starring Shia Labeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Ramon Rodriguez, Isabel Lucas
directed by Michael Bay
I’m never under any delusions when I bring myself to a Michael Bay produced, written, or directed film. I automatically know that plot will be on the back burner, and over the top action will be used to compensate for it. But then again, isn’t that why we all go out and watch Bay’s flicks though? Nobody but nobody can make stuff blow up quite like the director of Pearl Harbor and Armageddon. So, it’s a love/hate relationship that I particularly share with Mike Bay.
The live action Transformers of 2007 was the summer flick that year, for me at least. A great eighties cartoon had been successfully turned in to a movie with real people and cool CGI. Even that trailer based on the Mars Rover was just awesome. Plus, the plot outline was fantastically simple and well thought out. The movie worked as a whole. Unfortunately, its harder to make a good sequel to a good stand alone film. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is no different; It triumphs over short comings of the first, but manages to forget what made its predecessor so entertaining at the same time. Most of the cast returns, and Sam (LaBeouf) is off to college. His parents have a hard time dealing with it along with Sam’s now girlfriend Mikaela (Fox). But Sam wants a normal life, and wants to leave his protector Bumble Bee at home. And on that point, if you had a car that turned into a kick ass robot, would you leave him at home?
Well, on the other side of things, the Autobots have made Earth their home. Optimus Prime and the others, including a few new transformers, have formed a covert unit with the United States military to stave off occasional invasions from lingering Decepticons. Believable, and a great set up for more story, I have to admit. The clashes are becoming more frequent, and Prime thinks something is up. Well, Sam starts to get visions of another power source, other than the Cube. He begins getting attacked by Decepticons trying to get the location of this power source, and then chaos ensues and we have another reason to blow stuff up and watch Megan Fox run around half naked. Wooo.
The action is ramped up, and just, WOW, awesome stuff. There’s a particular scene in which Prime rips through three Decepticons by himself, and its a glory to watch. Bay had regretted not being able to do more with the robots in the first film, and he more than made up for it in Revenge. The fights are better, the transformations are better, and there is just a ton of CGI eye candy for everyone. But, its partially the downfall too.
There are way, way too many transformers in the movie. I know, sacrilege for me to say that, right? Well, remember how attached you got, as a viewer, to the transfomers we met in the first film? Hell, you could probably name most of them. Well, there are more than double the amount of robots than the first, and beyond just a few, they don’t even bother to name them. Its a that point I began to think that the movie had lost scope of itself. And if there were that many other Decepticons in the first place, why wouldn’t they have come looking for Megatron in the first film? Why so late, in other words? Which leads us into the discussion of plot holes.
Well, more like the writers just not really caring whether or not there was a plot at all. The story moves from one explosion to another, from CGI fest to another, and there is not really much explained along the way. In fact, the first scene of the film is pre historic man, warring with transformers that had landed. The leader is called the Fallen, and he’s been in exile for millions of years and Megatron really serves him, and there’s this other power source besides the Cube that they all died for in the first film, and la la la they have effectively negated all that was important in the original and stole the meaning from it. They tried inserting a secret past that humans and transformers share that doesn’t quite meld, and it ends up being just another Michael Bay film. Which, really, maybe exactly what today’s movie goers are looking for.
Acting was, okay. Not good, not great. Sufficient. But let’s be honest with ourselves; who went in looking for Academy worthy performances? Mrs. Witwicky got a major bump in screen time so she could get drunk, scream out a bunch of obscenities, and try to get a few more laughs in. Shia has acted better with a bag over his head. And, of course, there’s a million and one scenes were you see a glistening, hotter than Hell Megan Fox, which even the straightest of men could tire of. Eh.
I’ll buy it on Blu-Ray. Who wouldn’t? And you should definitely make it out to see it in on the big screen. Just don’t expect for than action, explosions, and hot women. But that’s what we wanted anyway. Some of us, sure, we wanted a plot that warranted the viewing, but as I stated in the being, its not required for a Michael Bay film. And you can leave the theater still feeling every bit as satisfied.
