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

[GCS]

What I took from TF2 was the robot ass-kickery and that is it. I did not care for anything else really. Does the film deserve to be bashed from a "critical" point of view? You bet. There are plot holes galore, the humor was bad and unnecessary, the acting sucked, the premise sucked and was poorly executed, it was too long etc etc etc etc.

BUT was it fun ... yes for the robot action. You guys cannot honestly tell me that Prime in the forest with 2 swords wasn't cool.

You really almost need to give 2 ratings one on a critical basis one on an entertainment basis.

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by RD1973

7. Were Megatron and Starscream growing baby decepticons on one of Saturn's moons? Does this mean that Transformers are actually hatched and then physically grow up?!

This part could have easily been explained away if it hadn't been ignored as quickly as it was brought up. It just required the use of Prime's "Medical Officer," Ratchet (who seemed to be on vacation except for two shots in the movie).

They could have had him explain that Cybertronian bodies are composed of nanites that are constantly replicating, increasing their mass, and repairing any damage their body sustains. This Ratchet could compare to what we humans define as growth. Over time, without a steady supply of fresh energon, the nanites begin to fail and robots gradually corrode, weaken, and deactivate. Here Ratchet can make an analogy to human aging and, of course, death. Of course it would take many millions of our years for a Transformer to "die of old age".

That would be in keeping with the cartoon where we have aging Transformers like Kup and Alpha Trion. And it needn't be a single conversation or a whole scene that would grind the film to a halt. It could all be explained in passing. For example, it could all happen during some side mission with Epps and Ratchet. It would make something more of Epps halfhearted philosophical comment early in the film and actually given Ratchet some much needed screen time.

Of course, that would reduce time that could be "better" spent on the useless roommate or Wheelie humping Mikaela's leg.

[Mr. Cinema]

Originally Posted by GCS

What I took from TF2 was the robot ass-kickery and that is it. I did not care for anything else really. Does the film deserve to be bashed from a "critical" point of view? You bet. There are plot holes galore, the humor was bad and unnecessary, the acting sucked, the premise sucked and was poorly executed, it was too long etc etc etc etc.

BUT was it fun ... yes for the robot action. You guys cannot honestly tell me that Prime in the forest with 2 swords wasn't cool.

You really almost need to give 2 ratings one on a critical basis one on an entertainment basis.

Not all of the robot action was that great either. Out of 150 minutes, about 10 minutes entertained me. And I really liked the first film.

So from a critical view and an entertainment view, this film sucked badly.

Ravage was entertaining. I thought when he was shooting missiles at the army base was very cool. But that lasted about 20 seconds.

Even the big finale in Egypt just started to get boring after awhile.

[RocShemp]

Let's face it. A lot of people (myself included) forgave the many faults of the first movie because it is genuinely entertaining. The same is not true for the sequel. Yes, it has it's moments but they are few and far between. The crap to fun ratio was totally inverted in TF:ROTF.

[LickTheABCs]

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by sjohne

The thing that will make them fall right off their broom is that they'll get to perform spell and duel by making wand movements with the Wii remote.

Huh?

[pinata242]

Originally Posted by sjohne

The thing that will make them fall right off their broom is that they'll get to perform spell and duel by making wand movements with the Wii remote.

Originally Posted by RocShemp

Huh?

Just spamming the new Harry Potter video game.

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by LickTheABCs

Um, so the users of IMDB think Michael Bay is better than Ron Howard. And...?

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by pinata242

Just spamming the new Harry Potter video game.

Oh. How annoying.

Well, thanks for explaining.

[Mopower]

I'm surprised Armageddon is so low. Bad Boys II and Armageddon are my favorite Bay films. Never saw Bad Boys.

[outcastja]

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

Not all of the robot action was that great either. Out of 150 minutes, about 10 minutes entertained me. And I really liked the first film.

So from a critical view and an entertainment view, this film sucked badly.

Ravage was entertaining. I thought when he was shooting missiles at the army base was very cool. But that lasted about 20 seconds.

Even the big finale in Egypt just started to get boring after awhile.

Same here. 10 minutes of awesome robot fighting in a 2:30 hour film didn't make it a fun movie for me. I'll enjoy this when it's on HBO where I can watch the beginning, forward to the forest battle, then watch 5 minutes from the Egypt finale.

[karoomba]

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but at least one positive of the sequel is no gratuitous product placement.. other than the transformers themselves, and the military.

