Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Special Edition 2 Discs DVD

The movie, which is a sequel to the hugely popular 2007 film "Transformers," completely misses the mark with this long and at times hard-to-watch follow up to the brilliant first film. Beginning thousand of years in the past the film sets up that a group of ancient Transformers known as the Dynasty of Primes came to Earth seeking to use a devise called the Sun Harvester to drain stars of their energy in order to gain power for the AllSpark. The devise was to be used for good and Earth would be sparred but one brother, there after dubbed "The Fallen" wanted to destroy Earth so the others sacrifice themselves in order to hide the Matrix Of Leadership, the key that is needed to start the Sun Harvester and The Fallen swears vengeance against Earth.

In present day, the film picks up two years after the first one with Optimus Prime and his fellow Autobots working side by side with US Military. After a battle with Decepticons in Shanghai, Optimus Prime learns of the return of the Fallen and warns the US Government. However they don't take him seriously and since they are growing nervous of their alliance with the robots they ask the Autobots to politely leave the planet. Meanwhile, Sam (Shia LaBeouf) is leaving for College and having trouble, saying goodbye to his parents played way too over-the-top by Kevin Dunn and Julie White, his girlfriend the always-hot Megan Fox and his car, the Autobot Bumblebee. It is here, and in scenes with his new roommate Leo, an on-line conspiracy theorist played by a lost Ramon Rodriguez who seems to think he is in another film, where the movie gets carried away with horribly and unfunny scenes that take the focus away from the real attraction of the film, the Transformers. While packing for school Sam finds a shard from the AllSpark, a plot-device from the first film that gives life to any machine. It's this shard that the Decepticons are after and seek to take from Sam at all costs. Eventually the Decepticons gain the shard from Sam and use it to resurrect their leader Megatron who died at the hands of Prime in the first film.

The Decepticons realize that Sam has the location of the Matrix Of Leadership in his head and as they prepare to dissect, Optimus Prime steps in to save Sam. Ultimately, Prime falls and The Fallen is freed from his captivity and orders a full scale attack on Earth. The Fallen speaks to the world and demands they surrender Sam to the Decepticons or they will continue their attack. Sam, Mikaela, Leo & Bumblebee regroup, and Leo suggest his online rival "RoboWarrior" may be of assistance. "RoboWarrior" is revealed to be former Sector 7 agent Simmons played as ridiculously by the otherwise great John Turturro as he was in the first movie, who informs the group that the symbols that Sam has been seeing in his head should be readable for a Decepticon. They then find the Decepticon Jetfire at the F. Udvar-Hazy Center and reactivate him via the shard of the AllSpark. After teleporting the group to Egypt, Jetfire explains that only a Prime can kill The Fallen, and translates the symbols, which contain a riddle that sets the location of the Matrix of Leadership somewhere in the surrounding desert. By following the clues, they arrive at the tomb where they ultimately find the Matrix, but it crumbles to dust in Sam's hands. Believing the Matrix can still revive Optimus Prime; Sam collects the dust and instructs Simmons to call Major William Lennox (Josh Duhamel) to bring the other Autobots and Optimus' body.

The military arrives with the Autobots, but so do the Decepticons, and a battle arises. The Air Force carpet bomb the Decepticons, but Megatron breaks through the offensive and kills Sam. In a vision, Sam meets with the other Primes, who tell him that the Matrix of Leadership is not found but earned, which Sam has done. They acknowledge Sam's devotion to Optimus, the last descendent of the Primes, and instruct Sam to merge the Matrix with Optimus' spark before bringing him back to life. The Matrix is reassembled from the dust, and Sam uses it to revive Optimus. The Fallen arrives and overpower the Autobot team before stealing the Matrix and activating the Sun Harvester. In his final moments, Jetfire volunteers his parts and spark to Optimus. With enhanced capabilities, Optimus destroys the Sun Harvester and takes on Megatron and The Fallen, killing the latter. Sam then finally reciprocates Mikaela's love as Megatron and Starscream retreat and vow that their fight is not finished. The film ends with Optimus sending a message into space saying that the humans and Transformers both share a common past.

The movie is one ridiculously and absurd plot-point after another and completely ruins the magic and excitement that the first film captured. LaBeouf and Fox are fine reprising their roles but it is the lack of attention given to the Transformers that hurts the film the most. What is most surprising is that the same writing team of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman who turned in an amazingly tight and good script with the first film seem to phone it in with this horribly written sequel.

Unfortunately there are no deleted scenes included on the DVD; which is hard to believe because I am sure there were many scenes not used. The commentary by Michael Bay, Orci and Kurtzman is adequate but more informative about other films than it really is about this one. In fact one of the most interesting moments is when Bay talks about James Cameron showing him scenes from his upcoming "Avatar." It is interesting when the writers talk about there lack of excitement about returning to the franchise and how once the Writer's Strike happened, Bay himself began prepping the film without a script, which is evident by the all-over-the-place film. The other features are okay, with a "25 years of Transformers" featurette being a must see for any Transformers fan. Also, on the DVD is a making-of featurette that chronicles the interesting genesis of the film and some of the problems they occurred early on. Ultimately, the DVD is missing some of the bells-and-whistles that I would hope for with a film like this. But what it lacks in exciting extras it does make up for with plenty of technical explanation about how they made the robots come alive. It is very disappointing however that there is no digital copy provided with this DVD. You would think in this day and age that all good DVD's would include a copy for your ipod or computer and it's hard to believe that some would still come without.

"Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen" is a fine mindless action film but truly lacks the originality and style of the first film. If you've never seen the original "Transformers" before, do yourself a favor and rent it first before you see this, you'll thank me later. In the end the filmmakers worried too much about comedy and over-the-top effects, and making a release date, than they did about story and character development, of both the humans and the robots and what they ended up with was a loud, summer action film that at times makes no sense and lacks any of the heart or humanity of it's predecessor.