Rabs’ Review: “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Is Not Great, But It’s Fun

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (B)

Transformers is a movie franchise based on TOYS. If you’re expecting  deep, thought-provoking dialogue and character development, you’re mistaken. If you’re expecting mindless, badass robot action for 2 and a half hours that gets you some relief from the summer heat? Then you’re right on the money. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is not a great film, in fact, it has several glaring flaws, including its elaborate National Treasure-esque plot, and Bay’s signature forced humor. But this is what a summer movie is all about. It’s got laughs, hot young stars and jaw-dropping/mind-blowing action and effects. What more do you want?

Transformers ROTF reveals and deals mostly with the history of these alien robots on Earth. The beginning starts off with a voice-over narration of Optimus Prime, discussing the ancient war on our planet between Primes and Decepticons in the year 17,000 B.C. During that war a, a powerful force in the form of a device called “the matrix” (original name, I know) was self-sacrificially buried with the bodies of four of the original Primes to protect its power from being used for evil by the Decepticons. It can be used to, ya know, DESTROY THE SUN! Kind of a cool initial plot point, deepening the historical connection that these alien-robots have with the human race and planet Earth.

It then flash forwards to present day, two years after the last Transformers ended. The Autobots and the U.S. government have formed a top-secret military unit where they combine forces to hunt down and destroy hiding Decepticons all over the globe. This top-secret unit is known as Nest and is led by our soldier heroes from the last film, Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Epps (the annoying Tyrese Gibson).

We then catch up with our hero Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), packing to move to the college dorms with his parents. Sam is still dating his love in the first film, Mikaela (the pants-wetting Megan Fox). Mikaela and Sam bicker on why the other has not said the “L-word,” each of them obviously trying to defend their emotions as the future is uncertain. Sam’s parents provide the classic comic relief that they did in the first film. They speak about having sex in front of Sam, which makes him uncomfortable and the mom accidentally eats weed brownies when they arrive on campus. As I alluded to in my opener, the humor is well-used in some instances, but with any Michael Bay film, at times feels forced and can get tiresome (i.e. the dogs won’t stop humping each other).

The rest of the story comprises what I referred to earlier as a National Treasure-esque history hunt. Sam gets these involuntary-visionary projection spasms where he sees the ancient symbols of the Decepticons. This is the reason why the main bad-boss, only known as “The Fallen,” needs Sam to find “the matrix” to destroy the world. The rest of the journey takes Sam, Mikaela, Leo and an old friend, agent Simmons (the great John Turturro), on a journey around the world to find this ancient device .

The script gets very repetitive towards the end of the 2nd act and the beginning of the 3rd act, at least for me it was. As Sam is on the run (The Fallen makes a worldwide ransom request to find Sam), there is constant back-and-forth dialogue between characters, trying to explain what it all means, as they receive explanations from old and new robots on the way. “The Matrix can’t be used for this, because the symbols I’m seeing say this. But if the matrix was used for this, and we don’t get it, but the Decepticons get it, and they use it for this….but wait, if Megatron got his hands on it originally 20,000 years ago, and now he uses it for this, but the symbols say this….” Okay, we get it, there’s a lot to figure out, but just shut up already.

The acting is what you’d expect, satisfactory. I’m kind of torn on Shia LeBouf. I like him as an actor, but he is the same in EVERY movie he does. I know this is a sequel, so he needs to be the same character from the previous film, but he always plays the sarcastic, fast-talking, smart-ass and it kind of gets distracting and frankly annoying. Megan Fox won’t receive an Oscar and a lot of people give her shit, but I thought she was actually solid as the tough, but vulnerable hottie.  Sam’s college roommate Leo, is played by Ramon Rodriguez , a self-proclaimed internet king who runs a website that tries to uncover “the truth” about the alien robots. Rodriguez is very good, providing a lot of womanizing, self-deprecating frantic humor, which is an enjoyable addition to the group’s chemistry.

The reason why people should really see this film, or any Michael Bay film, is the action. The special effects and CGI used in the first Transformers was unbelievable. It was game-changing to create a city-destructive battle scene between 500 feet-tall transforming robots and make it look real. That was accomplished with impressive technique and precision in the first film, and in the second, it gets even better. The action in this movie is off the charts, sometimes overwhelming as it comprises a majority of what is seen on screen. There is an especially badass fight scene that takes place in a forest between Megatron and Optimus Prime, that is really breathtaking with the colors of the sparks and metal flesh being shed in a serene, green, pine-tree environment. If you thought that the robots couldn’t get any bigger after seeing the first movie, you ain’t seen nothing yet. There’s several Decepticons that transform from insane pieces of massive machinery. One such would be the enormous “Devastator,” which appears towards the end of the film and is comprised of several cranes, cement mixers and construction Caterpillars. And when it’s climbing a pyramid in Egypt, your jaw will drop trying to figure out how Bay made this possible. It’s really sweet. I should warn that it is really, REALLY LOUD! The action is constant and the bangs, clanks, crashes and booms might be a turnoff for some. But it’s Transformers for god sakes, so you should know better anyway.

A couple of annoyances that I must mention is Bay’s signature trademarks. Does Bay always have to have an up-angle establishing shot of a person getting out of a car from below in slow-motion? Does Bay always have to have a scene where a group of soldiers walk side-by-side in slow-motion before attempting the epic task at hand? These useless attempts to increase dramatic-effect are reasons why a lot of people HATE Michael Bay. Now I don’t HATE Michael Bay, per se, but it does make me annoyed with him as a filmmaker, causing an involuntary roll of the eyes, every time.

The movie is obviously not great by any means. But as a summer action blockbuster, it does kick ass, if you go with the right expectations and mindset of what a Transformers film should be. Should it make you cry because of it’s heart-breaking drama? No. Should it make you question aspects of your life with it’s thought-provoking themes and issues? No. But it’s 2 and a half hours of badass robots kicking the shit out of eachother, and for that reason, it’s a good time.

What Should You Do? Check it out once, it’s fun.