Remember when the first Transformers movie was to be released in 2007 and we were worried that it just wasn't going to be good and yet it turned out to be one hell of a ride that we enjoyed?
Well, Michael Bay took those original fears, harvested them, nurtured them and made a sequel.
I won't mince words here. I REALLY wanted to like this movie. I really did.
Set two years after the original Transformers, we find that the Autobots are secretly working with our government to track down Decepticons that are hiding out. It seems that all the public events that transpired at the climax of the first movie have been brushed off and witnesses seeing those robots are just gone.
Ok, I can digest that since it's a movie.
Sam (Shia LeBeouf) is heading off to college on the East Coast and is having a long distance relationship with Mikaela (Megan Fox). Why he doesn't go to a local college to be closer to her is beyond me...Oh wait, he hasn't grown a pair since the first movie.
Before he leaves for college, Sam decides to look at his old hoodie that he wore in the battle of the first movie and the clothing has a piece of the All Spark attached to it. Don't ask why he hadn't looked at this hoodie in two years. Upon touching the shard of the All Spark, Sam sees various robot symbols and makes him have fits of freak outs.
Meanwhile, Soundwave is monitoring all military chatter from space. You see, Soundwave is a satellite and he doesn't have that cool voice that he did in the cartoon. Soundwave hears a over chatty government official give the location of another piece of the All Spark and the exact location of Megatron who is still buried at sea.
Megatron is brought to live and is now after Sam because Megatron is working for another bad robot.
Optimus Prime tells Sam that there is a bigger war going on and that he needs Sam's help. Sam decides that he wants nothing to do with the war and whines. Really? You would think that after what he witnessed in the first movie, he would take heed to the warning. If I had a mom like his who truly trips out after eating a pot brownie then maybe I would whine too. Yes, this even does happen in the movie. I can't make this up.
The plot is thin but I wasn't expecting anything more. What I did get was annoyed by all the intentional clumsy/goofy characters that were jammed in and brewing through out the film. Granted, I liked Wheelie, the little robot who annoyingly cute because he had no loyalties.
The fights were entertaining since they were Matrix like but there were other times where it just looked CGI compared to the visuals of the original.
I had no real idea where this movie wanted to go because there were so many comic moments that got the children in the audience laughing hard. What wasn't funny was a giant Decepticon having a set of balls. Yes, those kind of balls.
I was waiting for the camera to pan across the screen and give us a shot of Christian Bale looking at the camera and saying, "It's a crappy movie, of course I'm here. Move along."
Michael Bay makes good movies like The Island, Bad Boys and Transformers but he should stay away from making sequels as proven in Bad Boys II and Revenge of the Fallen.
It was as if Bay drank a case of Mt. Dew and started directing all the while getting distracted by something shiny.
I do give credit to the musical score that was done by Steve Jablonsky who provides a haunting and moving soundtrack but is far different from the epic sounding music of the first film.
Normally, I like to stand out with my reviews and go against the grain and pick out what's good with a movie. Sadly, I have to agree with other critics and say Revenge of the Fallen will shatter expectations. With the majority of the action evolving boredom and characters that are beyond silly, you'll want revenge for paying for Revenge of the Fallen.
It's a cartoon come to life in a bad, bad way.
Now, please excuse me while I play with my Transformer toys, crying for better days.
We all know I do that anyway.