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2009 Sequel to the hit film Transformers
< read all 17 reviewsIf all you want is smashy, crashy fun then it's good.
-
Jul 1, 2009
- by TheJohn
- posted in Movie Hype
Rating:
Transformers! THE SEQUEL! Sequels to comic book, superhero movies lately are always a better bunch then the first film having gotten the annoying origin stories and introductions out of the way. The first Transformers movie in 2007 got by in my book by having a rock em sock em action scene in the finale that helped redeem the movie by it's conclusion. This newest movie tones down the human characters, gives us more Transformers, more action, more Baysplosions and....a really goofy story that is hindered even more by needing 2 1/2 hours to spit it out.
+1
In this movie the Transformers have gotten some reinforcements are are now part of a Special Forces branch of the army to destroy the Decepticons who are still on Earth. Sam is off to college and wants to distance himself from the Transformers but can't since a piece of the Allspark (the Macguffin of the last movie) has been found and Sam is now seeing visions of Transformer glyphs and is having freakouts over them and needs the Transformers help to decipher them. The Decepticons are attempting to revive Megatron and have their leader simply called the Fallen, return to Earth to use an ancient Decepticon weapon to destroy Earth and harvest more Energon fuel for the Decepticons to create new Decepticons or something like that.
Wow, thats a lot going on and this movie has as I said 2 1/2 hours to cram it in. When they aren't cramming they're over explaining, when it's not being overexplained it's over complicated and when it isn't that, it's numbing. There had to be an easier way to say "The Decepticons want to destroy our sun."
All the original Transformers are back but some are limited largly to cameos. Many of the new characters get maybe one line or two. Bumblebee who could talk at the end of the first movie is back to communicating AGAIN through songs and movie sound bites. Forrest Gump even gets heard at one point. What a missed opportunity it was to have Bumblebee go into battle and not utter some other movie quotes. Ripley's infamous line from Aliens would've been great.
The movie has more action scenes the the previous film, and while none of them match the finale to the first movie, they are still pretty nice but when a couple of Transformers get together to pound the FIAT out of each other, it gets hard to follow. The finale here shows many more new characters who are simply on screen to bite the big one or have maybe one line. Much like Jedi's in prequel Star Wars movies you see them all the time in action figure form or in video games but on screen they are almost nonexistent. What was the reason? I think I answered my own question.
The best thing this movie does is show us more Transformers and more scenes with them and shove the humans to the background, and yet there are still scenes that are mindbogglingly bad. Take a scene where Sam, Mikaela and Sams new roommate Leo who have just outrun a Decepticon that resembles a castoff from Terminator 3, they sit and play cute games like "I'm not talking to you" and in one of too many scenes, Sam and Mikaela can't agree to say "I love you." Anakin and Padme said it all the time in Episode II and no one believed it, here the leads have chemistry and they can't say it. Shudder. The best thing they did in casting was get John Turturro back as Simmons the sneaky pete covert ops guy from the first movie and any scene he's in is helped, sans butt crack.
The most insulting thing that the movie tries to feed us is that the government covered up the Transformers presence after the first movie. Did Michael Bay WATCH his first movie or does he think we're THAT stupid? Bay is allegedly real tight in real life with the military and that always allows him to get the cool stuff for his movies like real planes and tanks and so forth. If Bay wants me to believe that the government covered it all up, then THAT means the military got to that town, anyone who was IN that town and drugged and deprogrammed EVERYONE, or they simply KILLED everyone. Either of those cases puts the military in a bad light and that would be bad for his relationship with the military. That paradox right there could be a movie plot.
A lot of people have remarked on the Twin car chararcters. If you took Anthony Anderson's character from the first movie, turned him into a car, and had an almost exact duplicate roll off the assembly line, you have an idea of these two. Over the top with their African American patois of sorts and ultimately not funny. Were they put in to promote that line of car as product placement? Did the movie think that chacaters like Arcee or Sideswipe wouldn't have been any good outside of another action figure to sell? Whatever the case they are an annoying bunch.
