movies: transformers: revenge of the fallen

Do you think it's tacky to wear an Optimus Prime teeshirt to go and see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen if your age can be expressed as double digits?

Ah well... I did it anyway...

Well, I'll say this for the Transformers sequel... it delivers exactly what it says on the box!

You want giant transforming robots, you got it... you want explosions, this is a Michael Bay movie, you better believe we've got those... you want Megan Fox very nearly falling out of her outfit, personally I don't see the appeal (and not just because I'd much rather have Shia LaBeouf... there is just something about Fox that is unappealing for the most part), but it's there if you want it... you want more Transformers than last time, sure, we've got that too, even if some of them don't get very much screen time (and a couple get way too much)... you want far flung locations, we've got Egypt, how does that grab you (even if parts of it do kinda end up looking like the Middle Eastern village from the first one).

And because this is a sequel, there really isn't any need for a slow build to the reveal of the robots, we can just rush right in there and give you lots of Transformer action right in the opening sequences... and then we'll have some more action... and we'll maybe work in a little character stuff, but then we'll have lots of action and blow up a bunch of stuff... how does that sound?

Honestly, it sounds freakin awesome!

And you know what, if you go into the movie knowing that that's pretty much what you're going to get (not to mention it being what you're looking forward to), then you won't be disappointed.

It does have it's flaws... mostly stuff that could very easily have been removed from the movie and that I don't think anybody would miss, but even with that I really enjoyed it.

I watched the original last night just to "prepare myself" and was kinda surprised by how much I actually still liked that too (although I don't know that I should be surprised, since I gave it a 9 when I first saw it)... and this movie is kinda like the first one cubed... there's just so much more movie to it (not plot, because really, transforming robots, how much plot do you need), but they definitely upped the ante on this one. And where you could say the first one felt more like an action movie, this one kinda feels more like a war movie in some ways. Not that I've seen a lot of war movies, but the conflict and the stakes feel much bigger.

Listen to me... talking about a Transformers movie like it has substance! I will admit to getting all choked up at one point though... tragic, but true.

I also really loved that we got to see Soundwave this time around (and with his original voice by Frank Welker *all hail Frank, lord of all voice actors*), as well as Ravage (what can I say, I have a soft spot for them both even though they're bad guys)... but as I mentioned before, the downside of having so many new Transformers is that quite a lot of them get very little screentime outside of the action scenes (I would definitely liked to have seen more of the three female motorcycle Autobots). Also on the downside was having to put up with the "comedy relief robots" again (Skids and Mudflap, I'm looking mostly at you). Seriously, get rid of them... it didn't work with the annoying little Decepticon in the first movie, it still doesn't work... even less because they're not even appealing in robot form. Also, Transformers that are less than people sized, not really interested... make them big and make them grand, but don't make them out of a blender, okay!

While we're at it, can we just get rid of Isabel Lucas too... not only is her character completely pointless and, honestly, pretty damn stupid, but also the bitch can't act.

My only other real complaint is a similar one to the one I had last time... on the big screen it's sometimes very hard to tell which giant robot is doing what to what other giant robot with all the camera shake and fast movement and suchlike. Having said that though, I didn't have any real problem with the first one when I watched it last night, so I think it's just the fact that on the big screen the image is so large that your eye/brain can't always take it all in at once.

But for the most part, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ROCKS!

yani's rating: 4 ancient Primes out of 5