It has it's issues (show me a movie that doesn't) but it's overall very much watchable and enjoyable
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gtenalokes2 October 2020
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Mivas_Greece15 March 2021Fantasy/action movie. The sequel to Bay's great franchise, Transformers. The 2nd film further enhances the action, the effects, but also the overall budget, since we are transported to the desert and foreign countries. Also, Steve Jablonsky's excellent selection in the music of the film and in the songs the top New Divide from Linkin Park continues. The second film is longer in plot and duration than the first, but Bay's lack of seriousness is also unfortunately reinforced in this film. He also makes reference to another of his great film, Bad Boys 2, through a large poster in the film, while in the first he mentioned the Armageddon. The threat of bigger, and more dangerous transformers, and generally all the elements are improved in this film, only overall it is less serious than the first, especially in dialogues and some characters. Better in action, effects, directing, but inferior in dialogues, so it remains at the levels of the first, perhaps a little below, but for different reasons.
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brendan526 June 2009As expected, the effects were spectacular. The fight scenes were extravagant and fast-paced.
The story though, couldn't keep pace. They kept stopping for a romance that was never developed (and no one really cared). The real thing that brought this movie down though was the constant stooping to this immature level. The had to have said @ss and balls 10 times (and that's a low estimate). Not only this, but those two twin autobots were introduced who were supposed to be "hip" maybe? They just turned out to be extremely annoying and to bring down the level of the movie as a whole.
As a fan of the original cartoon series, I have to say I was really disappointed they stooped the level of immature @ss-balls humor and creating new characters with low IQ's. They could have done better. The action though, was amazing and I am still glad I paid to see it on the big screen. -
I'll start by saying this film has FANTASTIC action sequences, better than the first even. Problem is, everything that made the first film so decent is basically gone here. The story is extremely formulaic and not really gripping in any way. Useless scenes and subplots are sprinkled throughout, especially during the college portions of the film. Shia does a good job as Sam once again but the rest of the original cast are either sidelined or written so badly you don't really care about them anymore. Megan Fox is especially exploited in this film, similar to the first Transformers but much more sleazily. Speaking of sleaze, the edgy humour of the first has carried over but where in that film it was fun, it has been toned up to borderline vulgarity. This film also adds quite a few new characters, some are cool, most are annoying and a handful are blatantly offensive. I'd give this film a 4 but the action really is worth a couple points. It's more of the first film but better, it's just a shame it's in a less consistent package than the first movie. Strong 5 to a light 6 from me.
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JWick2314 March 2021Micheal Bay said aight what does the audience need more of. And the audience's wishes were certainly fulfilled in this sequel.
An ok story had lazy writing and a bad atmosphere. The humor is getting a bit overused and felt stale and more immature. Half the college footage was unecessary and the flim could have been a bit shorter. The characters and their development fell of by a mile in this sequel and the new characters were annoying, such as that roommate and the autobot twins. And the romance between Sam and Mikaela was a bit too cheesy and had no depth whatsoever. The visuals and the music were amazing as usual.
Overall a semi-enjoyable film.
Memorable: No Rewatchable: No -
sbrobin29 June 2009I wasn't expecting much going into this film. I'm aware of director Michael Bay's history and his habit of making mindless popcorn films with huge explosions, scantily-clad women, and awful cheesy dialogue. However, I thought the first film was okay for what it was, so figured maybe I would like the sequel. I was dead wrong. "Revenge of the Fallen" is the most ridiculous campy, poorly-written and poorly-directed piece of garbage to come out this year. The acting by Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox is average, and the special effects are extremely well done. That's about the only saving grace for this film.
