Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

For a highly used CGI, all-action adventure film, “Transformers” was more or less satisfying. I know that the story telling could have been better. Remember, Michael Bay was directing the movie, but fans couldn’t have really asked for more. Still, it’s easy to take out a couple of hours reveling in the overuse adrenaline and display of Transformers but just how good the original was, gave a difficult problem for executive producer Steven Spielberg and his team, how do we make it better? Speaking in advance of the Transformers’ came out in 2007, Bay I think was joking when he said, “we’re going to make the best one first,” but instead of a larger budget and bring back all the major stars, there was always a chance his guess would come true.

Starting a little time after what transpired in the first time, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” released in 2009, shows Sam Witwicky about to go to college, but when he is packing his stuff finds a piece of the all-powerful AllSpark. Desperately trying to bring the leader of the Fallen back to life, when the Decepticons finds the remains of the cube, they break into the plan that will bring about the end of the world as we know it. Defending what has now become their home territory, the Autobots, however, will do anything to halt their enemies, as once again, humanity gets stuck in the middle of the inter-robot battle.

Michael Bay returns to direct this movie, the story telling wasn’t going to be fantastic, but the script for this movie leaves a lot of questions up in the air. Sam Bathe stated in his review, “Both the plot and dialogue are very slack and where the original kept it simple and effective, Transformers 2 tries to blend in a few too many story strands without ever developing any to enough detail. This is the first real stumbling block for new power house writing, and for other projects, producing, team Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. There have been signs of a decline in recent films, with tepid dialogue frequently threatening to boil over, but their imagination has always saved the day. Here they should have ground their ideas, and spent more time ironing out a better, more focused plot.”

A handful of weaknesses could have been cured in the editing room. With almost two and a half hours, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is considerably too long, delaying largely after a promising introduction. What’s greatly frustrating is the film’s inclination to digress into the stupid. The first film knew it was a fantasy but took the material seriously, the only way the audience would then force to believe the film. Here, Michael Bay uses both ridiculous story elements and frustrating characters and habits that weaken all the amazing action. Bathe goes on to say, “Similar to the monkeys in Indiana Jones 4, twins Mudflap (Reno Wilson) and Skids’ (Tom Kenny) attempts to be funny fall flat on their face while R/C truck Transformer Wheelie (Tom Kenny) is nothing but irritating.”

There is still a lot to like about this film. Shia LaBeouf, now a completely decent Hollywood actor after a fantastic few years since the original, has a appealing on-screen charisma. He brings a lot of excitement and passion to the role and says his comedic lines with surprisingly funny timing. Forget the Transformer twins and Wheelie, the rest of the cast does a nice job, with Megan Fox giving the expected attractive looks, and beautifully glossed lips from beginning to end.

Since the industry heavily uses CGI, you might find this shocking, for sure, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” could have had a little more Transformer fighting scenes. The action scenes are beautifully executed, especially the beginning chase and last fight, we only needed a few more of them. Bathe admits, “Over the lengthy two and a half hours, the set pieces feel few and far between, though this might be more owing to the stuttering plot development.”

In the battle of the Transformers movie, what looked like a simple win for “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” looks like a draw. They have their good moments, but equally horrible ones too, it’s just aggravating that if “Transformers 2” took itself a little more seriously, it might have satisfied audiences the same way the original did.

I know that these movies are not good, but like I said before, I still enjoy them. Sure, with all the adolescent, testosterone overuse and attractive women running around, I enjoy the action a lot, even though the runtime makes it tiring to a point that you are wondering when the ending is. However, I still enjoy this movie. If you want to check out, do so, but I won’t recommend it if you aren’t a Michael Bay fan.

Now, I want to apologize that I am posting this late. I was busy for the whole day, but luckily I was able to post this review today. Stay tuned next week when I talk about the third film in the series to continue “Transformers Month.”