Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Thought I would start a new thread so people had a place to discuss the movie.

I saw the midnight show last night(I'm so paying for it now at work)........I thought it was a lot of fun. Mindless action for 2 and a half hours. The final 40 minutes is worth the price of admission alone. It had everything I wanted: cool new characters, bigger effects, loud as hell, great battle scenes and Megan Fox running around in slow motion a lot.

Like all of Michael Bay's work, it's short on story. There really wasn't a whole lot to chew on here, but that didn't stop him from throwing in his usual bad one liners, over dramatic slow mo emotion shots. But he did what he does best and that's blow crap up.

Huge ovation from the geeks at the theatre last night after it ended. big budget, summer popcorn flick, that's all it is.

This was never gonna be a movie that critics would love, so don't bother reading critic reviews......there's some pretty nasty stuff being said this morning.

7.5/10

[Hack&Lube]

I was reading the metro's review this morning and they gave it 1-star.

I have to admit, I really hate the new Transformers movies but that's only because I have such loyalty to the characters and look of the original series and the original movie from 1986.

[Yeah_Baby]

How does it compare to Star Trek? Because when you get down to it, Star Trek had more in common with a mindless summer flick than The Undiscovered Country.

[J pold]

Is there a movie that you don't like?

[Russic]

The first one got slammed pretty badly, but I enjoyed it. I'm more interested in the opinions of those that liked the first one than media reviews. Sometimes I just want to turn my mind off and watch things go boom.

edit: Woo-boy ... that 20% on rotten tomatoes isn't the most comforting score. What's going on with summer movies? I was excited for 3 movies this year: Terminator, Transformers and Year One. All have scored 20% or lower on RT. The most annoying part of all is the industry will just keep blaming the intertubes for killing their business.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

How does it compare to Star Trek? Because when you get down to it, Star Trek had more in common with a mindless summer flick than The Undiscovered Country.

Star Trek and Revenge of the Fallen were written by the same writers.

They were huge Trekkies and knew what they were doing and had all the right story points and quirks and charms worked out for Trek, I don't know if they were big fans of the Transformers before this gig and just churned out a mindless action movie...well, that's probably Michael Bay's fault.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by J pold

Is there a movie that you don't like?

There's plenty, I just don't start threads about movies I don't like. I don't know many people that didn't like Old School but I freaking hated it. I wasn't a big Lord of the Rings fan either. I saw them all, but didn't think they were the best things ever.

This one is all about expectations. I was expecting mindless summer fun and that's what it was. I wasn't a diehard fan growing up so if they messed around with sotry or characters, I didn't notice and if I did, I wouldn't care.

[CaptainCrunch]

I hated the first one with a passion, I enjoy the Robot Chicken transformer stuff more then the Michael Bay stuff. I'm going to save my money and wait for it to come out on movie central.

[Hack&Lube]

I hate the idea that movies just have to be "mindless summer fun". I was listening to Christian Bale talking about Terminator Salvation and he kept dissing his own movie: "we are kidding ourselves, if we say this is anything other than what it is, a great fun summer action flick - people are here to see the explosions and big machines, that's all"

Sorry, that B.S. Movies can be fun, explosive, action-adventures and NOT be mindless. Terminator could have been so much more. It reminds me of Superman III when Christopher Reeve kept saying in interviews that the movie looks like it "just flew out of the comic pages" - as in it's only worthwhile as comedic pulp for children...and that was a honest assesement for how terrible that movie was...but again, there is no reason why things have to be that way.

[GreenLantern]

Is this movie about the actual transformers, or is it still about the humans?

I had to go back and watch some episodes from the original series to see if it was 70% humans 30% robots, i'd say its about the opposite actually.

[GreenLantern]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I hate the idea that movies just have to be "mindless summer fun". I was listening to Christian Bale talking about Terminator Salvation and he kept dissing his own movie: "we are kidding ourselves, if we say this is anything other than what it is, a great fun summer action flick - people are here to see the explosions and big machines, that's all"

He was right though, Terminator Salvation was horrible. I would rather watch Up again with my neice than go see TS..

So many holes in the story line, and the worst part is the ending.. and for those who haven't seen it I write the following in white text:

Because now they leave it open for more, which really sucks, I was really rooting for an ending to the series..

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by Russic

edit: Woo-boy ... that 20% on rotten tomatoes isn't the most comforting score. What's going on with summer movies? I was excited for 3 movies this year: Terminator, Transformers and Year One. All have scored 20% or lower on RT. The most annoying part of all is the industry will just keep blaming the intertubes for killing their business.