Revenge of the Fallen…Fallen Short.
starring Shia Labeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Ramon Rodriguez, Isabel Lucas
directed by Michael Bay
I’m never under any delusions when I bring myself to a Michael Bay produced, written, or directed film. I automatically know that plot will be on the back burner, and over the top action will be used to compensate for it. But then again, isn’t that why we all go out and watch Bay’s flicks though? Nobody but nobody can make stuff blow up quite like the director of Pearl Harbor and Armageddon. So, it’s a love/hate relationship that I particularly share with Mike Bay.
The live action Transformers of 2007 was the summer flick that year, for me at least. A great eighties cartoon had been successfully turned in to a movie with real people and cool CGI. Even that trailer based on the Mars Rover was just awesome. Plus, the plot outline was fantastically simple and well thought out. The movie worked as a whole. Unfortunately, its harder to make a good sequel to a good stand alone film. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is no different; It triumphs over short comings of the first, but manages to forget what made its predecessor so entertaining at the same time. Most of the cast returns, and Sam (LaBeouf) is off to college. His parents have a hard time dealing with it along with Sam’s now girlfriend Mikaela (Fox). But Sam wants a normal life, and wants to leave his protector Bumble Bee at home. And on that point, if you had a car that turned into a kick ass robot, would you leave him at home?
Well, on the other side of things, the Autobots have made Earth their home. Optimus Prime and the others, including a few new transformers, have formed a covert unit with the United States military to stave off occasional invasions from lingering Decepticons. Believable, and a great set up for more story, I have to admit. The clashes are becoming more frequent, and Prime thinks something is up. Well, Sam starts to get visions of another power source, other than the Cube. He begins getting attacked by Decepticons trying to get the location of this power source, and then chaos ensues and we have another reason to blow stuff up and watch Megan Fox run around half naked. Wooo.
The action is ramped up, and just, WOW, awesome stuff. There’s a particular scene in which Prime rips through three Decepticons by himself, and its a glory to watch. Bay had regretted not being able to do more with the robots in the first film, and he more than made up for it in Revenge. The fights are better, the transformations are better, and there is just a ton of CGI eye candy for everyone. But, its partially the downfall too.
There are way, way too many transformers in the movie. I know, sacrilege for me to say that, right? Well, remember how attached you got, as a viewer, to the transfomers we met in the first film? Hell, you could probably name most of them. Well, there are more than double the amount of robots than the first, and beyond just a few, they don’t even bother to name them. Its a that point I began to think that the movie had lost scope of itself. And if there were that many other Decepticons in the first place, why wouldn’t they have come looking for Megatron in the first film? Why so late, in other words? Which leads us into the discussion of plot holes.
Well, more like the writers just not really caring whether or not there was a plot at all. The story moves from one explosion to another, from CGI fest to another, and there is not really much explained along the way. In fact, the first scene of the film is pre historic man, warring with transformers that had landed. The leader is called the Fallen, and he’s been in exile for millions of years and Megatron really serves him, and there’s this other power source besides the Cube that they all died for in the first film, and la la la they have effectively negated all that was important in the original and stole the meaning from it. They tried inserting a secret past that humans and transformers share that doesn’t quite meld, and it ends up being just another Michael Bay film. Which, really, maybe exactly what today’s movie goers are looking for.
Acting was, okay. Not good, not great. Sufficient. But let’s be honest with ourselves; who went in looking for Academy worthy performances? Mrs. Witwicky got a major bump in screen time so she could get drunk, scream out a bunch of obscenities, and try to get a few more laughs in. Shia has acted better with a bag over his head. And, of course, there’s a million and one scenes were you see a glistening, hotter than Hell Megan Fox, which even the straightest of men could tire of. Eh.
I’ll buy it on Blu-Ray. Who wouldn’t? And you should definitely make it out to see it in on the big screen. Just don’t expect for than action, explosions, and hot women. But that’s what we wanted anyway. Some of us, sure, we wanted a plot that warranted the viewing, but as I stated in the being, its not required for a Michael Bay film. And you can leave the theater still feeling every bit as satisfied.
3 out of 4 stars.