The writing is so unbelievable you almost have to see it to believe it. At one point a character actually utters the line "not on my watch." No one in the history of the military has ever said this outside of a film. Reading over the screenplay, you would think it was some terrible Transformers fan faction written by a tenth grader and posted to the Internet. The dialogue is HORRIBLE. This would be a great movie if it was targeted to 9 year olds, but the overt sexual references and language suggest an older demographic. Maybe it's because Bay is trying to please a wide range of people, and maybe that's why we have jokes made about Transformer Testicles and there's a scene where a transformer (with a Jersey accent much less) tries to hump Megan Fox's leg. What possible reason is this robot trying to hump her leg? Is that the way they procreate? There is ZERO excuse for it other than a cheap laugh. And that's ALL the jokes are, cheap laughs. I honestly would not have been surprised to see a transformer fart in this film, or maybe a scene where a transformer gets high. It wouldn't matter if it made sense because an intoxicated transformer would be HILARIOUS. But don't worry, because there's plenty of scenes of Sam's mother accidentally getting high at college and proceeding to follow the Robin Williams/Jim Carey acting formula of physical humor. Then there are Skids and Mudflap - two Decepticons who can't read, speak in "jive," act like gangster-wannabes, and fight a lot. One of them even has a gold tooth (I am not making that up). I am one of the last people you will meet who cares about things being PC or will ever claim anything is racist unless it is blatant, but this was a BLATANT stereotype. I cannot believe this made it into the movie. I wouldn't call it racist, but if these characters had actually been human, the NAACP would have freaked out.
This movie is also insanely long, at a running time of 2.5 hours. This probably could have been avoided if there wasn't so much slow motion footage of people running. I was miserable after the first 45 minutes. Bay should have cut at a minimum, the last half hour off of the movie. The action scenes, while good, were way too confusing. The robots are so complex you can't tell what is happening since it's so fast and you can't figure out Transformers: "Revenge of the Fallen" is not Armageddon. It is not Bad Boys. It is definitely not the Rock. Say what you will about those films, they at least had somewhat decent plots and required some brain activity. This movie is nothing but pure mindless action, awful jokes, and gratuitous shots of Megan Fox (and only one of those is a good thing). -
briancham19949 August 2020Yes, this film is incredibly stupid and loud, but that's what you are getting yourself into. It's a purely entertaining popcorn blockbuster with exciting action and not much of a plot. For sure, the jokes are dumb and not much makes sense, but if you just want to pass the time, this film is a good way to do it.
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lolavideola2 July 2009Most people before me have said this already. This movie stinks. When I heard that Michael Bay was at the helm of the first Transformers movie, I was very worried but then by some fluke of nature he actually managed to pull off a watchable movie, perhaps because he was kept on a tight leash by the studio.
This debacle of a sequel is another story. Bay must have been given full power over this one due to the success of the first. Big mistake. This guy can’t make a decent, realistic and entertaining movie. He makes action/soft porn trash. A good script, story or dialog are just inconvenient afterthoughts for him and it shows. He probably thinks he can distract the audience away from these gaping holes by adding a lot of nonsensical action and unfunny humour.
Sorry Mr. Bay you can’t fool people all the time and the people who grew up with the transformers are absolutely hating this movie. I heard that you didn’t want to make the first movie because you didn’t even like the transformers but you became very keen for the sequel after the first movie made so much money for you. Here’s a tip: lay off the third and let a real director and a real team make that one for us because you have just totally trampled on the transformers legacy. -
Bigdreamsjay13 June 2014transformers main lead is optimus prime and other autobots or whatever robots are there.Fans here to see robot action,epic visual,blast,loud sound effect,visual effects and all in all Micheal bay style.This film bring all together.
Micheal bay is underrated by critics, i don't understand critics at all when i saw reviews of other Oscar nominated movies u will see some say entertaining,masterpiece bla bla bla its all lies last time i saw a Oscar nominated film after see their review i wasted my money and time they are zero entertainment even worst so please see it and judge it your self.
After see all the negative reviews this film is blockbuster worldwide still we wanna see transformer 3 and now transformer 4 it already create hype when it first announced, so lets just agree we love transformer and Micheal bay films please don't follow critics its worth watching 2 hours 30 min just passed by just like that this is called entertainment 10/10 -
adamjohns-4257511 April 2021I personally think that this one is slightly better than the first, because it doesn't have to establish all of the characters. Having said that, the story is a bit lacking and I really had to pay attention to try to understand what was going on at times. There could have been a bit more of the every day Sam to counteract the more apocalyptic elements and give a bit of balance. It all happens very fast.
