Earlier tonight Max, myself, and a few other friends decided to go see
Transformers 2. We set our hopes very low as we had heard that it had gotten some terrible reviews from other online critics. Well, we agree entirely with those other online critics. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is nothing short of Hollywood regurgitating the first film, but with a noticeably weaker plot.
If you haven't seen the movie and want to believe that the movie's plot is good, skip the next paragraph. For those who care about your $10.50, the price of gas to get to the theatres, and two and a half hours of their life, read on.
Remember the huge cube from the first movie? Well our pal
Shia Labeouf somehow discovers a fragment of the cube early on in the sequel. He touches the shard and throughout the rest of the movie his mind is inhabited by the symbols of the Transformers (specifically the Primes). Of course this encoding in his brain is the key to unlocking a deadly weapon that the Deceptacons plan on using to destroy the earth's sun. Megatron and his pals are back in full glory, as he is rescued from the bottom of the sea. "The Fallen" is actually another Deceptacon who acts as a mentor figure to Megatron. He resides on the Transformers' home planet, waiting for the day that the last Prime Transformer (Optimus Prime) is defeated since only a Prime Transformer can defeat him. Naturally, the entire Deceptacon gang goes after Optimus Prime and succeeds in killing him. The last hour and a half of the movie is Labeouf's character Sam and
Megan Fox's character, Michaella trying to revive the fallen Optimus. I'll be completely honest. They could have easily made this movie and hour and a half. Somehow it took the two lead characters about an hour to run a half mile to where Optimus Prime's body lay waiting for revival. That's how much
Michael Bay milked the slow motion running scenes. About ten minutes after Optimus is revived, he womps the bad guys' asses and the movie concludes...
To give them credit, the visual effects of the movie were very good. Seeing the Transformers transform is always fun to watch. However, after watching them transform for the twentieth time, it starts to lose its charm. Did I mention that this film is full of explosions? Yes I know, this is a Transformers movie, so over the top big booms are expected, but seriously Michael Bay? I don't want to even know the cost for the explosion effects, let alone all the cool CG work that went into the robots.
Needless to say I'm sure the movie is going to do fine in the box office. It's a sequel to a very decent first film. I personally wish they just had left Transformers alone, but hey, Hollywood is greedy. If you're thinking of spending ten bucks on this film, I recommend you pass and wait for it to come out on DVD. Simply put, Transformers 2 is a typical Hollywood sequel to a movie that didn't need a sequel. It's more explosive, it's border-line corny in certain parts, and it's unnecessarily longer. But hey, Megan Fox is in it! Be prepared for a below average plot that is masked by a ton of things blowing up every couple minutes. If that's your cup of tea then this film is for you, however, I'm afraid I am going to have to give
Transformers 2 a below average rating of 65%. :-(