TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN: Yes, the franchise is now falling....
Written: Jun 27 '09 (Updated Jun 28 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good action sequences, special effects still at its best
Cons: Script, cinematography, acting
The Bottom Line: I would only watch this if you enjoyed the first film.
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| cripper's Full Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen |
As a big Transformers fan, I have been eagerly anticipating the release of Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen. I had seen the trailers and I was excited by the prospect of seeing the film in the cinema. After the film was finally released on Wednesday, I proceeded to watch the film as soon as I possibly could. However, unlike the first film, I had heard multiple stories of various individuals being disappointed by the film and, even though I was excited after seeing the trailers, I myself was expecting this film to not be as good as its predecessor. Thus I prepared myself to see this film with my fiancee and expected to be disappointed.
The plot summary is......
....hang on, I forgot some people have not seen the first film. If you have not seen the first film, please skip over the plot summary.
[Beginning of plot summary]
OK, so the story starts off two years after where the first film left us. A special U.S. army team, led by Major Lennox (Josh Duhamel), has joined forces with the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen), to eradicate the remaining remnants of Decepticon presence on earth. However Galloway (John Benjamin Hickey), a personal advisor of the President, is adamant that this alliance has only caused more damage than good and is looking to send the Autobots back to Cybertron.
Meanwhile Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) is about to start college much to the happiness of his father (Kevin Dunn) and sadness of his mother (Julie White). Sam is still dating Mikaela (Megan Fox), who is now working as an auto mechanic and will not move near Sam's college which is causing some tension in the relationship. While packing, Sam finds a shirt which has a shard from the All-Spark which was destroyed two years earlier. After touching the All-Spark and beginning college, strange things begin to happen to Sam and the All-Spark presence also brings the Decepticons, including their presumably inactive leader Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving), back on earth to get their hands on Sam. Again, it is up to Sam and the Autobots to save the day.
[Ending of plot summary]
I guess my expectation going into this film was that there was going to be very little script and the focus was to be on the action. Director Michael Bay certainly concentrates a lot of his effort in this film on the battle sequences which are still as good as ever. Even though the way some of the sequences are shot are quite dizzying, the cinematography still does capture the battle sequences quite well. Also, state-of-the-art special effects and computer graphics are used again in thise film to re-create the transformers themselves and I still find it amazing how the transformers meld into their earthly surroundings seamlessly. Add breathtaking landscapes captured by the camera around the world, an effective musical score and booming sound effects to these sequences and the viewer has an adrenaline-pumping, action-packed cinema experience (please note that one has to watch this film in the cinema or using a very good home theatre system).
Regardless of whether the film is plot-driven or not, there is no excuse for the film's very poorly-written, paper-thin screenplay. There is no clear, logical progression in the plot and I felt that the writers were trying too hard to pull in as many references from the Transformers cartoon as possible without properly introducing these references and/or explaining why these references are relavant to the plot itself. Not only that, the characters are poorly written as well. New Autobots and Decepticons are introduced: some from the cartoons and some completely made up. The new characters from the cartoons are grossly misrepresented in the film and the new, completely made-up characters were failed attempts at adding comic relief into the film. Too many new Autobots and Decepticons are introduced and one loses track of which Transformer is who. The human characters themselves are never really developed. Sam and Mikaela's relationship seems stagnant throughout the film and the demands for which one of them would say "I love you" was irritating. Sam's parents are, yet again, failed attempts at comic relief. Speaking of comic relief, the film tries too hard to be funny. One is never really sure whether the focus of the film's plot is to show battle sequences or to fit in as many non-humorous gags as possible. Even with the humour that the script employs, it is targeting the wrong audience as the Transformers fans are people who grew up in the 80s and the humour seems to target young teenagers. Regardless this is probably one of the most abysmal screenplays ever.
The acting is a bit of a mixed bag. Shia LeBeouf's acting as Sam at the start of this film is a bit forced but he becomes a bit more natural as the film progresses. Megan Fox as Mikaela, who is not given much, is nothing more than a sexual device to keep young teenage boys' eyes glued to the screen. Julie White and Kevin Dunn certainly over-act in their roles as Sam's parents and White's facial mugging is a major source of annoyance. Ramon Rodriguez, who plays Sam's college dorm mate Leo, is terrible and his facial expressions are equally insipid. John Turturro reappears as Agent Simmons and he is still as annoying in this film as he was in the first film. However the acting is not all bad. The voice-acting by Peter Cullen and all the other individuals who perform as the Transformers is still solid and Josh Duhamel is, once again, solid as Major Lennox and is easily the best performance amongst the actors in the film.
Director Michael Bay is certainly able to re-create the Transformers world he created in the first film but the direction is lacking a lot throughout the film. Like I said, there is an expectation of action to take place but there is no build-up of suspense and there is no sense of excitement towards the end of the film like the first film had. Also, I feel that Bay's focus wavers like the script does: his focus is on the action but he gets distracted by needless physical comedy routines performed by various Transformers. Also, the film has a pro-U.S. stance again and this subliminal message of "U.S. is great and all other countries are not as great" struck a wrong chord with me.
All in all, Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen is what I expected: an action film with bits of comedy intertwined between the action. Although the film is not bad, it certainly is far from good. But because I expected what to see on screen, I was not terribly disappointed and I would just recommend this to someone else to watch. I would have serious reservations, however, for those who did not enjoy the first film.
Thanks for reading the review.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
cripper
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Member: Chris Ying
Location: Sydney, Australia
Reviews written: 348
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