More than meets the eye?

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen premiered in the US yesterday. The Arabian Knight, The Messiah, Turbo, Kable, and I were all present at the midnight release to witness this action packed mash of metal. I'll go ahead and say this right up front; we absolutely enjoyed it. Say what you will about us or the film but it was probably the most entertaining film I have seen all year. Like the Terminator review, I'll try to avoid spoilers but if you really don't want to know anything about the film, don't read this review.

This movie is the sequel to the Transformers film that debuted in 2007. The director, Michael Bay, raises the bar he set by taking the franchise to a new level. I'm not talking about the story or him making an overall better movie but the scale is definitely higher here as it should be in a sequel. The number of Transformers themselves increases for both the Autobots and Decepticons but the main machines are those we already knew from the last movie. Some important roles are played by an old Decepticon-turned-Autobot named Jet Fire and the "Fallen" who, as you may have guessed, is attempting to have his revenge. Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, the parents, the military guys, and John Turturro all make comebacks. The useless Anthony Anderson, Jon Voight, and whoever that chick was don't return but are replaced by Sam Witwicky's paranoid conspiracy theorist roommate named Leo. He provides comic relief throughout the film and isn't given an unnecessarily role of false importance.


The basic premise involves the shaky relationship between Mikaela and Sam at a turning point in their lives two years after the events of the first movie. Sam is off to college on the East Coast to leave behind his robot problems. The Transformers work with the government to stop Decepticons who still take refuge on Earth. This relationship becomes shaky as well when the Autobots are blamed for the fact that evil still lurks on Earth when they have "nothing to look for" on the planet and it is assumed that they are simply hunting Autobots. I won't go any further into the immediate plot because I recommend that you do see the movie. Just know that Sam isn't able to escape his past so easily and our government is, as usual in movies, very wrong.

By now I'm sure you've heard the worst about this movie so I'll start with the pros. First of all, I applaud whoever did the CG in this film. The robots are creative, distinctive, and as realistic as giant robots can be. The fighting is much improved from its predecessor. When an arm is broken, you can tell exactly who's arm and where. There were overall more fights between robots as well. Bumblebee and Optimus proved that they belonged at the top of everyone's "Favorite Autobot" lists by taking out Decepticons left and right. The audience applauded at their awesome and I for one believe they deserved every clap. Technically, there was nothing wrong with the movie. The acting was efficient as was the sound. I never quite cried or anything from emotion but there are scenes that got my heart pounding. That could have just been the Game Fuel though. One more thing I must mention is that this movie was hilarious. It was easily funnier than anything the Wayans Brothers have produced in the last 8 years but that's not too big of an accomplishment. Parts of the film will had me dying of laughter in the good way. I have to admit that some of these scenes were unnecessary to the story but could be forgiven for the sake of comedy. However when they missed, you could feel the tension in the theater from the already upset movie goers.


While I enjoyed the movie I can see why so many people didn't. The story in Transformers 2 left much to be desired. The background of it all was basically summed up in 2 or 3 scenes. The major events occur more through conversation than action if that makes any sense. What I mean is some things are over explained where they could have just been acted out better. I believe this change could have covered up a few plot holes that can be found in the film such as a 20 minute cross country plane ride. I really believe the story was decent enough to carry the film but it simply wasn't told correctly. However I'd like to point out that I'm reviewing a movie based on a series of action figures from the 80's so all of the fiction surrounding the franchise is a tad bit ridiculous. It's not like Bay had a comic to read to get the feel of what the series could be so viewers really need to give the movie a break. My last qualm is Bay. He's seriously ADD with the camera. It keeps the energy up but several times in the movie he completely cuts the camera to something no one cares about for absolutely no reason. He really could have cut that down.

Because my positives paragraph is longer than my negatives paragraph, I really must have enjoyed the movie. Don't go to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen expecting to see No Country for Old Men. I'm not trying to make excuses for it but I really think people are being too harsh on this film. I've never really been a fan but I was entertained for an 2 and a half hours in which I probably would have been trolling the internet on any other night. It's well worth your $10 if you just want to see giant robots battle it out like never seen in the theaters before.

We rate Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 3 Tetris Blocks. Chyeah!