Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review [4]

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 07.02.2009

The Transformers are back and face their oldest enemy. Does the movie deliver the fun or is it the stupid, boring action movie everyone is trying to make it out to be?

Directed by Michael Bay
Written by Ehtran Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kutzman

Cast
Shia LaBeouf ... Sam Witwicky
Megan Fox ... Mikaela Banes
Josh Duhamel ... Major Lennox
Tyrese Gibson ... USAF Master Sergeant Epps
John Turturro ... Agent Simmons
Ramon Rodriguez ... Leo Spitz
Kevin Dunn ... Ron Witwicky
Julie White ... Judy Witwicky
Isabel Lucas ... Alice
Glenn Morshower ... General Morshower
Peter Cullen ... Optimus Prime (voice)
Mark Ryan ... Jetfire (voice)
Reno Wilson ... Mudflap (voice)
Jess Harnell ... Ironhide (voice)
Robert Foxworth ... Ratchet (voice)
André Sogliuzzo ... Sideswipe (voice)
Grey DeLisle ... Arcee (voice)
Hugo Weaving ... Megatron (voice)
Tony Todd ... Fallen (voice)
Charles Adler ... Starscream (voice)
Frank Welker ... Soundwave/Devastator/Reedman (voice)
Tom Kenny ... Wheelie/Skids (voice)



Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen has a lot going against it.

The main selling point for critics is the overall hatred for anything Michael Bay. I have heard him described as a man whose mentality fluctuates from that of a 14 year old pre-pubescent boy to a 20 year old date-raping frat boy. Personally I can live with the first part of that statement but really don’t see the second description fitting him. He has made some really good films (Bad Boys II, Transformers) and a really great film (The Rock), which is par for course with almost everyone else in Hollywood. Is he as good of a director as Michael Mann? No. Is he at least on the same level as a Tony Scott? Most definitely.

The second problem facing the second Transformers movie is the reception it has received from critics. It has been called overly long and astonishingly stupid, a giant, lumbering idiot of a movie, and boring. I will give you the overly long and somewhat brainless aspects of the plot but I don’t believe for one minute this movie is boring.

I will start off with some of my complaints about the movie so you can add them to all the others piling in with each review.

There is humor injected in the movie, and it is all hit and miss. The biggest failure at humor comes in the much maligned Twins, Mudflap and Skids. I’m not going to bother with the critics who call them racist because that is just stupid. Skids is voiced by Tom Kenny (the voice of Spongebob Squarepants), who I am sure has plenty of experience with special interest groups attacking his characters. There is a line about them not knowing how to read, although Wheelie (also voiced by Kenny) admits later there is not much need for Transformers to know how to read. Of course, people want to make racist suggestions even where there is no need for them. The Twins sound like street kids with one possessing a gold tooth and, at the end, prove to be up to the battle. I have no problem with their characterization.

I do have a problem with the Twins use in the movie. They are completely made for the kids. These two robots provide most of the humor and, in the showing I attended, kids loved them and laughed at all their actions. However, they are closer to R-rated humor than anything and I question the raunchy language and suggestive sequences they were involved in. I am not being a prude here, as I loved the comedy provided by Sam’s parents throughout the film, but that humor was aimed towards the adults whereas the Twins are made to be toys and I wouldn’t want my son to quote what he hears them saying.

The movie, from a comic standpoint, is geared solidly toward adults, strange for a film based on toys. I want my Terminator movie to be Rated R, but I would rather my Transformers be geared more towards the PG-13 crowds. This movie is a little too heavy of a PG-13 for my tastes.

My second problem is the lack of Transformers in the film. Some of our favorite characters from the first film (Ironhide, Ratchet) are left in the background. We get to hear them talk and see them getting antsy about getting into the action but they are basically invisible most of the movie. When they finally get a chance to fight, they are a small part of a giant action piece. There is a scene where Optimus Prime is fighting to protect Sam and finds himself outnumbered. That made no sense to me because there was no one there to help him. They had said the Autobots had broken into two units to look for the Decepticons but why was Prime by himself? The only two Autobots that get any extended screen time are Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. For a two-plus hour movie, that is inexcusable.

