Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review
Jun 24, 2009 by Vic HoltremanHow does Transformers 2 compare to the first film? Find out here…
Short version: Just like super-sizing a McDonalds meal doesn’t make it taste any better, neither does giving us more of what was in the first film improve Transformers 2.
Screen Rant reviews Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Regular readers here at Screen Rant are familiar with my disdain for the first Tranformers movie. While many agree with me and others disagree vehemently – both sides have been expecting me to skewer Michael Bay’s Tranformers 2. I didn’t go in expecting much, and that may have actually caused me to not judge it quite as harshly as a lot of other reviewers are doing.
The (very thin) story here is that of Sam (Shia Lebouf) heading off to college, trying to go back to a semblance of a normal life – where you don’t have giant, talking robots that turn into cool cars. He’ll be leaving behind tough biker chick Michaela (Megan Fox) but they’ll continue a long distance relationship through the wonders of the internet.
Before Sam leaves, he discovers a shard of the “All Spark” is still in his possession – when he touches it, it has some sort of effect on him and is shown to still have the power to animate mechanical objects. Thinking he has it safely secured, Sam heads off to college where he meets his roommate Leo (Ramon Rodriguez), a guy who runs a website dedicated to robot sightings which is not nearly as popular as he imagines it to be.
It turns out the Autobots have been working with the government trying to track down the vestiges of the Decepticon robots that are still on Earth. It looks like the Decepticons have been searching for something, but no one (not even the Autobots) know what that might be.
Of course the last thing that will happen to Sam is a “normal” college experience, and he is soon drawn back into the world of the Transformers. He’s joined by his reluctant roommate Leo and of course soon enough by Michaela and the buffoonish (now ex) government agent from the first film, Simmons (John Turturro).
From here the whole point is to stop the Decepticons (led by the ancient robot called “The Fallen”) from getting their claws on a device that is of course a danger to all of humanity.
And it takes a really, really long time.
In Revenge of the Fallen there’s more of everything that was in the first film: More robots, more explosions, more soldiers, more battle scenes, more juvenile (and inappropriate for kids) humor and more foul language.
In the end it doesn’t make this film any better than the first one – it just makes it feel longer. I was surprised to learn that this film is only 6 minutes longer than the first one… it feels a LOT longer than that. Thirty to forty minutes could have been cut pretty easily – it’s a movie about giant robot battles, does it NEED to be two hours and twenty minutes long? Even the scenes most people go to see, the battle scenes, drag on far too long.
So what was good? I liked the scenes involving the military, great stuff. I liked that Bay pulled back the cameras on the robot battles so you can actually tell what’s happening (although the shots were too tight once again at the end of the film) – and about the best robot fight took place in the forest. Not “awesome” but probably the best thing in the film.
On the bright side, I actually liked Kevin Dunn as Sam’s dad in this one, although the mom annoyed the heck out of me again. Aside from the “humor” I’ll describe below, I thought some of it was actually OK – even Turturro wasn’t quite as annoying. The CGI was excellent, although at this point for a film like this that should be a given.
What wasn’t so good? Well, beyond “everything else,” a big pet peeve of mine about the first film was the juvenile humor that I didn’t think fit with the action. In the sequel, most of the “humor” happens during the first third of the film and thankfully it’s not as prevalent later on (although it still pops up from time to time). In this film, instead of masturbation jokes, robots “peeing” fluid on people and acting like teenage girls hiding in a back yard, we have dog humping (twice), a robot humping Megan Fox’s leg, gigantic robot testicles, farting robots and a college professor who’s introductory lecture is limited exclusively to veiled sexual references.
There’s also TONS of inappropriate language for the under-10 crowd that is sure to show up for this movie – including but not limited to a**hole, pu**y, ball sack, b*itch and sh*t. And of course in addition to the lingering shots of Megan Fox, there are suggestive scenes with actress Isabel Lucas, including an obviously carefully crafted “peek” shot of her rear/crotch.
I only mention all this because over and over and over again I’ve heard in defense of the first film: “It’s a kids movie!!”
Right.
And despite all the action I found myself kind of bored… I actually almost nodded off at one point. Again: TOO LONG.
Oh, and yes, there are a couple of robots in the film (the “Twins”) that talk and look like something out of an old minstrel show – that was pretty hard to fathom. I could possibly see if they acted like rappers (due to absorbing what they’ve seen on MTV or something), but ignorant, Southern, gold-toothed robots who can’t read? It was reminiscent of the two black crows from Disney’s Dumbo (which was made back in 1941). Of course one of the actors providing the voices is black, so I’d be curious to hear his take on all this.
So, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is more of the same. If you thought the first one “rocked” you’ll probably think the same of this one; if you thought the first one was terrible, you’ll probably think this one is even worse. Me, I had such low expectations going in and already knew what to expect based on the first film. I didn’t have such a violent reaction to it – although I certainly don’t intend to ever watch it again.
If you plan on bringing kids, I would highly recommend you check this out yourself before bringing them.
Our Rating:
2 out of 5
Around the web:
Loading ...
Vic, your awesome, that’s all I can say.
Incidentally to those saying its fun I’d ask how it can be considered fun after 2 and a half HOURS! I’ve watched TV mini series shorter. I’ll admit the action is intence but that’s it.
As for the humour, I imagine you could insert it into scary movie and no one would really know the difference.
There’s good stuff but you have to squint a lot through the piles of garbage.
@gingerbeer,
You shouldn’t have to be a fan of any particular franchise to be able to judge it as a film.
What makes any critic like one film better than another? Their opinion.
It’s my opinion that the better critics are more capable of articulating why their opinion is the way it is. He does articulate those points well, and because of that, even when I disagree with him, I still take his comments with due respect.
As it happens, I thought Vic was too generous with his review of the original Transformers (not going to see the sequel for comparison), but I respect his reasoning.
And about the rottentomatoes movies Vic mentioned; I liked Van Helsing and I know that many here did not like it. Do I call them haters, porn-mongers, snooty, etc…? No. Their opinions are as valid as anyone elses.
To be honest I don’t subscribe to rotten tomatoes. And I didn’t say you have to be a fan. I just think that he had a pre concieved negativity and his reviews are inconsistent….
@ Gary
“There is NO WAY this film makes $200 million in 5 days .”
Care to change that statement?
After it has earned 61 million on it’s opening Wen night(previous record was Order of the Phoenix @ approx 45 million in about 1200 MORE theaters) TDK opening day was 67 million in about 1500 more theaters and a Friday…
I have to say that this is stunning!!
@ jerseycajun
You also articulate VERY well…Cheers!!
@ Kahless
My wife and I love Van Helsing and watch it often..guilty pleasure!!
I just saw the movie today-awesome action movie!! My audience was totally into the movie like I was.Optimus Prime showed what he can really do!! The people who didn’t like this movie have their opinions and good reasons but to me it was nothing short of AWESOME. And yes I want ‘Transformer 3′-bring it on!!!
@gingerbeer
My reviews are 100% consistent with my opinion.
Seriously, if you can’t use my reviews as a guideline, use someone elses – plenty of people here share my taste/opinion in film, and even those disagree with me once in a while.
Vic
greenknight,
It looks like it might make $171 million .
ButI still dont think it will make 200 million in 5 days.
I’m not looking for a ocsar winning performance from anybody in this film… it’s a Saturady afternoon action flick. Nothing more, nothing less. If people would go into a “action movie” like that…they might enjoy it for what it is.
@790
I ain’t really in2 transformers but i also don’t mind watching it. But i do reckon they did a pretty good job on the movie.
@Paul Young
Yeah I guess your right, but I just feel like he was totally unfair in his review but a lot of people have been telling me that it wont be that good to so im gona watch it and see.
@SpaceCowboy1701
I could be stubborn and argue further but I won’t because I believe your right. I usually trust this reviewers opinion but in this case I just though he didn’t do it justice.
What is this all about? Isn’t Transformers a cartoon from the 80′s? I do remember it being an incredibly intricate and complex web of nuanced story with deep characters through which the most intimate details of our souls are laid bare forcing us to rethink ideas about ourselves and our place in this world… Oh wait that was GoBots. Bologna!!!
AHAHA i have never seen so many
@ this guy ” shut up ”
@ this other guy ” no you shut up ”
not literally but this is as close to smack down as you get in chats
THROW THE PEOPLES QUOTATION MARK!!!
HEY and one question, wheres hot rod??
they should of left prime dead and introduced him, cause he becomes a prime, he could of like used part of primes dead body to do this, then bring big ole blue back for the third.
eh??
well maybe not but where is he lol
AAHH crud i posted that in the wrong chat.
Hey can someone delete that i dont want to be a spoiler.
I love how people, WHO HAVEN’T EVEN SEEN THE FILM, are giving Vic crap about his review. Why don’t you SEE it first before you bash on him. I find Vic to be pretty balanced in his film reviews, although I don’t agree with him all the time. It IS his site and I have never known him to ban anyone for a dissenting opinion. It is MY opinion that this is the best movie blog on the web.
