Transformers:Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

 

Rating:

 

 

 

 

The film opens with a prologue narrated by Optimus Prime. It shows early humans in 17,000 BC and them discovering a group of Tranformers Building a Massive machine, The Transformers starting to massacre the humans..and then a fade to black.

This is set 2 years after the defeat of Megatron and the Decepticons. The Autobots have now formed an alliance with the US government called NEST, an American strike-force , headed up by Capt. Lennox(Duhamel),Tech Sgt. Epps(Gibson), and of course Optimus Prime(Cullen).  There has been increased Decepticon activity in the months prior and this team has been rather active.  The NEST team is summoned to Shanghai to exterminate a few decepitcons(Demolisher and Sideways).  Autobots Arcee, Sideswipe, and the twins (Skids and Mudflap) dispose of Sideways, while Prime and Ironhide take care of Demolisher.  Prime asks Demolisher if he has any last words, and Demolisher threatens “The Fallen will rise again”.

After this incident, Nest is visited by National Security Advisor Galloway, who interrupts a teleconference with NEST officials in DC.  Decepticon Soundwave has hacked a US Military Satellite and finds the location of a shard of the AllSpark and the location of Megatron.  Soundwave sends Ravage to retrieve the shard and he does so.  Then Ravage, with the help of the Constructicons and Scalpel use the shard to bring Megatron back to life.  After this, he flies to a Decepticon spaceship where he greeted by StarScream, and his master…The Fallen.  They are also trying to create new Decepticons, but they die immeidatly due to the lack of Energon.  The Fallen knows of another source of energon on Earth, but they need the key to finding this source…Sam Witwicky(Lebouf).

First things first…This is a Michael Bay flick, so I didn’t expect much out of the acting and dialogue…and I was right.  All of the performances were rather weak, but for me it didn’t ruin the film.  LaBeouf was alright…nothing to write home about, but not awful.   Megan Fox really didn’t add too much value.  She is just the sexy eye candy for the film, I am not going to say she is a terrible actress, because I have only seen her play THIS role.  Once I see her attempt to do something with a bit more depth, I will pass judgement.  But for now…Ms. Fox, you are safe in my book.  Peter Cullen did fine as Optimus Prime and so did Hugo Weaving as Megatron.  John Turturro provided a few decent chuckles(I am a lil bit of a Turturro nuthugger) and his performance was fine.  Rainn Wilson also provided a few laughs.  The rest of the cast were just fillers in my opinion, the human cast looked the part, but other than that, anyone could’ve played them.  I was a bit disappointed in the lack of screen-time some of the transformers got, and the overabundance others got.  Sideswipe looked pretty cool and he barley had any screen time.  But the twins, who were a tad funny at times (they don’t get a ha-ha, they get an H and maybe the arch of the A, but that’s it) but were also very annoying at points.  Jive talking robots that think they are street….not very effective.  They even made them “cool” little hatchback things painted ala Fast and the Furious.  There is only one thing I can compare them to…Jar-Jar binks.  Now, they didn’t wanna make me strangle meesaself but at times, I shook my head.  The comic relief in the film was ok…Sam’s mom had a few funny lines and Bumblebee “peeing” on people is worth a chuckle.  But, the robot leg humping and a few other things were just unnecessary.  They should have focused more on the plot and less on the comic relief in my opinion…And, speaking of the plot…

 

 There were too many holes and tried to do too much.  The whole thing with getting Megatron alive was necessary and fine in my book.  The whole thing about The Fallen being an ancient transformer that was here before and banished by The Primes…meh.  They could’ve gone another route with this.  Plus there are elements in this film that were in the 1986 cartoon film…Leave the Autobot Matrix of leadership out of it….What does it have to do with leadership when it is the key to a weapon?  Does that make any sense?  Not in my book.  It just could’ve been done better in my book.  Not enough to completely ruin this flick for me…but there was definitely enough for me to say…meh at times.  The special effects were really cool and I saw this in IMAX , which gave the audio a boost and made the overall experience enjoyable.  I thought the transformers all looked cool.  A lot of the battles were pretty cool, but still too fast and jumbled.  If they slowed the battles down, a bit (I am not talking slo mo, but a slower pace) it would be easier to see and you would be able to see things clearer.  I get the argument that they are super fast robots and they are going to fight with the same intesity, but having a better understading of what is going on would be better.  The destruction was cool.  I did enjoy seeing Shanghai being busted up, the forest being tore up, and Egypt getting torn apart.  That was all fun to watch actually.

 

Overall, I found this film entertaining(I am a Transformers huthugger afterall) and will be buying this on Blu Ray.  I did have to look past the acting and plot holes, but after I did that I found it somewhat enjoyable.  Seeing this flick get torn apart in other reviews and having low expectations going in also raised this a few points for me.  I know it is cliche and you shouldn’t have to do it, but leave your brain and critical thinking skills at the door, because you wont need them.  This is a popcorn action flick about robots that can talk and transform into shit, not much brain needed.  I will probably get ridiculed and told that my opinion is either false or doesn’t matter for giving this a positive review, but I could really give a shit, because I did enjoy this film.  Do yourself a favor, don’t listen to the critics and give this film a shot