Transformers: Revenge of the “Ballin”
Written: Jul 11 '09 (Updated Jul 11 '09)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Good looking cast.
Cons: Character development, confusing special effects, runtime and questionable content.
The Bottom Line: Sorry, but Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen did not meet my expectations. Wait for the DVD! Diehard fans only!
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| cntaur5's Full Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen |
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) practically picks up where Transformer (2007) left off with Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) heading off to college saying goodbye to his parents and his lovely auto mechanic girlfriend Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox). Mikaela plans to remain in the body shop working with her father who was recently released from prison while Sam begins his college career. Things don’t go as planned as Sam finds himself caught up in a battle between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. This epic battle reaches monumental proportions as the world hangs in the balance as the earth becomes the battle ground for these extraterrestrial machines.
Director Michael Bay returns with the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime (voice of Peter Cullen) and the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron (voice of Hugo Weaving) in search of the life yielding cube known as the Allspark. The Autobots are working with the U.S. military lead by Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and his team. In fact various Autobots return to the sequel with Bumblebee (voice of Mark Ryan) reviving his role as Sam’s sports car guardian. In fact it is Bumblebee that offers some of the most memorable scenes in his quest to protect Sam.
Optimus Prime learns that forming an alliance with the humans comes with its own set of problems much like Sam’s attempt to adjust to his freshman roommates. As the story develops and Megatron is recovered from the bottom of the sea, one of the original robots known as The Fallen (voice of Tony Todd) wants Optimus Prime defeated and the information about the Allspark which is stored in Sam’s brain retrieved. Eventually Mikaela has a run-in with a miniature Decepticon which leads her to seek out Sam who is being entertained by the lovely lip-locking Decepticon Alice. Things continue to escalate from here with a colossal battle looming between the major players, the Autobots, the U.S. military, the resurrected Megatron and The Fallen.
Selecting the title for this review and using the word “ballin” is naturally a play on words using slang to describe Director Bay’s focus and direction throughout the movie. Bay goes out of his way trying to identify with a formulaic audience with old school parodies that fail miserably. If Bay’s intent was to solely entertain the PG-13 crowd then he succeeds, however if he was hoping to reach a broader audience he failed. With one character’s self inflicting genital tazering and another calling in an air strike while standing under giant wrecking balls simulating robot genitals Bay goes out of his way to hit below the belt.
The film’s high dollar production value and CGI technology seems wasted on action sequences so confusing it is hard distinguishing between an Autobot and Decepticon. The dialogue between the cast was common place with numerous vulgarities and bad attitudes dictating the entire storyline. Further, Bay’s attempt to get street credibility with characters like Mudflap and Skids was a big disappointment. In the acting arena things boiled down to “See Sam and Mikaela run”, with a few of the military characters getting some brief camera footage.
Bottom line, with confusing battle scenes, dismal character development and a new robot that doubles for Kristanna Loken in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), a subpar plot, questionable PG-13 content, and 2 ½ marathon runtime, Revenge of the Fallen transforms with only 2 out of 5 stars.
Recommended:
No
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Sneak Preview at My Local Theater
Film Completeness: A few glitches, but mostly complete.
Worst Part of this Film: Script
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