I enjoyed the first one enough to buy the DVD when it came out, so I will be checking this film out despite the bad reviews. It will, of course, be a matinee showing….
@ Dougberry. Trust me, I came to the theatre to see it expecting just an action movie, and I really disliked the film at the end.
About the money takes, I think it doesn’t really stand a chance for earning 200 mil. Perhaps 150-170 mil, but not more. Once word of mouth gets in its way…
The movie wasn’t even all that bad.. of course the story could’ve done a much better job rather then making it nearly the same as the most. But what’s wrong with too much action. When commercials say “action packed” with this movie they finally lived up to it. The sexual references were a little too much but besides that it was a good film
I forgot to add that they need much better writers… This movie was supposed to be like last years ‘Dark Knight’ but there’s no way that anyone can say transformers is better. The story is a big important factor to the movie and Dark knight’s is just unbeatable
Does it make more than Star Trek?
The only comment I have is a correction:
Yes, the twins can’t read. But they also mention, that NONE of the autobots can read that language. Otherwise, why wouldn’t Sam just ask Bumblebee?
I really liked this movie. The fight scene in the forest was awesome! And I would love to hear someone suggest a “thick” storyline. People say the storyline is thin. What do you want the story to be? You want some deep Shakespeare thing?
I was mildly entertained by the last reel or two. Everything up to then, and much of the last two reels, was a complete waste of time.
The ONLY good thing I can say about this movie is that it portrayed the American military in a very positive light, and it was nice to see all that real-world hardware — how many times have we gotten to see on the big screen a B-1B flying low and dropping a load of 500lb bombs? I just wish that the military had a better movie to support them. Maybe someday some brave filmmaker will make movies of the books THUNDER RUN or HOUSE TO HOUSE. Not Michael Bay, though. The man is a ham sandwich.
@Jasen – who blasted Vic
i don’t agree totally with Vic’s review but I don’t say you’re an idiot for having a different opinion. dude I liked the movie for the Transformers. I can deal with the rest because I love transforming robots (zoomed in or not) but because someone says those things doesn’t mean you should blast them and call them old and stupid or whatever. c’mon dude, have some type of ability to understand other people’s opinions. relax on the insults.
oh and btw people I know the numbers don’t mean much when it comes to quality but Revenge of the Fallen did in one day ($60 million) what Terminator Salvation did in a couple weeks. RotF has already made what half of Terminator did. Get prepared for the third installment because Transformers isn’t going anywhere.
Dear Michael Bay,
Wow! You are no longer doing Friday the 13th. LEAVE THE SEX OUT. 2 dogs going at it constantly, a robot humping megan fox’s leg. I can honestly say this was the one time i watched a movie and asked myself… WTF?
Over all, i liked the movie. the action was awesome the effects were great. But i do feel bad for the mother that i actually saw escorting her child from the theatre. (After the mother was high off weed brownies, swearing all over the place). C’mon Bay. There’s kids watching this movie.
“(After the mother was high off weed brownies, swearing all over the place). ”
Sam Witwicky’s mother that is
@gingerbeer,
Even if one could prove Vic had a preconceived negativity towards the film, that would actually lower his expectations and make it easier for the film to surprise him in positive ways. An honest critic will reflect this in their review. Only a dishonest critic will tell their readers that a film was a turd when it managed to surpass their (lowered) expectations going into it.
Vic’s always been upfront about where his thoughts were when going into a film if they had an impact on his rating (a film with higher expectations that was overhyped, a film by a notoriously bad film-maker who manages to turn out a few surprises) so perhaps it’s not as inconsistent as you think. And as Vic says, all his reviews are 100% consistent with his thoughts, and I’ve no reason to doubt that.
If it appears inconsistent to you, try to understand that the criteria and thought process that you use to judge films isn’t going to line up perfectly with any other individual. We all bring our own unique set of experiences into the theater with us, and those will naturally color the way we see it.
If you don’t see the consistency in his reviews, he probably wouldn’t see it in yours. Such is the nature of film criticism. The best you can do is find a set of critics who share your thoughts on film more often than not and stick with them.
And since the subject of RottenTomatoes was brought up, I believe if you subscribe to them, they actually have a feature that lets you track the percentages of only those critics you wish to follow instead of the whole melting pot. Might be right up your alley.
What are movies but money makers? I’m not against money being the motive for movie makers but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up my money for it too, lol. Good for Michael Bay and the TF franchise, there definitely will be a third one. Most likely I will not watch that one in theaters either…
Really loved this film. Call me an idiot but i could watch this movie more than once, something i couldnt do with The Dark Knight. And im sorry Vic, i dont know how you could fall asleep, nothing in the film was boring.