Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen review

  • Breaking
  • 27/06/2009

Reviewed by Kate Rodger

First up, let it be known I am a HUGE fan of the first Transformers movie. I had expected little, I had never owned a Transformer in my life, I was not a 14-year-old boy, and I was not a Michael Bay fan. So to have loved the movie as much as I did was somewhat of a surprise to me.

So along with legions of other Transformers fans, I was pretty excited about a second one. I even got up out of my sick bed to make the special IMAX screening. Two hours later, I sat back in my seat, wondering: what just happened?! A day later I still haven’t quite figured it out.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen always promised to be bigger, louder and more Michael Bay than before, and it’s certainly all of those things. What it’s not, is better. What we have is a tonne of action, a nonsensical story, some outrageous stereotypes, and none of the snappy, fun and engaging popcorn cinema we got first time around.

I will try and give you a breakdown of the storyline (not an easy task). We catch up with Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) heading to college, bidding farewell to his parents and his mechanic/soft-porn-star-esque girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox). Soon he is having visions of strange alphabets before running all over the globe on an Indiana Jones type treasure hunt looking for all sorts of different things, none of which make sense, and none of which we care about. 

What we do get, given we really don’t care about the story anymore, is some awesome action sequences, a mammoth Big Robot Face-Off in the forest, a couple of very cool Transformers doing what Transformers do best (transforming), and a Hollywood blockbuster which pretty much personifies the coming of age of CGI – as computer-generated transformers meld seamlessly into the live action.

So maybe we were just lucky first time around, when people with a brain got to enjoy Transformers. To witness the Revenge of the Fallen, best leave it at home, and wish you’d never even had one.

There’s plenty here for 14-year-old boys to salivate over, not enough for the rest of us.

3 stars.

    Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
:: Director: Michael Bay
:: Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, John Turturro
:: Running Time: 150 mins
:: Rating: M - Violence
:: Release Date: June 23, 2009
:: Trailer: Click here

source: newshub archive