A film for hardcore Transformer fans and 13 year old boys. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is what you probably expect it to be; no surprises, no real let-downs and nothing amazing. If you watched the first movie, this one will feel like a beefed up version of it sans the serious tone. Since it is quite evident that film critics dislike this loud and lengthy movie, I will try and take a different approach to this review than my norm. I will review Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen as an 80′s Transformers fan and not a critical movie-goer. What I hope to accomplish with this is to give you a view of what a person like me thought of this movie and why it was a bit of a disappointment.
In the old cartoons myself, like all of America was fond of Optimus Prime. His bravado and leadership was supreme and at anytime he would showcase his bravery and honor. As I watched episode after episode, Prime would command the Autobots into victory and when he died in the 1984 movie, I cried along with every other kid that followed the series. So when the first Transformers was released and we were treated to a mech that sounded like Prime but fought nothing like him, I was a bit annoyed at it all. Apparently I wasn’t alone in my opinion, since the Prime of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (TRF) fights like a demon unleashed. He feels the way cartoon Optimus felt, fights with the same swagger and takes matters into his own hands the way I was used to seeing him as a kid. Having grown accustomed to his lips (which bothered me in the first one), he is easily the best part of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Director Michael Bay continues to take liberties with the robots from the cartoon by changing their compositions to fit his modern setting (the president in the movie is Obama). Though I have no problem with this, what I do have issue with is twin robots who are quite obviously “hood”, complete with gold teeth, and lacking reading skills. Not only were these two Autobots illiterate but they fought each other constantly and reminded me of how much I hated Jazz in the first installment. Calling them a racist stereotype would be too easy since I can imagine Hasbro and Bay were thinking of new toys for the kids. These two stereotypes would be cool toys, and what could be cooler than a big-eyed, buck teethed robot with a gold tooth? Actually what would be cooler is if they had a 10 story robot with a pair of hanging balls… oh yes they did that too. While there are a host of familiar names and new models to see in this movie, I felt slighted at the lack of Bumble Bee who is easily one of the best characters in the movie. Everything happens too quickly and even with 2+ hours, nothing actually develops in order for us to get acclimated with the machines.
The humans are no better off, being very quiet throughout, and aside from a new roommate/friend of Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) we are treated to the same dirty, disheveled, slow motion run of he and Mikaela (Megan Fox) the entire movie. Megan Fox will not get any honors for her performance in this, if you can call it a performance. Her role is so sexist and minute that she seemed to just show up to the set, put on makeup, get greased and grab Shia’s hand for the escape scenes. Her lines were limited to “tell me you love me” and gasping, along with bending over to show her ass whilst mounted on a motorcycle and fallen roommates. It was obvious why Bay reduced her to a quiet “piece of tail” by the affirmative woots and claps by the horny fanbois in the audience. I was embarrassed for her but she was not alone in this endeavor. Sam’s campus of supermodel caliber, half naked women and horny co-eds made it seem like a scene out of Leisure Suit Larry and not Transformers. The entire half hour or so of his college life was so juvenile in its conception that I was actually shocked when no penetration scene was shown? I mean, why not finish it off right? Very confusing indeed, if you’re going to cast a porno, then cast a porno.
So with my blasts on the racist robots and limited role (outside of looking like a sexpot) of the heroine, I will shift this on a positive note by saying that the robots were big and cool (teenager grin). I mean, that is what it’s meant to be right? A dumb popcorn flick of zero substance and lots of shit blowing up all over the place YAY! There was a span of time about 1.5 hours in when the comedic lines slowed down, explosions stopped and our heroes puzzled over a clue in a barren desert. Within this time when things weren’t blowing up and Megan Fox wasn’t showing her sweaty cleavage, I suddenly found myself bored and distracted. I began asking myself “why is Michael Bay acting as if this plot is compelling enough to warrant a quiet spot”? People fidgeted in their seats, I looked at the kid two rows down playing on his cellular phone and then something blew up and I was back into it. This seems so sad to me along with the CGI being good but not as polished and impressive as the first movie. The pacing was nuts and bordered on annoying as the parts I wished were longer cut off prematurely and the parts like the one I just described, seem to stretch on endlessly.
Some of the more memorable action parts were Prime’s fighting scenes and Bumble Bee’s. I also loved the dialogue of Sam’s parents Ron and Judy Witwicky (Kevin Dunn and Julie White), who were the comedy relief of the movie. I cannot see myself sitting through this lengthy movie a second time, but if you are a Transformers fan I would say wait for the Blu-Ray then purchase it.
Written by Greg Dragon – who has written 365 reviews on Spicy Movie Dogs.
Cinephile and opinion writer, Greg Dragon has been a fan of movies since the 80's when Kung Fu theater was all the rage and Roger Moore was James Bond. As an opinion writer that has reviewed Box Office releases on a number of prominent websites, Greg is the founder and lead critic of Spicy Movie Dogs.
Recent Comments