SPEAKING of annoying, Shia Lebeouf actaully didn't bug me as much here, his roommate Leo on the other hand mostly screams and shouts like a baby. Shia's nerd personality is still bad but his character is heightened by a few nice moments to bring him up. His mother on the other hand is as annoying as those two cars I just mentioned if not worse since you know that when the cars are around you can at least expect some action scenes or some semblance of moving the story forward. The mom just grates nerves.
If you want rock-em sock-em robots on space age steroids then Transformers ROTF delivers, moreso then it's predessesor. If you want almost ANYTHING else in your movie going diet, then it's time to look elsewhere like say Tarrantino or Coen or maybe something in a foreign model.
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More Transformers: Revenge of the F... reviews
There are times when the true, awe-inspiring stupidity and insipidness of mass media works never really strikes you until the thought hits: THIS. WAS. WRITTEN. By people who presumably have normally functioning human brains. Sometimes by more than one of those said people. For every work of art in which you are keen on finding out who the artist is in order to praise him, there are many others so bad you put them out of your head, forgetting completely that people were behind them making them work. … more
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Compliments (36)
review by TeamAWAC.
July 28, 2009
I won't even go into reviewing the story for this movie because it is so absolutely ridiculous and it was already superbly covered in the Topless Robot Review (very funny read, but contains spoilers and adult language). As far a transformers movie, the Revenge of the Fallen makes up for the one shortcoming I felt the first movie had by including way more fighting robots.... Way WAY more fighting robots... SO MANY fighting robots that I actually dozed off … more
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Compliments (12)
After defeating Megatron and most of his elite Decepticons, the Autobots decide to remain on Earth and assist the military in locating and destroying the last of the Decepticon forces. During one of their missions, Optimus Prime learns that "The Fallen" will be returning and this raises a lot of concern. On the other side, Sam (Shia LaBeouf) is trying to live a normal life as a freshman in college. However, due to circumstances, he's dragged into the latest battle between … more
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Compliments (60)
The first “Transformers” film may not be faithful to the original animated series and not even to the comic book by Marvel comics in the 80's. Seeing as how Hasbro only utilized those mediums to promote its toy line, I can forgive its inconsistencies to the beloved animated series. The original film by Michael Bay was fun, it utilized a simple formula with little room for a real intricate plot; it was just a popcorn film. After the huge box-office success of Bay’s … more
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review by Rome_Leader.
November 13, 2010
A thoroughly disappointing sequel to one of 2007's biggest summer movies. While still drawing the big bucks like its predecessor, it fails to really deliver anything new and special. Really, it seems to take a step backwards. Spielberg, as always, goes above and beyond to ensure a glitzy, action packed, SFX extravaganza for the audience. However, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen seems so concerned with its action content that it fails to really get anywhere … more
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review by rasetsu.
June 29, 2009
Since there are already several reviews out there, I'll spare you the synopsis. This is a review by a Transformers fan and a movie watcher addressing the critics who enjoyed bashing this film so much. As a film, Transformers is pure popcorn fun. It's basically a 2.5 hour commercial to sell toys just like how the cartoons were 20 minute commercials to sell toys. As long as you keep that mindset, everything will be okay. This isn't freakin … more
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Compliments (54)
There are times when movies can blow you away. The first Transformers movie certainly blew me away. Despite its problems, it was a fun ride with a well crafted story and even some well crafted dialog and sequence of events. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, however, shows us that bigger isn't always better. In fact, bigger can be a headache. Especially when it's a Michael Bay sequel. The film brings back Shia Lebouf and Megan Fox as our protagonists. As it turns … more
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Compliments (54)
This is a very disappointing sequel, but the robot fights were better than in the first movie. I think this small cartoon says it all and I'd like to share it via a quick tip: This is fun as to how it made fun of the movie's many plot holes and mistakes... This is the Transformers complaining in Bay's office....LOL!
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review by Husher315.
