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

[Tracer Bullet]

Originally Posted by Mazje

Hopefully Bay's next film, "The Great Gatsby," is better.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/storyboa...-great-gatsby/

This is amazing.

[pinata242]

Originally Posted by Mazje

Hopefully Bay's next film, "The Great Gatsby," is better.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/storyboa...-great-gatsby/

Originally Posted by Tracer Bullet

This is amazing.

Yeah... I almost died because I stopped breathing. Nearly blinded by tears of laughter.

[wm lopez]

I thought this was supposed to a family movie. Mostly there were lots of kids with their parents in line. There is a lot of swearing and sexual scenes in this movie.
Parents be warned!

[The Cow]

Originally Posted by wm lopez

I thought this was supposed to a family movie. Mostly there were lots of kids with their parents in line. There is a lot of swearing and sexual scenes in this movie.
Parents be warned!

What about the violence? OMG, the violence!!!!1!11!


MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material.

[Defiant1]

Originally Posted by wm lopez

I thought this was supposed to a family movie. Mostly there were lots of kids with their parents in line. There is a lot of swearing and sexual scenes in this movie.
Parents be warned!

Because God forbid kids find out about teh seks. The schoolyards and playgrounds of America feature dialogue far more profane that what is shown in this movie.

[RyoHazuki]

I'm kinda suprised everyone is saying its much worse than the first. I disliked the first one quite a bit and thought this one was a big improvement. Its still a bad movie but a big step up over the first one. This one at least filled my robot fighting quota.

[brizz]

Originally Posted by atlantamoi

First flick was my least favorite of '07, so you couldn't drag me to #2.

Here's some of the best bad review quotes"

http://www.movieline.com/2009/06/the...the-fallen.php

"“Terry Schiavo would have been bored by this bloated, ponderous piece of shit.” — Devin Faraci, CHUD"

This:

2. “I’m certain that someday it will be acknowledged that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is like the most totally awesome artifact ever of the end of the American empire. It’s so us, a preposterously perfect reflection of who we are: loud, obnoxious, sexist, racist, juvenile, unthinking, visceral, and violent… and in love with ourselves for it. […] What we have right here is the Easter Island statue of our legacy.” — MaryAnn Johanson, FlickFilosopher

Is the greatest critic blurb of all time.

[brizz]

Originally Posted by Aegean2007

I never thought about it this way:

“I’m certain that someday it will be acknowledged that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is like the most totally awesome artifact ever of the end of the American empire. It’s so us, a preposterously perfect reflection of who we are: loud, obnoxious, sexist, racist, juvenile, unthinking, visceral, and violent… and in love with ourselves for it. […] What we have right here is the Easter Island statue of our legacy.”

[The Bus]

Originally Posted by Mabuse

For those that have seen it give me short simple answer: Is it better or worse than the first film?

The first film I wanted to see again as soon as it was over. This one I'd like to see again, but I don't need to see it in theaters. I still want to see Trek again, and might do so.

What I don't understand about all the gripes here is that this is a sequel. The robnot design hasn't changed. The director hasn't changed. The silliness of the script hasn't changed. The often-misfiring humor hasn't changed. I think people are viewing the first film through a completely different lens.

Before I saw Transformers (2007), I came in with exceedingly low expectations. Michael Bay is a great visualist for certain types of action, but if he directs people and not special effects he falls completely flat. Pearl Harbor is about 45 minutes of incredible action sandwiched between a loaf of a brand of terrible I would not see again until I saw 300.

So, Transformers surprised me. I was expecting to be disappointed, and I wasn't. Now, looking at tihs with a higher level of scrutiny, there are some elements of the first film that were not here on the same level.

The development of Sam and Mikaela's relationship was flat and terrible. The scenes of courtship (aided by Bumblebee) in the first film were sweet, but here Mikaela is, at best, a hood ornament -- and she wasn't that deep of a character to begin with. The film doesn't take itself too seriously, but it's not as funny as the first one.

But where the film improves is action and pacing. The first film lacked a lot of coherent setpieces: the desert attack was probably the high point, and the city battle later on works as well. But the robots were hard to follow. They still are, due to the overcomplicated design, but it's an improvement. You can, sometimes, actually tell what's going on.

I'm not someone who can expouse on topics in a long-winded manner.

The bottom line is that, so far, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the first great mindless action blockbuster of the year, after the disappointing Wolverine, Watchmen, and Terminator Salvation. There's been better action movies (Taken) and smarter ones (Star Trek), but overall the bar for it to clear, this year, is pretty low.