I also think that there was too much "Comic Relief". We already had The Witwicky's and Simmons and to some degree Sam himself, the addition of The Twins, Jetfire and Leo was fine, but they didn't need to be so comedic too.
At times it is difficult during battle scenes to see who is who and which ones are winning.
It is a good film though and an enjoyable watch for anyone who likes cars and things being blown up. -
jozerd27 June 2009No more Michael Bay, no more Shia Labeouef, maybe no more Megan Fox. When you attach your name to a project like this, hopefully fans will not give future projects done by these people record breaking box office feats. I'm embarrassed that I supported the cause.
One of the poorest acting, directional, and written efforts I have seen in a long time in modern cinema.
The scoop: This movie is good for a couple of scenes where the audience might be like 'cool!' due to CGI effects. There is a couple of cheap laughs from some other scenes. If that entertains you, great, there are lots of action movies out there for you. However, if you're reading a review on IMDb, you've likely separated well done movies from poorly done movies, and at least seen a couple in the top 250. To the reader, don't see this.
I left the movies mad. I wonder what other directors think when they see a screening of this film. The story is near non-existent, there are so many plot holes, or unexplained courses of action this movie takes... it really is unbelievable that the script was given an okay by any film studio.
Here's the thing : the target audience is obviously young kids or early teens. I think back to when I was 11 or 12 and I saw Men in Black in the theatres. I was entertained then, it's at least plausible that 12 year olds could be somewhat entertained by this now. However, I am still entertained by 'younger'generation stuff like spongebob, south park, and even beast wars. This didn't do it for me at all.
Similarly to how family guy uses the strategy 'hey people love our interchangeable jokes in early episodes, let's overload our new episodes with the same jokes'.... Michael Bay employs 'hey people love the cgi and megan fox in the first one... let's overload the film with sex overtones, explosions, and fight scenes'... and then at the last minute tried to fit a story around it.
This is the kind of film that makes a person angry that they aren't in Hollywood directing films, because most could do better than this. -
lylejr19 January 2017i love transformers lol i would never give any transformer movie a bad rating XD i also cant wait for transformers five the last knight i think i was 5 or 6 when this came out in theaters and the 1st movie when i was like 3 or 4 years old gosh i don't know why this movie is the 2nd most downrated of all 4 of them, following age of extinction i love that movie, i love all 4 movies, this movie has mixture of humor swearing fighting and explosions and stuff but i don't care about explosions i love michael bay. this should be at least a 7 rating or probably even more higher, i love this movie to the fullest but i don't really know if it wouild be legal to give this movie a all the way up to 10 rating
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Too much comic relief undermines the dramatic impact of director Michael Bay's visually impressive sequel "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." If you skipped the original live-action "Transformers," you may not understand the stakes in the sequel or the situation. The original concluded with the treacherous Decepticon jet Transformer streaking off into the sky, guaranteeing the survival of the villains. Original "Transformer" scenarists Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are joined on this installment by "Reindeer Games" writer Ehren Kruger and they bring back the evil Decepticons for a rematch with the virtuous Autobots.
Clocking in at an hour and 49 minutes, Bay's epic length sequel features machine-like entities shape-shifting from various vehicles into gigantic robots with deadly appendages that discharge explosive broadsides whenever they unleash their titanic fury. The problem is Bay neglects the narrative for these massive transformations. When the Hasbro creations aren't changing from innocent machines into destructive robots, Bay and his scribes are slinging visual and verbal jokes as fast as you can blink. In other words, "Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen" lacks suspense until the last quarter hour when the flesh & blood performers inject some emotional gravity into this superficial smackdown between good and evil alien robots.
"Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen" opens with a prologue in 17,000 B.C. when mankind initially runs afoul of the alien robots, before Bay jumps ahead to the 21st century when mankind and the Autobots have formed an alliance. U.S. Army Major Lennox (Josh Duhamel of "Turistas") and Sgt. Epps (Tyrese Gibson of "2 Fast 2 Furious"), command an elite squad codenamed NEST that consists of Autobots collaborating with U.S. and British soldiers to smoke out rogue Decepticons hiding anywhere in the world. The opening Shanghai sequence where NEST routs a gargantuan unicycle that wrecks more havoc than Godzilla ever visited on Tokyo gets things started off on the right track. The unicycle warns our heroes that the worst is about to befall them in the form of a monstrous entity named 'The Fallen.'
The sequel focuses on a thousand year old object called 'the matrix of knowledge' that provides loads of power to whoever acquires it. The scene shifts from Shanghai to the Witwicky homestead in California where Sam (Shia LaBeouf of "Disturbia") announces his plans to attend a prestigious Ivy League university and try to live the life of a normal twentysomething. Sam informs Bumblebee, the yellow Camaro that morphs into a monstrous robot, that he cannot accompany him. Freshmen aren't allowed to have cars on campus. Incredibly, Sam is leaving his super hottie girlfriend, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox), who looks sexier than ever. After Sam's parents, Ron Witwicky (Kevin Dunn) and Judy (Julie White), get our hero situated in his dorm, they head off to Europe for a vacation. Sam and Mikaela are having their first relationship struggle. She wants him to utter the L-word "love" but he is content only to tell her that he "adores" her and they plan to maintain their relationship coast-to-coast via the Internet.
As Sam is unpacking, a shard of the Allspark falls out of his clothing from the first movie and weird things start to happen. Remember, the AllSpark was a mystical cube that contained the key to the Transformers' existence and was thought destroyed in the original movie. Optimus Prime shows up soon afterward and explains trouble is brewing and Sam has a role to play in its resolution, but our hero refuses to participate.
Of course, what Sam wants and what Sam ends up doing are two entirely different matters. In one of his classes, he scans an astronomy book from cover to cover and accuses Einstein of being wrong. Furiously, Sam starts scribbling enigmatic symbols. Later, the Decepticons return in force, steal parts of the AllSpark, excavate Megatron from the bottom of the ocean floor, sink half the U.S. Navy, and set out to destroy not only the Autobots but also the Earth. The Decepticons' primary target is Sam and they perform a full body scan to obtain vital information.
"Transformers" boasts some spectacular scenes. For example, a robot versus robot mêlée around Egypt's Giza Necropolis, with the evil Devastator, a remarkably mammoth mechanoid, absorbing several construction vehicles so it can scramble atop the peak of a pyramid, is truly a sight to behold. Again, Bay and his scribes cannot inhibit their humor and they show two huge wrecking balls dangling like genitalia between its massive thighs. The scene where the Decepticons resurrect Megatron from the bottom of the ocean is exhilarating to watch. The last thing that you should be thinking about is the nincompoop who decided not to melt Megatron done into a pile of metal so nothing like this could happen. Unfortunately, had they done so it is likely that there would not have been a sequel.
Mind you, "Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen" qualifies as a big, dumb, noisy action-paced sci-fi saga that doesn't make any sense and revels in its larger-than-life idiocy. Humans take a backseat to the fracas between the mechanoids until the final moments when only Sam can save the day. Unfortunately, the humor gets entirely out of hand. Sam's college roommate follows him around the globe and spends more time screaming in terror rather than fighting. Agent Simmons (John Turturro) is back acting just as flaky as ever, too. The Ghetto twin Autobots are as obnoxious as Jar Jar Binks was in the "Star Wars" prequel. The gags and the pranks displace the drama. The language is often rude and verges on the obscene. The surprises are few and far between. Without enumerating them, we are asked to believe that essential characters can die and never be revived. Anybody who believes for an instant that the Decepticons will vanquish the Autobots is clearly delusional, though it would have been a nice cliffhanger touch on Bay's part to stage an ending similar to "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back." -
trento-221 June 2009Make no mistake, a great number of people will be entertained by this flick and it offers, well, to say the least, a few aircraft carriers full of special effects for your money. Sadly, that's about everything good there is to say about "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen". Not only was the huge number of negative reviews for this film justified, but the second cinematic installment in the "Transformers" series is really paradigmatic of everything movies should not be.
