TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (2009)

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"What could have been a five-star sequel lost itself in what appeared to be overt sexism and a mass of amazingly-rendered robots, compromising acting and heart. "

The first thing that made the alarm-bells ring when I prepared myself to see "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was the duration. 160 minutes! Holy shit! As a standard rule of thumb, too many big-budget movies are opting for a run time that borders beyond attention-holding limits. Take, for example, Watchmen, The Dark Knight and The Good Shepherd. Don't get me wrong, all of these movies are, in their own right, absolutely brilliant, but speaking from the perspective of an average viewer, they get boring when they drag into a 160 minute movie what could easily have been successfully condensed into 2 hours.

Movies that have managed to thoroughly satisfy and enthrall in under 2 hours are Wall-e, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and all of the Bourne movies, as well as many more.

Having said this though, a positive that came from Transformers was that it managed to keep my interest and, as far as I could tell, the interests of all those around me. I work at my local cinema as an usher, and so far all the reactions from patrons leaving the cinema have been very positive.

So, I'll start with the positive. Shia LaBeouf is simply amazing. He never ceases to amaze me with his innate ability to keep me hooked to the screen and make my sides literally almost split from laughing. The film is fantastically directed and edited, and the robots are breathtakingly well rendered and designed. As well as this, Sam's parents are hilarious.

Now the bad. The sexist attitude towards women in the movie is almost unbearable. Megan Fox and Isabelle Lucas are treated as objects, wearing skimpy outfits and portraying themselves as nothing more that eye candy. The childish humour (dogs humping, sex jokes, etc.) is grating, and the film seems to lose itself in a mass of moving robot parts and overall poor acting. Here's to hoping the next one captures the heart and class of the original.