TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (2009)

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""It's upgrade time?""

I broke my own rule. That's right. I saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, even though Rotten Tomatoes' overall score was 21%. Well. It wasn't as Rotten as thought it would be.

Humanity has a secret pact with the Autobots to search and destroy the other Decepticons who are hiding all over the world, and Sam is getting ready to go to college in the east US. Sam's relationship with Mikaela is, thankfully, not on ice, but not exactly on steady ground either. Things are going great, until Sam touches a fragment of the All-Spark. Mentally embedded with a series of symbols, Sam is being chased by the Decepticons who wish to extract this information from his brain, to find the location of the Matrix. If this source of incredible power reaches the hands of The Fallen, the first Decepticon, there will be no stopping him from destroying our world.

The set up is good. What follows becomes a downward spiral that is, miraculously, redeemed somewhat, by the time the film is over. However, I thought to myself, "what revenge? Well, so much for revenge..."

Right away we are introduced to the Autobots working with the government, showing Prime in all his glory. Action, explosions, more explosions...and even MORE explosions. Someone had better keep that Mike Bay busy. Who knows what he might blow up if he doesn't have a film to direct. The explosions are many, but well choreographed.

The Good:

-Tie-ins. Plenty of them. Even down to introducing Mikaela's father, to which was mentioned in the first film. Starscream's purpose for fleeing is also brought up.

-No dull moments. Never had to look at my watch, since the story kept moving at a pace that, if you take your eyes off for a second, you'll miss something.

-Action. WOW! Talk about Action! There were some moments when I felt a little confused about what was happening and "where did that punch come from", but, they are giant robots, after all. Plenty of unique action sequences here.

-Visuals. I thought the Star Trek visuals were mind blowing. This film blew and scrambled my mind with unending, eye-popping eye-candy.

The bad:

-Acting. First and foremost, I'm sorry Megan, but you can't act, at least not yet. When Mikaela is hiding from the Decepticons with Sam, before she started to cry, she looks like she is having an orgasm. Seriously. Kids are watching. Tone it down, girl.

I did like Shia this time. Man, that guy can twitch his eye. Hilarious. Also I was nervous about Agent Simmons returning because I LOATHED that character in the first. However, he becomes more of an asset this time and he is much more likable. Good job. A major thing that bugged me was Leo, Sam's roommate. Okay. He's a computer guy, right? His entire purpose in the entire movie is to introduce us BACK to Agent Simmons. Nothing else. Just along for the ride and getting in the way the rest of them time. What a Whiner.

-Writing: Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman. You were right on in some respects, showing the Transformers Universe in much needed detail, for the story really needed that sustenance, but the humor is bland and perverted. Sorry, it's true. Watching a dog hump another dog has been done, but then a robot humping a girl's leg? Come on! How much humping can a movie take? You know this film has huge kid appeal, right? I don't recall most of the robots being so vulgar before either. I was also hoping for more Arcee time, but we only saw her twice and she spoke ONCE! Mudflap and Jetfire don't exactly help, however, their involvement later pays off.

-The mom. She was silly in the first one, but this time she is flat out ridiculous. That among other moments, I wonder, was that really necessary? We could of had a 2 hr 10 min movie instead.

-Tanks or Scrap? The robots in the first seemed almost invincible, but in this one the robots are being repealed by normal rifle rounds. WHAT? And some of the bigger ones went down way too fast.

Overall, I did not enjoy this second installment as I did the first one, but not by much. The origin story was handled mostly in the first film, so it makes sense to have more action here. If you are looking for a serious batch of insane action, this is your ticket. For those seeking a more story driven film, you'll be teetering in your seat a bit. Knowing that Transformers 3 will be underway soon, we can only hope that the last great threat will be the planet devouring Unicron. Until then, "Autobots...roll out!"