It all starts with the sub-par acting of Shia LeBeouf, which, by now at least, no longer comes as a surprise. Megan Fox, who plays the admittedly hot Mikaela Banes, doesn't really help either, as her role seems to be limited to bumping into stuff, falling and subsequently finding herself in ready-made bikini model poses, cleavage wide open. The story, if that is what we can call what little is left when we subtract 140 minutes of explosions from the film, is so blatantly drenched in in-ya-face product placement that even the most bullshit-resistant viewers will find it hard to look away.
Now you might say: "Fair enough, but wasn't the first 'Transformers' just the same?". Well, here's where the real problems of "Revenge of the Fallen" start. While the original "Transformers" had some genuinely original, funny and gripping moments, "Revenge of the Fallen" largely lacks these elements. Most of the transforming and warping sidekicks are simply robotic versions of stale clichés, the humor has taken a turn for the worse and hardly any suspense builds up at all. It is this general lack of originality that makes for the new "Transformers" film to be so much less than good and entertaining popcorn cinema.
150 minutes of random stuff blowing up without any real substance to the plot, cliché upon cliché, bad actor upon bad actor, and every so often a pseudo-moralistic lecture given to the audience by some over-sized pile of talking CGI-rubble - I can do without that kind of wisdom! Even just thinking about how many more people are going to watch this movie rather than one of this summer's real cinematic gems, such as Charlie Kaufman's "Synechdoche, New York", makes me a little sick! -
lukalele29 September 2009I'm amazed at some of the reviews on here. Seriously, what did people expect outta this film? Shakespeare? The English Patient? You go to see this for the ridiculous action, awesome special effects and just to have a good time, which is what I had. Yeah, it did seem to overindulge slightly and was slow in parts. Yeah, the humour's cheesy, sometimes painfully so. No surprise there though, let's remember we're watching a film based on kids' toys, not a Bronte novel. It ain't perfect, but if you expected it to be, I'm glad you're feeling let down. For me, it didn't try to be anything it shouldn't have and what it needed to do right, it did.
Mindless, thoroughly enjoyable fun, just like the first one. -
0U5 March 2020This second installment of the Transformers series wasn't as fantastic as the first one but it was still pretty good. Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, and the rest of the cast did a great job in this movie. The plot to the movie was pretty good and the action scenes were pretty cool. A lot of people didn't like this movie, but I did and I would recommend it.
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l_biu21 June 2009Transformers 2 suffers from complete utter lack of direction. The movie tries to be so many things and fails at all of them. It tries to be a comedy but the jokes have all been done time and time again, it tries to be dark but with no real threat and characters coming back to life it fails at this, it than tries to be a family adventure movie but with the crude language and sexual innuendo the movie fails at this too.
The plot is non-existent. There does not seem to be anything other than MacGuffins to get from A to B. This would be fine if the characters are interesting or at least relatable. Not the case for this film as every single character is a thin as a paper. Even Shia, who I thought was the best thing in the first movie, loses all his charm and charisma and sleep walks through this.
The action is surprisingly dull....the camera-work is just to shaky and far too close-up to grasp what is happening on screen. Robot fights take nothing more than 5 minutes at a time and the similarity of the robots designs makes it hard to see who you are supposed to be rooting for. Its even harder when none of the robots are even introduced properly.
The first hour of the movie is easily the best part. Some of the charm is still intact. The film than comes to a crashing halt and gets very very boring. The finale does not live up to the build up and you find yourself looking at your watch or slightly drifting off. Continuous explosions, with no feel of threat or danger, draws you completely away from what's happening on screen.
The first movie was decent but lost its charm after repeat viewing...Transformers 2 does not have any charm to begin with. A dull, boring mess. -
echodaxx1210 October 2011I love the transformers trilogy. I love this film. But, unfortunately, it is the worst in the trilogy.