[The Bus]

Originally Posted by brizz

“I’m certain that someday it will be acknowledged that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is like the most totally awesome artifact ever of the end of the American empire. It’s so us, a preposterously perfect reflection of who we are: loud, obnoxious, sexist, racist, juvenile, unthinking, visceral, and violent… and in love with ourselves for it. […] What we have right here is the Easter Island statue of our legacy.”

I liked the movie and I don't disagree with this comment. The problem arises when this is the only type of movie we clamor for.

[BernieStolar]

The racial stereotypes of mudflap and skids took me so far out of the movie I could not enjoy it. Why does Michael Bay feel the need to make all black people yelling and ignorant sounding? I mean, a gold tooth, seriously? This had jar jar binks factor times ten. I was very disappointed with the action as well. Devastator should have stood up and looked huge not crawled like a gorilla. I still couldn't tell what was going on half the time. Slow motion was overused. As far as the human characters, they were all just parodies of themselves in the first movies, sam's mom getting high was stupid, the new hacker friend was stupid, tasers knocking people out was stupid. This movie was just a big disappointment and I did not expect much from a robot transforming movie based on a cartoon.

[Son of Odin]

Originally Posted by Mabuse

For those that have seen it give me short simple answer: Is it better or worse than the first film?

better. more true to the source material than the first. glad to see it bank huge, record wednesday, and rub it in the faces of the bay haters.

[wm lopez]

Originally Posted by Defiant1

Because God forbid kids find out about teh seks. The schoolyards and playgrounds of America feature dialogue far more profane that what is shown in this movie.

But in STAR WARS,LORD OF THE RINGS,INDIANA JONES movies you didn't get this.

[Jaymole]

2. “I’m certain that someday it will be acknowledged that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is like the most totally awesome artifact ever of the end of the American empire. It’s so us, a preposterously perfect reflection of who we are: loud, obnoxious, sexist, racist, juvenile, unthinking, visceral, and violent… and in love with ourselves for it. […] What we have right here is the Easter Island statue of our legacy.” — MaryAnn Johanson, FlickFilosopher

That is perfect!

I have always felt that Michael Bay was the director that most exemplifies all that is wrong with Americans, which is probably why his films are so popular.

[Giantrobo]

I haven't seen TF:RoTF yet. But I wonder why people weren't pissing on the tastes of Americans when "The Hangover" was making a shitload of money? How come the some of the same crude things in "The Hangover" got a pass while this movie is being held up as an example of all that's Evil with America.

Did I miss the articles?

[Jaymole]

Originally Posted by Giantrobo

I haven't seen TF:RoTF yet. But I wonder why people weren't pissing on the tastes of Americans when "The Hangover" was making a shitload of money? How come the some of the same crude things in "The Hangover" got a pass while this movie is being held up as an example of all that's Evil with America.

Did I miss the articles?

NEWSFLASH for Giantrobo - Different directors have different styles.

If Hangover was directed by Bay, yes I am sure the film would have been transformed into a more juvenile, loud, overblown, obnoxious film with a few explosions added into it.

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by Son of Odin

better. more true to the source material than the first. glad to see it bank huge, record wednesday, and rub it in the faces of the bay haters.

Some of us don't hate Bay. I liked several of his films, including the first Transformers. And record sales just affirm how bad the film is btw.

[greg9x]

As a pure summer popcorn movie it was entertaining. As a sequel to a surprise hit it was 'Eh'.

Biggest complaints as others have had- Robot design and fight scenes. Robots are too 'busy' and cannot identify them in robot form from one another. The unidentifiable robots along with the the tired 'quick cut' action made fight scenes a jumbled mess....had no idea who was shooting who. Also it makes no sense for the robots to stay in their vehicle forms, if they can change at will why not assume different forms for different situations... needs to be a limiting factor.

The instant filght to cybertron made no sense... thousands of years spent fighting over Earth, why not go to another solar system and build the energon collector there ?

Megan Fox is attractive, and I love boobs...but the amount of slow motion cleavage shots got to be laughable. (And I want to go to college where every woman is a super model !!! They didn't even try to cast any 'normal' girls.)

While the 'ghetto' robots had some funny lines, they where cringe inducing stereotypes...although the black people in the crowd seemed to find them entertaining.

Devastator's design sucked, and there was no build up to his formation..the constructicons just hang around until they form him.

