Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
By: Vicious12 with Neo Windu

The highly anticipated sequel to 2007’s blockbuster was released this week. And will no doubt shatter records, but that does not make it a great movie.  First off let me say I have loved transformers since I was a small child, and the first movie rocked.  I even enjoy Michael Bay’s movies. Come on he made The Rock. I even found some enjoyment out of travesty that was Pearl Harbor.  So needless to say I came into this movie with incredibly high expectations. Even after little idiosyncrasies started coming out, for instance Devastator having giant wrecking ball…balls I was still hyped but sadly I was left underwhelmed.

The Good:

The action of course was perfect, it’s a Michael Bay Film. But you can’t comment on the action without mentioning the spectacular visual effects provided by Industrial Light and Magic. The combination was once again lethal. The robot on robot violence were smooth and thrilling, spilling debris from there metal frames and collateral damage everywhere.
I know I mentioned the effects but it was more than just action orientated. As in the first these mechanical men truly came to life.  Bumblebee tears deserve special mention as do the mostly terrific voice acting.
The underlining plot introducing the Matrix of Leadership, Energon, and their history with Earth was a great re imaging of the Transformer lore.  Optimus Prime was a beast. In a sense you could have called the movie “The Rise of Optimus Prime”, and you wouldn’t have been off at all. Everything dealing with Optimus was great. Compared to his performance in the first film you would think, 1.That he’s been spending way too much time with Tyrese and Ironhide. 2.When did he learn advanced combat techniques? It was outstanding.

The Bad:

There didn’t seem to be any significant plot with Witwicky(LaBeouf), The movie focused to heavily on him being comic relief. I could have done without the entire college section of the movie.  Nothing substantive was added to the plot and worst it yielded yet another comic relief in his roommate Leo(Rodriguez).  If you were to cut the heavily comedic Witwicky parts, you would have 37 minutes of the greatest sci-fi movie ever.
I’m not certain if this should be in the bad but as a fan I thought they really underpowered Megatron.  I know he got the kill but he had to triple team Prime. I understand he was not the main antagonist of the movie but his skills in comparison to Prime who’s butt he kicked in the first flick was glaring.  As was the human firepower. A dozen soldiers and three Autobots against an onslaught of Decepticons?!? And we fight them to a stand still?! Really!? My favorite Decepticon Devastator, great concept horribly executed. How could the little twin bots even put up a fight. The logic and physics of defying death. Come On!!
You have heard it before and you’re going to hear it again, WTF was with the Stereotype-Bots.  Joe Pesci Tonka truck and the Racist Twins, I guess he wanted to make sure he captured the magic that was Jazz but I digress. The movie would have been fine with out them. Also whatever happened to R.C and Sideswipe. Their roles were almost non existent. We need better writers. No wonder they went on strike. I would too.

Conclusion:

The movie felt very chaotic and campy. The dark tone that began the movie ended abruptly after the first fight scene. Replaced with an overt stretch for comedy that mostly fell flat.  The pacing combined with the feeling of chaos detracted somewhat but the action and the beauty of the effects just blew me away.
A few years ago this movie would have placed higher on my chart. But the action movie genre has stepped its game up. No longer is explosions and violence enough.  The script, acting and general quality of the movies are so high that you have to (automobile pun intended) hit on all cylinders or go home.
The overall movie despite its flaws was a very good and enjoyable.Not the sequel I expected,but a decent follow up to the original. Good, but not Great.

7/10

Special Thans to Vicious 12