Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Bay, 2009) — The Reviews Thread

[pinata242]

I took 2 kids yesterday. My 8 and my 5 year-old. I took my 8 year-old to the first one 2 years ago when she was 6.

[Mr. Cinema]

Originally Posted by Draven

I don't know a single parent that is taking a child to this. They are all getting babysitters and going themselves.

Maybe they shouldn't if there's alot of sex and drug references in this movie. My brother took his 7 year old yesterday and said the theater was full of kids. I've seen plenty of kids standing in ticket lines. I have to think all the kids getting Transformers toys, watching the cartoons that are on now, are going to want to see this. Even if they hadn't heard of Transformers before, if you told a kid there's a movie out that has talking robots fighting each other and can change into vehicles, wouldn't they be excited to see that?

I guess it's sort of a trap for parents because the trailers don't reveal anything too bad. I understand this is PG-13, but did Iron Man have sex and drug references in it? I don't remember. It seemed to be pretty safe for kids.

From what I've been told and read, this movie seems to have gone overboard alittle in certain areas.

[scott1598]

what a bloated piece of supersonic crap. loud, boisterous, with no soul or emotion whatsoever. at least in the first i got a little teary eyed when Bumblebee almost bit it.

10x more frenetic action, little to no substance. it would have been more enjoyable watching a see-through dishwasher run through its' cycles for 2.5 hours.

i couldn't wait for it to be over.

[outcastja]

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

But why does a movie about fighting robots have to have drug and sex references? This franchise is based on a FUCKING cartoon! Kids like Transformers. There's been recent Transformers cartoons for today's kids as well. I wonder who all the toys are being marketed towards?

You are extremely naive if you think this movie's main audience isn't kids.

My problem with the original statement was he labeled this as a kid's movie. I don't think it's a kids movie but I know a lot of kids will see it and buy the toys. It's a summer movie, which will appeal to all ages. Last year, kids went to see Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and Dark Knight all which had toys marketed for kids, that doesn't make them kid's movies.

To me a kid's movie is when they have to drag a parent to see a movie, like Hannah Montana, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Garfield and Jonas Brothers. With summer movies like Batman, Transformers, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Spiderman etc. parents want to watch these movies regardless if their kids want to see it or not.

[stingermck]

This thread has given me so many new ways for describing a loud, fast cutting, action movie.

In other news:

'Transformers' scores $60.6 mil on Day 1
Easily on target for projected $150 mil-plus by Sunday

The 400 critics around the globe spoke. Then fans around the world spoke.

Transformers made $60.6 million dollars in the United States for a total of around $100 million from the world on opening day! One of the biggest single days in movie history.

Then never seem to understand that I make movies for people to take a ride and escape.

To all the Transformer Fans - Thank You

Michael

I think Bay just told everyone to suck it.

[toddly6666]

I can't believe we have people complaining about sex, violence and drugs in movies. I'm surprised no one commented on the heavy amount of curse words and insults in the film as well. In Europe and Japan, no one gives a shit about this because they are not as repressed as sensitive touchy Americans. Oh no, robot testicles! Cover your child's eyes! They shouldn't know that some creatures have testicles! Oh my god, you looked at testicles! You are going to be traumatized! You are going to be gay! You are now exposed to sex! Oh god, marijuana brownies, how evil!

Hippocrates, get some perspective...if you are worried about exposing your kids to something traumatic in this sequel, Transformers 2 may have had testicles, curse words, marijuana brownies, stereotypical urban Transformer twins, and Megan Fox's plastic lips triple-dipped in "ejaculation" lip gloss, but nothing comes close to as embarrassing and awkward as the "masterbation" subject in the first Transformers movie.

Like another poster said, I can understand how critics could hate both the first and the second one. But to praise the first movie and hate the second one makes no sense. They are one and the same film.

Originally Posted by outcastja

My problem with the original statement was he labeled this as a kid's movie. I don't think it's a kids movie but I know a lot of kids will see it and buy the toys. It's a summer movie, which will appeal to all ages. Last year, kids went to see Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and Dark Knight all which had toys marketed for kids, that doesn't make them kid's movies.

To me a kid's movie is when they have to drag a parent to see a movie, like Hannah Montana, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Garfield and Jonas Brothers. With summer movies like Batman, Transformers, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Spiderman etc. parents want to watch these movies regardless if their kids want to see it or not.

The only movie you listed that wasn't a kid's movie was The Dark Knight - that movie is like The Departed with Batman as one of the characters. All the others - Indiana Jones, Iron Man, Star Wars, Star Trek, Terminator, Garfield, and Alvin and the Chipmunks - are kids movies. Movies for babies. Sure, there is no excuse for bad writing, but why can't Alvin and the Chipmunks be written well? Babe was a children's movie and it was a masterpiece. People like kid's movies. There are all kinds of movies that one gets dragged to see - Hannah Montana, Sex and the City, The Reader. People of all ages like kid's movies. And Transformers is a movie for babies. Who cares what age sees a film? Any mindless action film that follows the same format as a video game is a kid's movie - and that's what Transformers is.

