Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Review By JT's Movie Page

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

Review by J.T. Johnson

Director: Michael Bay

Writers: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Ehren Kruger

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro

I thought that the original "Transformers" had many problems but still thought it was an enjoyable ride (otherwise, I would not have gone to see this film.) The Transformers return in the sequel to the amazingly successful 2007 film with more special effects but with an even weaker story in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen".

This time, Sam, the protagonist from the previous film played by Shia LaBeouf, is on his way to college when he finds a piece of the Allspark that was still stuck in his old shirt. When he holds it up to look at the shard, it sends information into his brain and he is suddenly hit with strange visions and symbols about the Transformers’ past.

Meanwhile, the Autobots are living in secret on the planet helping out a new special ops. team known as NEST. Their job is to hunt down the remaining Decepticons still hiding out on Earth. Eventually, they learn about a new enemy known as the Fallen who wants the information that Sam now possesses in his head.

This last part leads to my first problem with the film. The Autobots are living here secretly? I know that my suspension of disbelief is already in play due to the fact that I am watching a film about robots that can transform into almost anything. However, I cannot accept that in the Information Age, after all the mayhem caused by the Transformers in the first film, that the military could still manage to keep them covered up. I was getting tired every time Sam tried to cover-up something that was done by the Transformers with some lame ass lie. Although, I will say that, in regards to the suspension of disbelief, I do believe more in the robots in this film than I do about the humans. Anyway, on we go.

The best part about this film is the action. The scenes are choreographed and shot beautifully by Michael Bay, who proves once again that he is a skilled filmmaker when it comes to action. One of my biggest complaints about the first film was that the action was too up close to where the audience couldn’t decipher what was going on. Here, Bay gratefully pulls back the camera to where you can see the action in all of its glory.

As a matter of fact, I don’t have any problems with Bay’s direction in this film except for one scene where the camera keeps swerving around Megan Fox and LaBeouf while they are having a little heart-to-heart. If it‘s not action, then keep the damn camera still. Once again, it is the story itself that keeps this film from becoming something better. Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Ehren Kruger have written a script that is too bogged down with unnecessary moments and way too much comedic relief along with humans that are more machine like than the Transformers.

Some examples include an unnecessary and annoying college roommate who spends the whole time complaining about the unfolding events instead of doing anything to help the situation. Then there are the Twins, two identical Autobots that only have one real good moment in the film when they are fighting Devastator and sound like 90’s gangstas. There are a couple of somewhat funny moments with these two but not enough to make one like them. And then there is the humping. Oh my God, the humping. Dogs are humping, humans are humping. Even the damn robots are humping. I won’t go into greater detail about that but if you see the film, you will know what I am talking about.

Maybe the writers of this film should have spent more time focused on the other Autobots that were introduced in the first film and less time on these unfunny, unnecessary scenes that were incorporated instead. The audience does not even get to see the original Autobots like Ironhide (few scenes, little dialogue), Ratchet (blink and you’ll miss him) and Bumblebee except as part of the scene’s backdrop and their occasional scenes where they have to do a bit of action. Optimus Prime isn’t even in the movie that long. The film is called Transformers so do me a favor: focus more on the damn robots.

The new Transformers don’t even get much screen time or development, either. Arcee (who, for some reason, is three separate motorcycles instead of just one character) is almost never seen and you better not look away or you will never see Jolt or Sideswipe around. The only ones with any substantial screen time are Skid and Mudflap. Here, they are known as the Twins and I’ve already talked about how annoying they are above.

One new Transformer that really bothered the hell out of me was in the form of a human woman. Yeah, that’s right. The film turns into a damn "Terminator" film while she tries to kill Sam and company. Like too many scenes and characters in this film, she is unnecessary and, worse, is a complete rip-off of both "Terminator" and "Species" (she has a really long and deadly tongue and tries to seduce Sam.)

The only other character beyond Sam, Mikaela (Fox) and the soldiers played by Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson (two other characters that were also shortchanged in this film) that I was surprised to see again was John Turturro’s character, former Agent Simmons. I was annoyed by this character in the first film but found myself really enjoying him in this one. It could be because he keeps putting down Sam’s roommate every time the idiot starts to complain and that he serves a purpose in this film instead of just being there.

The story about the Fallen and why he is trying to wreak havoc on Earth is fine, but I stress this one last time, the film is bogged down too much with unnecessary crap. I bitched about the editor of the first film not cutting out unnecessary scenes that would have made the story tighter and all-around better. This time, if he had cut out the useless scenes and some of the crappy comedic relief, he would not have had much of a film to work with.

Like I mentioned above, I thought the first film had a lot of room for improvement and that was why I looked forward to this film because I thought it would address those issues. Instead, I got a film that was worse than the first film and one that I genuinely disliked. Beyond the action, the story here absolutely kills the movie from being one of the greatest action films of the year and one I just cannot recommend to audiences.

2 / 5 Stars - Bad