June 28, 2009
I'm pretty sure that when it is all said and done, there's going to be a lot of controversy over Revenge of the Fallen. Either people are going to really love it or they're going to hate it; that has actually been the case so far. I LOVED it! At the risk of sounding like a fanboy, I am going to go ahead and say that Revenge of the Fallen is just a touch better than Transformers...shoot me. I said in my review for the original that it's in my top ten favorite films of all … more
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Quick Tip by woopak_the_thrill.
February 01, 2010
Like Devastator in the movie, the Best thing Bay's 2nd interpretation of the toy line does is SUCK a lot!
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About the reviewer
John Nelson (TheJohn)
Ranked #7
Ranked #7
Born in Wausau Wisconsin. Move at an early age to Ventura California and lived for 8 years. Growing up in a big city landscape didn't prepare me for my next move: Archbold Ohio with a population of … more
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About this movie
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the sequel to the hit film Transformers and was released on June 24th 2009. It is directed by Michael Bay and stars Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox. The script was written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. The budget of the film was $200 Million
Filming of Revenge of the Fallen started in LA and then moved to Bethlehem, PA. Michael Bay did a lot of the filming in the city of Philadelphia. Once there, they shot at the Exelon Power Plant, The University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, Fairmount Park, Eastern State Penitentiary, City Hall and Rittenhouse Square. After filming in Philadelphia was completed, the moved on to Princeton University. A lot of filming was also done in Giza at the Pyramids with the permission and blessing of the Egyptian government.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was shot partly in IMAX. Three of the films main action sequences were filmed in the IMAX format.
Movies, Action Movies, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Fantasy Action Adventure, Hype, Robots, Transformers, Hasbro, 2009 Movies, Megan Fox Movies, Michael Bay Movies, Shia Labeouf Movies
Cast:
Shia LaBeouf,
Megan Fox
Director:
Michael Bay
Genre:
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy
Release Date:
June 24th 2009
MPAA Rating:
PG-13
Screen Writer:
Roberto Orci,
Alex Kurtzman
Runtime:
147 Minutes
Studio:
Paramount Pictures,
Dreamworks PIctures
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1. They find an old Transformer who is a Decepticon but just HAPPENS to have switched sides...
2. Our characters have to go to Egypt so out of nowhere we find out that Transformers have magic powers too, and so this old guy Transformer (I had no idea robots aged) magically teleports them there
3. When Agent Simmons contacts the ship out in the middle of nowhere and has them fire the rail gun (in a moment when their radios actually aren't supposed to work no less) all way from there to Egypt... yet another amusing coincidence!
4. The Matrix was really just dust? But because he fought so hard for Optimus those in "Prime Heaven" or whatever decide he's done an awesome thing and bring him back to life and give him The Matrix... but that's not the worst of it
5. ONLY A PRIME CAN DEFEAT THE FALLEN BUT HE NEEDS THE PARTS OF THAT OLD GUY TRANSFORMER TO DO IT!? What?? And why can only a Prime defeat the Fallen anyway (and did anyone else realize The Fallen wasn't actually a group of people but just one guy?)
6. I asked myself the same question you did: About whether Bay watched his first film. Not only was the final fight in the first film out in broad daylight but it was in the middle of a major city... how exactly did the Government cover that up praytell?
7. Sam was holding the cube throughout much of that Final Controntation in the first film... why weren't any of the symbols beamed in then?
8. Sam had that shard of the cube in his hoodie. The shard burns through the floor of his house but can't set his hoodie on fire?
9. When the shard does drop through the floor, everything in Sam's house begins coming to life... and somehow it is ALL Decepticons? 1
0. Beyond that, those kitchen appliances and such actually run out of the house and their house gets a little damaged... no neighbors come out to see what's wrong? No one calls the cops? There's no, "Hey Woodwick---whatever the hell your last name is, are you alright?" No? Nothing?
I actually was able to ask myself these questions as the movie progressed. There's a lot more, but these are but a few strange observations one could make. And don't get me started on those twins. I can't figure out if they were supposed to be funny or offensive. Either way, the two didn't really play a part in the film. Nice review man. Sorry for a long comment. I can admit the movie is fun, but making these kinds of observations is amusing at times.