Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

This is quite long and conatins some spoilers, so be warned...

I was born in 1985, which means my cartoon viewing that I am capable of remembering didn't start until 1989 or so. More reasonably 1990. That being said, I was a few years late for the phenomenon that was Generation 1 of "The Transformers". However, in more recent years I have gone back and watched a good portion of the series thanks to DVD and free streaming websites. The overall opinion: Transformers is pretty freaking awesome and incredibly brilliant!

That now brings us to Michael Bay and his new movie, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen".

I was more or less a fan of the original "Transformers" that Bay had directed back in 2007. It had a number of flaws, but the special effects were amazing and the humor between main character Shia LeBouf and his parents was very entertaining. Not to mention the incredible robot on robot violence. However, "Revenge of the Fallen" did not hold up in such respect.

It will be easy to go ahead and put out there the handful of things that I did like: (1) Optimus Prime vs. The Decepticons in the forest. That scene was by far the best in the movie and really emphasized the hero that Optimus Prime is supposed to be (which was a little absent in the original flick). The special effects and the level of action was outstanding. (2) The parents. Yes, they were funny again. Even in the parts where the humor was over the top and a little unnecessary, I still laughed. (3) The final action sequence was very intense and managed to keep me riveted for a while. And, of course, Megan Fox in a slow motion run.

What was wrong with the movie? Pretty much everything else. The Autobot "wonder twins" were a completely racist, not funny, and totally unnecessary addition. When you have so many outstanding and prominent Autobots to choose from, you don't need to make up new ones that are just going to piss the audience off. One of the biggest flaws in the first movie was also the lack of presence by the Transformers, in general. It was too much based on the humans. The same problem persists in this movie, but 10 fold. There isn't even any dialogue from most of the Autobots that appeared in the first movie. You get Prime, Bumblebee (whose voice box apparently doesn't work again), a couple of one-liners from Ironhide, and the "wonder twins". The character of Agent Simmons (John Tuturro) returns in all his uselessness and is accompanied by an even more useless character in the form of Shia's roommate, Leo (Ramone Rodriguez). When the two appear on screen together (which is often) it's like the filmmakers are crapping in the face of anybody who's ever developed strong characters.

Lastly, I'll close this rant with The Decepticons. Most people usuallt root for the bad guys. I tend to lean more towards the heroes, but in the case of Transformers I find the Decepticons to be equally impressive in character development and their goals. What happened to them in this movie? Megatron was pretty awesome at times, but Starscream was a total coward who accomplished nothing, Devastator showed up long enough to be taken out like a little bitch, and The Fallen (supposedly one of the biggest badasses ever in the universe) gets one-punched by "Super Prime" and it's all she wrote.

I usually like Michael Bay movies (with the exception of the first half of "Pearl Harbor"). I find them entertaining, which is the purpose of a summer blockbuster. But "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is a slap to the face. Thanks, Michael Bay. I expect better of you next time!