My next problem is some of the robots themselves. There is a Decepticon that can turn into a human girl. Where the hell did that come from? I also hated the female Autobot that could split into various motorcycles with holograms of girls driving them. And I hated the Twins, although the ice cream truck they first appeared as was funny.

My final problem is the end when Sam goes to a spiritual land where the former Prime’s reside. That was hokey and plain stupid.

Now, after spending 750 words describing what I did not like about this movie, I will admit this one thing. I liked this movie.

This summer has been full of disappointing movies. However, I can say without a doubt in my mind, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is better than Wolverine, Terminator: Salvation and The Taking of Pelham 123. It is the perfect example of a summer blockbuster and, critics be damned, it is a fun action movie.

I did not understand the beginning of the film when I was watching it but that opening was described in detail later in the film. Many, many years ago the Transformers came to Earth and did battle with the human race. A Decepticon known as The Fallen decided that he was going to destroy the planet but the Autobots stopped him and devised a plan to keep a destructive device from his hands.

Cut to the present time, Sam (Shia LaBeouf) is preparing to leave for college and finds a piece of the All Spark in his old shirt that transplants images into his head - the same images we learned in the first film his ancestor also had. These images tell the location of the weapon and the Decepticons set out to find Sam to extract the information from him.

There are inconsistencies in the plot. The entire film, the Decepticons seeks out Sam to find the location but at another point it is said The Fallen is the only person who knows where it is (my wife explained to me while reading the review that The Fallen knew where the weapon was but not the Matrix, needed to detonate it). Since The Fallen is pulling the strings, why doesn’t he just tell Starscream where it is instead of leading them on the chase for Sam? The answer is because then there would be no movie, so I’ll just let that go. One main stumbling block for The Fallen is that he is indestructible except at the hands of a Prime, so he needs Optimus Prime killed to clear the way for his return to Earth to finally kill us.

Since the first movie, The Autobots have aligned with the U.S. military to battle Decepticons but the president (Obama was name dropped in the film) has sent in a liaison to watch over the Autobots. The man has decided the world would be better if the Autobots just left and the U.S. fought the war against the Decepticons on their own.

There are a lot of things I didn’t like but this movie served its purpose. It was a thrill ride that entertained me. The main actors from the first film returned including LaBeouf, Megan Fox, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson. Gibson gets the least to do of the returning actors, but Turturro is in top form and Duhamel is solid in his role as well. Fox is nothing more than eye candy and LaBeouf does a decent job but it is a bit less than I have come to expect from him. Kevin Dunn and Julie White are also spectacular as Sam’s parents.

The action is fast paced but I feel the cuts and dizzying moving camera is a little much at times, making it hard to keep track of the battle scenes. There is also one too many circling camera shots of two people talking. What is it with directors refusing to let their cameras sit still while people talk? The explosions, car chases and gun fights Michael Bay is best known for are here in full effect and are solid, if not a bit overdone at points.

The movie has been ripped apart by critics over the last few days even while more people went to see it than any other movie outside of The Dark Knight. Opening week receipts are no indicator of how good a movie is, only how highly anticipated it is. Film critics are also not an indicator of how much the average Joe enjoys a movie either because there is usually a level of film snobbery involved as well. When I left the theater, I was happy with the movie I saw, warts and all. I stood outside and listened to the crowd leaving the theater. I watched it in a balcony that was 21 to enter, so I did not get the reaction of kids but I heard no one complain about what they saw. Most people outside the theater, ranging in age from 21 up to at least 60, were talking about how much they enjoyed the movie. I knew then that I was not alone.

Hi. My name is Shawn S. Lealos and I enjoyed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

The 411: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is about thirty minutes too long. It is a movie geared towards kids that does not appear to understand that and uses characters meant to be toys to deliver tasteless R-rated dialogue. It limits the amount of Autobots to two major characters and most of the fight scenes are shot in a dizzying confusing manner. However, it is a fun thrill ride of a movie nowhere near as boring as many critics would have you believe. The story is not really that stupid and presents the origins of the Transformers as it concerns the planet Earth. John Turturro once again delivers the goods and I am beginning to believe the man can do no wrong. The biggest selling point of this movie is I left the theater with a smile on my face and felt I had a good time watching this movie. That is not something I can say for most of this summer’s blockbusters.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]