are still present here:
- It’s difficult to tell who’s who when the robots are fighting one another.
- The human dialog is WAY too fast and tries to be too witty.
- Most of the time the Autobots / Decepticons aren’t really introduced
Again, these are things that I had problems with in the first one. Michael Bay is known for being an ACTION director. If you’re expecting Hamlet you’re going to be disappointed… but shame on your for expecting Hamlet.
I do have a couple of issues with the film outside of what I’ve outlined above.
- The Fallen – he’s supposed to be some supreme bad ass and Prime kicks his ass relatively quickly. I know this is a minor thing but I thought I’d point it out.
- The whole “human into robot” thing described above. I know it’s a movie and I’m supposed to give some leeway but this was a bit much for me.
- Sam going “into the Matrix”. While it was COMPLETELY AWESOME to see the Matrix Of Leadership on film it was kind of crazy for a human to die, go into the Matrix and gain knowledge from it (A la Optimus in the Red Dust episodes from the cartoons).
Revenge of the Fallen – Recommendation
All of those bad points aside you really should see this flick. If you enjoyed the first film I don’t see how you can’t enjoy this one… it’s more of the same stuff PLUS you get quite a few new characters. The bottom line is this – as long as Michael Bay is making movie about big robots that talk and transform I’m going to be in line to see them. As of this writing, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has grossed $339 Million. That to me sounds like an equation for more Transformers movies in the future. Get out there and see it!