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I arrived at the theater about 45 minutes before showtime, anticipating a large turnout and
my assumptions were proved to be dead-on. The IMAX screening of director Michael Bay’s
big-budgeted CGI sequel to the first Transformers (2007) had a large crowd already seated
in the movie theater and I scrambled to get a decent seat. The first Transformers was not
that great of a film, so I didn’t’t have very high expectations for the sequel. The only
redeeming value the first one had was Megan Fox in some scantily clad scenes that made for
good eye-candy. Revenge of the Fallen was just some more of the same, except longer in
duration.
Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) goes off to college and leaves behind Mikaela Banes (Megan
Fox) and Bumblebee, but the Decepticons are continuing to wreak havoc on the Earth,
leading to the government creating a special military team comprised of soldiers, high-tech
weaponry, and a few Autobots. Along with Bumblebee, Optimus Prime is back and a few
other Transformers, including Jetfire, Mudflap, Ironhide, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Arcee,
Megatron, Fallen, Starscream, Soundwave, Devastator, Wheelie, Skids, Wheelbot, and
Skipjack. Sam finds a shard from the ancient cube and just by touching it obtains all the
knowledge and secrets to the origins of the Transformers. The plot of the film was fairly
ridiculous, even for a Transformers film. I guess I should have expected it though. The film’s
camera work and edits were so quick and frenetic that I did not know what Transformer
was who due to so many edits. There were far too many scenes of action and scene-after-
scene of the robots transforming that it really was hard to distinguish what Transformer was
which one, or even who was talking.
The CGI was cool to look at, but in actuality, the film just was so much sensory overload and
at around 80 minutes or so into the 150 minute film, one just loses interest. I felt that the
peak of the film came far too early in the script and just led to the film ending on a very
lackluster note. The film was way too long as well. It could have been far shorter and been a
more effective film. Putting aside the battles in the film, the viewer gets to see Megan Fox
running around with quite a few camera shots to her cleavage, and really nothing more. The
addition of having some comedic elements thrown in with the gangster-personalities that
two of the new Autobots possessed really just cheapened the whole film. There was not that
much in the film that impressed me. It was a big pile of eye-candy and special effects and
really nothing more. There was no substance to the film, but I really was not expecting there
to be much anyways.
The high-point for me in this film was the performance that Rainn Wilson gave as Professor
Colan. Wilson gave the funniest performance in the film as Sam Witwicky’s college professor
and was in the film for about 5 minutes. I also felt that the performances that Kevin Dunn
and Julie White gave as Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky were very memorable and quite humorous.
The plot of the film takes us to Egypt at one point and there is another battle in the sand
between the military, Autobots, and Decepticons that reminded me of the battle in the
desert in the first Transformers. The opening scene of the film was probably my favourite
action sequence in the whole film and I believe it raised the bar quite high for the level of
action that viewers were expecting to see throughout the film, so that by halfway through
the film one begins to wonder why the best action sequences were in the beginning of the
film and not at the films’ conclusion.
All in all, if you are a big fan of the original Transformers cartoons and comics, this film
probably will disappoint you. The makeovers that Bay has given the Transformers made
them look pretty stupid in my book and I still prefer the original cartoons over the modern
remake. I have never really been a huge fan of Michael Bay films and this film falls into that
category. A big budget does not always mean that the film will be any good. The box-office
sales seem to reflect otherwise, as it is doing phenomenally well, but Transformers:
Revenge of the Fallen just fell completely flat in my book.
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