I'll admit, the film is under plotted, however, this is partly because, fans expected action. And that's what they got. Many critics forget to realize that this film was not meant to deliver an excellent plot. But, when i walked out of the theater I felt there was this strange dislike for the film that I later found to be caused by the removal of some good characters from the first film, which is another flaw in the film.
Now, lets move on to the good things. The number one good thing was the ridiculous amount of action and robot guts. Yeah for robot guts! And that's about it, and that makes the film sound bad, but trust me, it's not as bad as some make out.
Now, the last and worst criticism that some accept as fact is in my opinion absolutely stupid. Skids and Mudflap are not racist. The racism that these two are criticized for is caused by their monkey-like posture and body shape, the way they talk, and the fact that their illiterate. This does not necessarily mean that these robot's are racist. And even if they are, I don't doubt there are other films that many think of as great that are also racist.
So, this film is for die hard action or Transformers fans. If you plan on seeing this film, it's important to know what to expect. In this film, expect lots of robot action and robot guts and a plot that is only acceptable in films like this. overall, this film is a great visual effects thrill ride, with a plot that could definitely have been better. -
f_mckissack13 August 2009This film has more of everything from the first movie, such as: insulting racial stereotypes, pointless throw-away dialogue and incomprehensible action sequences.
If you handcuffed eight maladjusted monkeys to type writers you would probably get a better script. And as for the "action," go to your nearest toy store, get the latest line of Transformers action figures, cram them into a blender and switch it on. That's what you'll get in a nutshell. Oh, and people running from explosions in slow motion. John Woo's action films seem to be in fast forward compared to this. Just because it is in slow mo it doesn't make it cool... unless you're Zack Snyder.
It is hard to imagine anyone enjoying this film on any level, even the recently lobotomised. From the previews and hype, Michael Bay appears to be trusting the success of this film on the marketable qualities of Megan Fox's heaving bosom. Yes, gratuitous close ups of her chest abound.
Michael Bay is a contemptible hack. He has single handedly set science fiction back a few years, undoing the good work done by the recent masterful science fiction films, up to and including Alien. Do the world a favour and stop watching this tripe so that we can put an end to Michael Bay's reign of crap! -
rakibrohit29 January 2017this movie is very excellently done, because we know that after the invention of modern science our life is very easy and comfortable for us.... in this movie we noticed that every robot are act by the graphics. this is the hard work of a choreographer and a director.we also noticed that the voice of the robot is artificial but its seemed to us every robot are talking and showing their awesome magic which is not real but it feels real. after all the story of this movie is really good and the character Sam acting and the special character optimus prime acting is surprise to every Hollywood fans and the spectators. on the other side in cinema hall we follow that when the movie is showing on the screen every spectators are attentive. even in Bangladesh every cinema hall are specially show this movie in discount.people of all over the world enjoy the movie and specially this movie is loved by me also;;; so we can say that this movie is different than any other Hollywood movies. so thanks to the director,editor,actors and all the people who worked for gift us a special one
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Thanos_Alfie3 August 2020"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is an Action - Sci-Fi movie and the sequel of "Transformers", in which we watch Sam leaving Autobots and his previous life behind him in order to be another ordinary teenager. Soon he will realize that something strange is happening since his mind is full of cryptic symbols and the Decepticons are after him.
I liked this movie because it had an interesting plot and it was a good continuation of the first movie of Transformers but it was not as good as the first one. The direction which was made for one more time by Michael Bay was good and he had mostly the same style as in the first movie. Finally, I have to say that "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is not a bad sequel but it could be better with some changes and some additional information that could make it more interesting. -
matchitehew10 July 2009Well, I enjoyed it as it happened, but after some reflection...I've come to the understanding that this film is very, VERY messy.