I personally dont think there's anyway possible to make Transformers critic friendly, so I wouldn't put too much stock into that RT rating. Like I said above, it got a huge ovation at the end of the screening last night, so the franchise really liked it.

I'm reading reviews today just ripping into the story and how ridiculous it is and that's why they didn't like the movie. Christ, it's a fantasy where alien robots that disguise themselves as machines to blend in on Earth. Of course that sounds ridiculous. The whole premise is ridiculous and stupid, but that doesn't mean the flick isn't a lot of fun. There were plenty of "ooohhhhhh shiiiiiiiiit" moments.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

Is this movie about the actual transformers, or is it still about the humans?

I had to go back and watch some episodes from the original series to see if it was 70% humans 30% robots, i'd say its about the opposite actually.

They definitely changed that aspect from the first one. There's plenty more of the robots and the origins in this one.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I hate the idea that movies just have to be "mindless summer fun". I was listening to Christian Bale talking about Terminator Salvation and he kept dissing his own movie: "we are kidding ourselves, if we say this is anything other than what it is, a great fun summer action flick - people are here to see the explosions and big machines, that's all"

Sorry, that B.S. Movies can be fun, explosive, action-adventures and NOT be mindless. Terminator could have been so much more. It reminds me of Superman III when Christopher Reeve kept saying in interviews that the movie looks like it "just flew out of the comic pages" - as in it's only worthwhile as comedic pulp for children...and that was a honest assesement for how terrible that movie was...but again, there is no reason why things have to be that way.

This is a good point. There has to be meetings where somebody says "this is a pretty huge plot hole that could be covered up with 3 extra lines of dialogue" ... I wonder how those end?

[MarchHare]

The first one got slammed pretty badly, but I enjoyed it. I'm more interested in the opinions of those that liked the first one than media reviews. Sometimes I just want to turn my mind off and watch things go boom.

Roger Ebert enjoyed the first one and gave it three stars. He hated the sequel and only gave it one star. Here's the first paragraph from his review:

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. One of these involves a dog-like robot humping the leg of the heroine. Such are the meager joys. If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination.

[Blaster86]

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has only received great reviews. It has at 100% rating on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. It has already grossed more than Titanic. It is a great film. There is talk of Academy Awards for all lead actors."

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

He was right though, Terminator Salvation was horrible. I would rather watch Up again with my neice than go see TS..
[/COLOR]

The point isn't that it wasn't a terrible movie - which it was ... but somewhere along the line the writers, studio, director, etc. decide for it to be a mindless action movie and it becomes even more crap when it doesn't need to be. (Mostly Bale's fault, he supposedly turned the entire concept upside down to give his character as Connor more screentime than he should ever have had).

It can be fun and full of action and yet have some substances and poignancy toward the human condition.

Let's look at Terminator 2 - that was like the ultimate in fun action movies and yet you had much deeper stories and subplots like you had a story of the fatherless Jon Connor - finding a surrogate father in a machine...and watching a kid lose his new dad (or Uncle Bob) and best friend all over again to save the human race. It also a warning about the dangerous of technology and nuclear annhilation and taking your current world and your life for granted as it could end just like that without anybody realizing it. It was also a story of maternal love and motherly instincts for a son like no other...and the redemption and catharsis for a woman who had spent years harboring only hatred for machines to realize that there was something she could respect in the Terminator...and that man and machine can work together.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

[quote=Hack&Lube;1899439]I hate the idea that movies just have to be "mindless summer fun". I was listening to Christian Bale talking about Terminator Salvation and he kept dissing his own movie: "we are kidding ourselves, if we say this is anything other than what it is, a great fun summer action flick - people are here to see the explosions and big machines, that's all"

Sorry, that B.S. Movies can be fun, explosive, action-adventures and NOT be mindless. [\quote]

Well, in the case of Transformers, it's kinda hard to make it serious, or dark and edgy or whatever you want when the premise is as silly as it is. It's a movie based on a set of children's toys but everyone wants it to be more.....I don't get it.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has only received great reviews. It has at 100% rating on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. It has already grossed more than Titanic. It is a great film. There is talk of Academy Awards for all lead actors."

Starcream? This is bad comedy.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Star Trek and Revenge of the Fallen were written by the same writers.

.

Really? No way, I had no idea.