[mh4268]

Not a good movie, but seeing as I went in absolutely 0 expectations of a good movie, I wasn't disappointed.

[Schloob1]

Originally Posted by Giantrobo

I haven't seen TF:RoTF yet. But I wonder why people weren't pissing on the tastes of Americans when "The Hangover" was making a shitload of money? How come the some of the same crude things in "The Hangover" got a pass while this movie is being held up as an example of all that's Evil with America.

Did I miss the articles?

Not quite sure how to respond to this Giantrobo, but the simple fact is probably because Transformers is supposed to be based off a "kid's" cartoon show from the 80's and this is what they have done with it. While I do not think they should make it G rated they could at least take out the offensive stuff that would make it only PG. And I think it is easily safe to assume that is why they get a pass though in "The Hangover" since IT IS an "R" rated film and bachelor parties are the LAST thing a kid should know anything about. These 2 films should not be compared whatsoever.

[Suprmallet]

Originally Posted by Giantrobo

I haven't seen TF:RoTF yet. But I wonder why people weren't pissing on the tastes of Americans when "The Hangover" was making a shitload of money? How come the some of the same crude things in "The Hangover" got a pass while this movie is being held up as an example of all that's Evil with America.

Did I miss the articles?

Part of it is expectation. The Hangover is a raunchy comedy and makes no apologies for it. The trailers all advertised it that way. Transformers 2 is meant to be an action movie. It wasn't advertised as a raunchy comedy.

Another difference is the execution. The Hangover was directed by a comedic director who understands that jokes need setups and payoffs. Bay just throws in random bits, often unexpectedly, such as when the little RC car starts humping Megan Fox's leg for no reason.

Also, most of the humor in The Hangover is not juvenile. The majority of the juvenile jokes come from Zach Galifiniakis, whose character is himself childlike. In Transformers, these people are meant to be acting like adults, but instead they're gawking at women and making jokes about genitals. It's just a whole different world than The Hangover.

Note that these comments apply to only Transformers 2, I liked most of the humor in the first Transformers.

[mndtrp]

Originally Posted by Mike86

I don't know what to really say about this movie I guess. I didn't necessarily hate it but I didn't think it was as good as the first movie either. To me this movie felt like it just dragged on forever. The first one didn't feel that way to me even though it was almost as long. I wasn't exactly going into this expecting a lot but it really wasn't even close to as fun/good as I thought it would be.

This is about how I feel. The first movie was a pretty enjoyable ride from beginning to end, with just a bit of turbulence throughout. The sequel, though, just went on and on and on.

I enjoyed the robots fighting, the bombs dropping in the last half hour or so sounded pretty awesome, and John Turturro didn't annoy me near as much as the first movie. Bay needs to reign in his circling camera crap, it's getting to be a bit much.

[Gunde]

I gotta say that anyone thinking this movie is inapproriate for kids is a goddamn prude. For fucks sake that's laughable.

[maingon]

The theater I seen in int was packed last night, and people clapped at the ending. They seemed to enjoy it. Laughed at all the jokes. I thought it was a good movie. The effects were amazing. Megan Fox looked great and I didn't mind john turturro character here, because I didnt like him last time.

Now I thought the first movie was fantastic. I thought it was almost perfect for a summer action movie. This one while I liked it wasn't as good as the first one. There wasnt any cool moments that built up to anything. The first one had the fantastic scene where the autobots are falling to earth, the music is playing etc. Thats one of the best scenes in a movie in a long time. Also the fight scene at the end when there's that shot of the transformer transforming over the girl in mid air as shes screaming. Here I didnt get any really cool looking shots like that in this one. It just moved very fast.


But overall it was a cool, fun action ride. I had a good time. Theater seemed to love it. it was a slight disspointment, since I loved the first one, I came away from the first one thinking it was one of the coolest movies I ever seen. This one I walked away thinking it was a fun ride, and just a good movie

I would give it a B, the first one got a A+

[Giantrobo]

Originally Posted by Jaymole

NEWSFLASH for Giantrobo - Different directors have different styles.

If Hangover was directed by Bay, yes I am sure the film would have been transformed into a more juvenile, loud, overblown, obnoxious film with a few explosions added into it.

NEWSFLASH for JAYMOLE.

I saw "The Hangover" and it was all of those things at some point. I still say it got a pass for its crudeness compared to what's being said in this thread. Mind you, I enjoyed "The Hangover" so I'm not judging it.