A lot of people defending this film are saying the action scenes are spectacular. Sure, they're spectacular...if you like trying to figure out just who's who and what's going on. Most of the time the characters are so obscured by objects/smoke that you can't see the "action" that everyone's raving about. When they're not behind something, the camera's changing every five seconds that you can't focus on the mess before you. The only cool part about these action scenes is the intense way some of the Transformers are disfigured.
The over-all plot, story, and script of this thing comes together in the most ugly way possible. Most people are complaining about it being too all over the place, or that there wasn't one at all. Unfortuneatly, it's hard not to agree on both fronts. There was no flow, no suspense, no build up, no up, no down, just one flat line of point a to point b to point c. The intense battles would have been made more intense had they been preceded by some sort of build up, but they just kind of...happened. The plot in and of itself has the makings of something epic. MULTI-FILM EPIC. The script used to flesh out this story was mediocre AT BEST. It could have been so much more than what it was, it could have spaced apart plot points by delving into the characters (specifically: the transformers). Instead, the film was littered with unnecessary, and often crude jokes.
Heck, this overly cartoony humor was barely present in the first film. Now it's been ramped up to over 9000, and it severely offsets any emotional impact the film might have had. Most of it would have been better suited to something like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, at least there crude humor comes off clever. It's really sad we had to put up with all of that instead of enjoying some actual quality time with our favorite machines.
And, speaking of which, the lack of Transformer character development presents itself yet again. You would think after fans complained about the infrequent amount of Transformer screen time in the first, then things would have been different now. Nope. We still don't know what they're thinking, who they are as living beings, or really anything about them except that they shoot at the opposing force. And why would they just sit around in car mode when they were hidden? They came from a planet where they walked around freely, one would think they'd enjoy being able to just be themselves.
The annoying liberties that were taken here in the name of artistic licensing are nauseating. I understand this is an "adaptation" and that things aren't going to be 100% to the source material. However, completely rewriting a character's personality is like killing off a loved one and replacing them with someone completely different. They also went waaaay to far with appearance, as well. Being a fan of a character from the series isn't' going to matter much here because there's a good chance they've been overhauled beyond recognition. Heck, the only one that barely made the transition from cartoon/comic to this blight of a film is Optimus Prime. No one else even remotely resembles their previous incarnations. From personality to appearance, this piece of work tramples all of the work of those before it...AND the fans they had sought to please.
The film's treatment of characters like Sky/Jetfire is utterly appalling. It's proof that the people involved in this film don't actually give a crap about the characters in their movie. Then again, the lack of character development makes that just as obvious.
The character design here is also noticeably different from the previous film. In the last film, all of the machines were quite bulky, a little more humanoid. The new ones here all seemed to be cartoony or very streamlined. The mini transformers all seemed to sport bug eyes, where as the ones last time around did not. Why would this new batch, decepticon and autobot alike, differ so much from the others? It's not like they were all brand new, they'd been around as long as the others. I dunno, different art direction from film to film grates on my nerves, especially when it comes to character design.
And, for the love of sanity, WHY can't they treat women like people? If I wanted to gawk at girls who were just there because they're pretty I would look up questionable material online. I honestly feel sorry for her and any other actress who doesn't actually get a chance to show off any acting talent they might have. I don't have a problem with them showing a girl as being pretty in the film...but if that's all they concentrate on then they can just get right the heck out.
The rest of the talent on hand might as well have been treated the same way. No one was really given an opportunity to actually do much acting, it was all jokes and running.
The movie's fun, but if you have a brain you'd better shut it off or your going to find yourself wanting to bring some pain to the creators of this drivel. And for the love of pete, just because it's an "action" film doesn't mean the film can't have substance. It's possible to have a load of brain-flexing story AND explosions. -
************************************ ******WARNING SLIGHT SPOILERS******* ************************************
In fact this movie is truer to the spirit of the original animated TV series than the first. For the true fans, can you remember any strong human characters in the original? It was never about the humans, but about the battle between Decepticons and Autobots.
Finally, they are now battling for Energon. Like the TV series, this is the reason the two factions battle endlessly, not this All-Spark business.