Transformers fans who didn't like the film are totally out of it - "I want more bickering between Megatron and Starscream." That's what fans bitch about. That would have made it a better movie? Come on, what kind of writing would make Transformers a masterpiece film? What if the whole film took place on Cybertron? Then it would be a cartoon movie. That wouldn't make it better.

[C-Mart]

I liked it. Sure some of the jokes/crude humor was over the top... but I didn't mind it too much. There were a LOT of kids in our showing last night (10:30).

There were only a couple of things I didn't like:

First Sideways (the Audi R8) dies way too fast, and only transforms to jump through a building. I would have liked to see him fight Sideswipe a bit more.

Why do all the "appliances" effected turn into evil robots when the "Cube" energy is unleashed? The cube was responsible for the existence of the Transformers right? So if everything it "creates" is evil, then how do the Autobots even exist?

There was a lot of jumping over things while flipping and then shooting down at the enemy while you are upside-down shots. At least 2 or 3, and probably more. It is cool, but way over done.

I got a little lost on a couple of the Egypt scenes. One minute the Twins were fighting Devestator, and the next he is climbing the pyramid... where did the Twins go? The other was:

Spoiler:

When Jetfire tells Optimus to use his parts a blue Autobot shows up to install the parts and someone calls him Jolt I think... I don't recall seeing him before that, I don't know what vehicle he is, etc...

Those couple of continuity errors were what took my rating down to 4.5 rather than 5. I thought the first Transformers was definately a 5.

I was at a 10:30 show - got out around 1:15 and never felt tired during the movie. My wife also never fell asleep (she usually does when tired, and that is the reason we don't typically go to late movies).

[Artman]

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

I understand this is PG-13, but did Iron Man have sex and drug references in it? I don't remember. It seemed to be pretty safe for kids.

From what I've been told and read, this movie seems to have gone overboard alittle in certain areas.

Iron Man did have that one-night stand, which is more than anything shown in this movie. Things are said so fast a kid might not even hear it, I could barely keep up with the dialogue at times. My only gripe was the use of the word pussy, I don't recall hearing that too often in PG-13 movies.

[Stu 17]

Originally Posted by C-Mart

Why do all the "appliances" effected turn into evil robots when the "Cube" energy is unleashed? The cube was responsible for the existence of the Transformers right? So if everything it "creates" is evil, then how do the Autobots even exist?

I thought they kind of addressed that with Wheelie, where he started out evil but then realized he could choose to be an Autobot instead.

[Seantn]

From Deadline Hollywood Daily:

Paramount boasted how exit polling showed that 91% of the audience said "they liked this movie as much or better than the first". So this Decepticons vs Autobots battle is reviewer-proof.

[Suprmallet]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Kids are the target audience. Why would you expect it to be a mature film for us adults? You and I are out of the target range. The more childrens movies you watch and have expectations of them being good films, the more disappointed you will be.

As someone else said, Transformers fans run anywhere from kids to guys in their 30's. Why should I expect that the movie will only be aimed at children? And, by the way, the excuse of it being "a kid's movie" doesn't give the filmmakers a green light to make it crap.

Originally Posted by toddly6666

This is called nitpicking. This is a movie based on a comic book/cartoon about alien talking robots that transform. You can nitpick The Wrestler or The Reader, but nitpicking about a kid's movie is like nitpicking the Garfield movie or Dragonball Z.

If the movie had been enjoyable I wouldn't have to nitpick. As it was, these were the things I was thinking about as I watched the movie, because the movie itself was so bad that I wasn't engaged.

Originally Posted by toddly6666

The little transformers in Sam's house that Bumblebee eventually destroys.

OK, those were pretty fun. They came up so early in the movie I had forgotten about them by the end.

Originally Posted by toddly6666

All the reviews say that they are stereotypical hispanic. I guess you think the Star Wars movies are pretty offensive as well then.

I don't know what reviews you were reading, but all the ones I read, and every one I've talked to, have correctly identified them as black.

Originally Posted by slop101

This is what's inexplicable to me.

I could honestly take your review of the second Transformers and apply it almost verbatim to my views of the first one. They are both very, VERY bad films. Sure, the second one may be worse, but let's not fool ourselves here; they're both massive pieces of shit that exist on the same plane. And I don't understand how one can reconcile loving one and hating the other when they both suck to varying degrees but for pretty much the same reasons.

