Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

You know, Transformers, which came out in 2007, is one of my favorite movies. Not kidding. I just love it. It has everything a movie should have…action, humor, great special effects, a little love story…the works. Oh yeah…and sweet butt kicking alien robots. (If I were a student at Autobot High School, you KNOW I would have had the hugest crush on Optimus Prime. Woohoo!) That being said, I was super excited for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen to come out this summer. I’ve been counting down the days.

So…I saw it this weekend. And, while I don’t think I loved it as much as I loved the first one…it was good as a summer movie. I’ve said before that I love summer movies…and this fit into the category. For those of you who are familiar with the first film, you know that Sam Witwicky joined forces with some “good” alien robots, known as Autobots, who disguise themselves as various cars and trucks. This alliance is necessary in order to fight against the “bad” alien robots, known as Decepticons, who, if left to their own devices, will destroy the world.

The new film picks up, two years after the first battle had been won, to find Sam and the Autobots facing another action packed showdown with the Decepticons. Some new team members have joined the fray on both sides of the action…as is common in sequels… and the action ensues. And…that’s all I’m going to say about the plot. It’s pretty straight forward. Autobots good. Decepticons bad. =)

I mentioned, however, that the movie wasn’t as good as I’d wanted it to be. I’ve decided to showcase three good things…and three bad things about the movie…and then leave it up to you for interpretation.

The Bad, First…

Sam’s Attitude Toward the Autobots In The Beginning—I realize that this movie is about alien robots, so it’s not necessarily supposed to be believable. However, when Sam basically refuses to help Optimus Prime when asked, because “this isn’t my war,” and when his goodbye for Bumblebee is punctuated with “You’ll always be my first car,” I didn’t buy it at all. Given the chance, I don’t know ANY guy who wouldn’t want to skip out on awkward Freshman life to join forces with the Autobots once again. Seriously. So stupid.

The Twins—This pair of jive-talking Autobots have gotten a lot of bad press, with folks saying that they support racial stereotypes. I didn’t really see them that way…as much as I just thought they were annoying. Seriously. They served no purpose in the movie…except to be supposed comic relief. Except it wasn’t funny. So…ooops.

It. Was. Long.—At two and half hours, the movie could have been trimmed a little bit. Maybe cutting out all of the scenes with the Twins would have done the trick.

Now…the Good…

I Still Love Optimus Prime.—And Bumblebee. And Ironhide. There were a lot of new Autobots whose names were either never said, or I didn’t catch. I didn’t think they got as much screen time as they should have…but they looked cool.

Good Humor—I love it when action films don’t take themselves too seriously and can make you laugh, too. Sam’s parents are just as funny as they were in the first film. Shia LaBeouf has a mode of delivery that makes me laugh. I like likeable characters. Some of the humor seemed to lend itself more toward sexual humor than I remember in the first movie…which I could have done without, though. I don't know if the movie is as "kid-friendly" as the last one was. Not that little tiny kids would like either one...but you know what I mean.

Great Action Sequences—the movie is good LOOKING. The robots look cool. The robot fights look real. It’s just good stuff.

And…that’s that. If you liked the first Transformers movie, I think you’ll like this one, too. Some of the “magic” is missing, I guess, from discovering the Autobots for the first time…but the movie still delivered if you’re looking for a lot of action with some laughs built in.