One complaint I have is that they've just introduced too many bots. I just can't follow who is whom, when every minute a new bot is introduced. One really has to watch it several times to be able to follow it properly.
This movies is big, of epic proportion, not just and action flick. -
For the most part, this film is the decent thrill ride that the movie going audience is looking for. As an action moving, it has scenes to astound and thrill any avid fan. As a science fiction movie it stands reasonably well. It doesn't over-explain things and doesn't throw in concepts as central plot points that are blatantly impossible (super novas that threaten entire galaxies, I'm talking about you Star Trek). The movie also does relatively well on a comedic note, and from a standpoint of general plot. Though others have complained about the central importance of Sam's role being unlikely and a retread of the first film, it follows through logically from where the first film left off.
Though the film is a lot of fun, it does have its flaws. Unfortunately the humor descends to the low brow a little too often. Also the Autobot twins that Michael Bay apparently loved so much were frightfully annoying. They did also lean towards offensive cultural stereotypes a little heavily. It is unfortunate because a couple of their funnier lines could have been delivered just as well by completely different characters. In fact they might have been funnier coming from a more straight laced Autobot. The use of the twins in pure Jar Jar Binks fashion (though not quite as irritating) was unfortunate given how many underused robots there were. The comment about Sam's roommate's bravery could have been unexpectedly hilarious coming out of Arcee.
Most of the other glitches in the film were relatively minor and not worth mentioning, though the writers could use a geography lesson. If you enjoy action films and don't need a deeper artistic message, Revenge of the Fallen is well worth the watch. -
demalex5029 June 2009I've created an IMDb account only for this movie, to let people know how terrible it was...
I'm not really a big fan of robot/sci-fi movies, but my boyfriend made me go as I had made him watch the last Ben Affleck :) Anyways, even tho I'm not a fan, I thought it'd be a bit like Iron Man, which I liked a lot. When I saw Spielberg was involved in it, I was relieved and thought it was going to be good. Hell was I wrong... even my boyfriend (who's a programmer, understand: robot/high-tech fan) hated the movie. As everyone said: no plot, just a lot of bangs and booms and boobs.
It is true that technically-speaking, the special effects are impressive. But it's not the 1st time we see big robots and explosions. Besides this good point, the rest of the movie is kinda sad. It's like they made a salad: hot chick? check. robots? check. fire and explosions? check. US saving the world? check. lame-ass jokes? check. stereotypes? check. They gathered all ingredients they could think about and just mixed them up together.
Something else: I'm French, and the french clichés in American movies are getting really annoying. No we don't eat snails (unless you go in an extremely expensive, high-class, very traditional restaurant and specially order snails because you're a tourist) and we (at least my generation) don't know who the mime Marceau is. Also they should get their maps straight cos the Eiffel Tower is not where it was seen in the movie... But I'm getting carried away, that's a detail.
Actors: bad, bad, more bad. I mean, I'm sure I could do a better job and wouldn't cost as much. However, I must say Bravo Megan Fox for keeping your jeans white after running around in the desert and I want the same lip gloss she has! :P Seriously, how hard is it to keep things a tiny bit more realistic? Stop making us girls feel awful about ourselves! It'd be OK if Sam Witwick was hot too. But nooooo, we have a nerd instead of eye-candy. Not fair. Actually there was Josh Duhamel but he's not the hero so it doesn't count :)
Robots: hard to tell which are which. sound of clinging metal was annoying in the end (but didn't prevent me from drifting off during the last fight...). nothing to say really. It's all seen before, nothing new, nothing exciting.
Plot: well... I'm gonna guess it was all written in one night, 1 month before releasing the movie maybe? proof is: they mention Obama and the swine flu. There's nothing original/exciting in the plot, you can easily anticipate on everything, it's just very boring.
To sum up: it's "Cinema week" in France right now, and all movies are only 3euros (4$). I'm glad for that as I consider 3euros is still too expensive for that pile of s***. it's OK if you're only interested in the special effects (again, they're good, but nothing new there). Otherwise, don't bother. There's loads of good movies.