"Transformers" came out two years ago and was one of the coolest movies I had seen in a long time. It had everything you could ask for in a summer blockbuster. It was filled with crazy special effects work, a simple yet strong story to keep it driving forward, an up-and-coming talented young star, and a beautiful love interest to keep the target demographics’ eyes on the screen when the action slowed down. Throw in that it was directed by action-movie wizard Michael Bay, and in the end you have yourself a respectable movie which made a lot of money.
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is the film that basically takes that same formula and just tweaks each item around a little bit - just not correctly. Some of the special effects in this movie are just badass, plain and simple. There is one scene when Optimus Prime is fighting a gang of Decepticons on his own in a forest (and winning) which was just sooo freakin' cool to watch. It reminded me of the scene in Peter Jackson's "King Kong" when Kong takes on the Tyrannosaurus Rexes. Yes, it's that cool, if not cooler (because it's freakin' robots with freakin' laser beams!).
The only problem was that there weren’t enough cool, important fight scenes like this particular one (If you've seen it already, then you understand what I mean by important). And considering it comes pretty early in the movie, it makes all the other action sequences seem sub-par. I found myself not caring about why they were happening. There were just too many insignificant ones that had no value. Too much action does not equal too much cool. Too much action equals too much mundane insignificance.
The story starts out pretty good, if mildly confusing, at the beginning. It then starts developing some plot holes here and there (unexplained teleportation?) and becomes too over done.
About halfway through is when it starts getting to the point of "get on with it already." Mr. Bay can direct the hell out of an action sequence, but Lord knows he isn't a Scorsese when it comes to story telling (ahem... "Pearl Harbor").
[SPOILER ALERT]
The story was also meant to have a kind of "a-ha!" moment toward the end, but after a visit from robot deities and pyramid conspiracies and other ridiculous happenings, it instead had me saying “I don't care."
[END SPOILER ALERT]
Mr. LaBeouf does a fine job this time around. The kid's greatly talented, and that's that. Megan Fox is in this film purely to be exploited eye candy. She's given a crappy line here and there which is usually just cheesy enough to keep female audiences from rioting at how she's depicted visually. There is something wrong when I tell other guys my opinion about the film - how I mostly disliked it - and all I hear back from them is "Yeah, but Megan Fox is hot, right?" That irks me. It should irk you, too.
Another thing this movie has working against it is the length. Holy crap. It's almost 3 hours long, and I blame it on all the slo-mo. If all the slow motion in "Revenge of the Fallen" had been normal speed, the movie would have probably been 45 minutes shorter. I mean seriously, do we need a slow motion shot of a Megan Fox facial reaction? It's ridiculous. Remember when Dave Chappelle had the "everything's cooler in slo-mo" skit? Yeah, well, it was supposed to be a joke, Mr. Bay. Dave Chappelle is a comedian who was making fun of exactly what's done in your films. I'm sure you love Dave as much as anyone else, but you don't have to be the one providing his energon; fueling his fire.
To wrap up, this movie had over done special effects, a stupid story, and ok acting. Worst of all, it just wouldn't end. I also thought it was racist, but I’m not getting into that one. And aside from ogling the pretty girls and slurping up the eye candy of some of the fights, the only other thing I enjoyed was Julie White as Sam's (Shia) mother. She was hilarious. Oh, and the always awesome John Turturro, of course.
Tony, I totally agree with you on this one.
Overall, this is a disappointing follow up to a great original. My movie-buff cousin Jen said it best: "It lacks soul," (and she isn't as harsh when grading movies like I am). People who think that you can’t have good acting, story, character, etc. in an action movie need only to watch “Iron Man.” It is far, far, far superior than this film. Unless you're a big Transformers fan, skip this movie. Otherwise, if you just want to see pure action for 2.5 hours, see it, but make sure to check your brain - and your heart - at the door.