I'm not saying the first movie is a shining example of brilliant filmmaking, but Bay displayed a certain level of restraint (for him) and I cared about most of the characters and all the robots. People complained about some of the action being incomprehensible, but watching it in light of the sequel, it's much more understandable than this film. Transformers was a good time at the movies. Revenge of the Fallen is Bay without a leash, and I didn't like it. I can only pray he decides to let someone else do the third one. Give it to Jonathan Mostow or Alex Proyas.

[Son of Odin]

Originally Posted by stingermck

This thread has given me so many new ways for describing a loud, fast cutting, action movie.

In other news:





I think Bay just told everyone to suck it.

as he should. it was close to the source material. it was entertaining. the critics just hate bay because he goes against the grain for success. he's the best at giving action first. no one comes close to him in that department. it had flaws, but less than the other action films so far this summer.

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by Suprmallet

As someone else said, Transformers fans run anywhere from kids to guys in their 30's. Why should I expect that the movie will only be aimed at children? And, by the way, the excuse of it being "a kid's movie" doesn't give the filmmakers a green light to make it crap.

There is no excuse for making bad movies ever, but for some reason, the movie producers always gotta put in the stupid humor for the kids. If Bay was more in The Rock form (more serious and with some humor), the Transformers flicks would even be more awesome. I like Bay's humor, so I don't mind these Transformers flicks.

Give it to Jonathan Mostow or Alex Proyas.

Alex Proyas would be awesome! (by the way, Shai LeBoef was in I ROBOT, so it could benefit with Proyas directing the third one)

[LickTheABCs]

I went in expecting Transformers 2 and got, well, Transformers 2.

I liked it.

[Suprmallet]

I generally enjoyed the humor in the first one, this one just went from juvenile to puerile.

I'd really like to see Alex Proyas' take on the franchise. Could be very interesting.

[Anubis2005X]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Hippocrates, get some perspective...

Wait, who?

[Suprmallet]

Hippocrates, the great film critic/historian.

[C-Mart]

Originally Posted by Stu 17

I thought they kind of addressed that with Wheelie, where he started out evil but then realized he could choose to be an Autobot instead.

Spoiler:

Maybe, but The Fallen was against the rest of the Primes because he wanted to destroy Earth's sun which was against their rules. So it stands to reason that the original Bots were at the very least against killing sentient beings. If the original bots were created by the cube, then it would also stand to reason that anything created by the cube would have similar values.

Now, if we remove Tranformer history from the mix, I would presume the answer to be that if the toaster came alive and was nice to Sam, then it wouldn't be as exciting as a battle between Bumble Bee and the Appliancacons Thus the Hollywood machine discards common sense for action and explosions.

All that being said, I enjoyed the scene and thought it was cool to see all the household appliances transform. And one of my favorite scenes from Transformers was the Mt. Dew machine firing cans of soda at people.

[JimRochester]

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

Maybe they shouldn't if there's alot of sex and drug references in this movie. My brother took his 7 year old yesterday and said the theater was full of kids. I've seen plenty of kids standing in ticket lines. I have to think all the kids getting Transformers toys, watching the cartoons that are on now, are going to want to see this. Even if they hadn't heard of Transformers before, if you told a kid there's a movie out that has talking robots fighting each other and can change into vehicles, wouldn't they be excited to see that?

I guess it's sort of a trap for parents because the trailers don't reveal anything too bad. I understand this is PG-13, but did Iron Man have sex and drug references in it? I don't remember. It seemed to be pretty safe for kids.

From what I've been told and read, this movie seems to have gone overboard alittle in certain areas.

Everytime I bring up the subject of kids at movies I'm immediately blasted by comments like; "I saw Terminator when I was 8 and I turned out fine" and "it's up to the parents, there's nothing wrong with it". I thought bringing pre-teens to Hangover is terrible but I was inthe minority. If you have a movie seemingly about kids toys I don't think you'll ever keep kids away even if they had Megan Fox doing a nude pole dance.

[wm lopez]

Have you heard about the stereo type robots that have blacks upset?

[grrr]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Hippocrates, get some perspective...

Critic, film thyself!

[Sessa17]

Originally Posted by maingon

it is rated PG-13. not G or PG. you sound like those adults that take there kids to see a movie because its animated thinking it must be for little kids, even though the movie is actually an movie for adults or isnt geared towards kids.

If you didnt like the first one why would you want to go see this one? and I didnt find anything in this that isnt it any other PG13 movies. there's nothing outragous or anything.

Huh? Did you read any of my posts? All of those questions are answered & I don't have any kids nor am I one of those adults.

[Goldberg74]

I went in with low, low, low expectations... and enjoyed this movie... a lot. More so than the first one.

I give it a solid B.

[JumpCutz]

Originally Posted by wm lopez

Have you heard about the stereo type robots that have blacks upset?

You're talking about Hippo & Crates?

[Trevor]

This movie is completely awful. I expected mindless popcorn fare, with a slight possibility of above averageness or even a nice surprise. But wow, this is worse than I imagined it could be.