Edit - Oh wait.. there was CNN, and President Obama was explicitly mentioned which took me out of the movie. Like Obama would ever hire that stereotypical douchy bureaucrat government guy to take over NEST.

[emachine12]

No gratuitous product placement?!

Bullshit.

Sam goes to his dorm room for the first time and enters the "nerd cave" and what is against the wall clear as freakin' "nerd cave' light?

A Mountain Dew vending machine. Hell, this is the first time in a long time that I've ssen a vending machine specifically for Mountain Dew. Generally, its a Pepsi machine that offers Mountain Dew.

You also have the roommate's "nerdgasmic" posters for Cloverfield and Bad Boys II. Not to mention the Cisco "web chat" program Mikaela uses to call Sam.

[Matthew Chmiel]

The whole fucking film is a goddamn running advertisement for General Motors/Chevrolet/Hummer/GMC/and all of the various subsidies of the company!

[Brent L]

This is pretty great:

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/us-m...n-fox-bay.html

Megan Fox slammed "Transformers" director Michael Bay for focusing more on special effects than acting, but he doesn't mind.

"Well, that's Megan Fox for you," Bay tell the Wall Street Journal. "She says some very ridiculous things because she's 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do.

"You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, 'Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it,'" he goes on.

Fox told Entertainment Weekly: "I mean, I can't s--- on this movie because it did give me a career and open all these doors for me. But I don't want to blow smoke up people's a--. People are well aware that this is not a movie about acting."

Bay says he "100 percent disagrees" with Fox.

"Nick Cage wasn't a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in 'Armageddon.' Shia LaBeouf wasn't a big movie star before he did 'Transformers' -- and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from 'Bad Boys'," he points out.

Bay thinks Fox could be a little more grateful, though.

"Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in Transformers," he says. "I like to think that I've had some luck in building actors' careers with my films."

I know Bay is horrible, but I never would have thought that Megan Fox has more brains than he does.

[Ranger]

Saw it this afternoon and oh man it was even worse than I expected.

Kept thinking of that quote -- Loud and obnoxious. It's so us.

It was still entertaining but I think I'll give the dvd a pass.

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by Brent L

This is pretty great:

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/us-m...n-fox-bay.html



I know Bay is horrible, but I never would have thought that Megan Fox has more brains than he does.

Yet she does have more brains than Michael Bay if that's his counter-argument.

No one can deny that action blockbusters help actors build a fanbase but that was not Megan Fox's argument. She acknowledged that "it did give [her] a career and open all these doors for [her]." Her argument is that "[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen] is not a movie about acting."

It's sad but Bay just proved that he's dumber than a hot chick flavor of the month.

[Apple Gooncha]

Wouldn't she want to be in movies were her acting isn't an important aspect? Since, you know, she works as eye candy and not so much at the acting part.

[Solid Snake PAC]

I think both are idiotic in a way. Fox can't act for shit, and Bay..well he shoots explosions and military action very well.

[abrg923]

Originally Posted by Sessa17

Thanks guys, sounds like I'm going to have to pass on taking the kids to see this, which really F'n pisses me off. I didn't like the first movie, but I would have liked to take the kids to see this. Just look at my DVD collection, obviously I'm far from "PC" or conservative in my taste, but I think it's utter crap what Bay seems to have done with this movie. Kids want to see giant trasforming robots blow stuff up, nothing more, & there are millions of adults that are happy with the same. You don't need to throw in loads of sexual content to get 30+ year old men to see see giant robots blowing stuff up. I shouldn't have be worried about explaining what pot is to an 8 year old while seeing a Transormers movie.

The film is rated PG-13. I think that alone states that you shouldn't be taking 8-10 year olds to see it.

[emachine12]

I wouldn't take any of my nieces to see this. I'd hate to be the bad uncle that makes them cry or have nightmares.

I am more than happy to take them to see Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Yeah, that's got juvenille humor too but I'm expecting that since it is an Ice Age movie.

[Giantrobo]

OH, so now MF is fuckin' Rocket Scientist just because she took a piss at Bay?

You guys do realize her Publicist probably wrote that for her and made her say it.

[RD1973]

Originally Posted by RocShemp

Yet she does have more brains than Michael Bay if that's his counter-argument.

No one can deny that action blockbusters help actors build a fanbase but that was not Megan Fox's argument. She acknowledged that "it did give [her] a career and open all these doors for [her]." Her argument is that "[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen] is not a movie about acting."

It's sad but Bay just proved that he's dumber than a hot chick flavor of the month.

I've been shitting all over this movie since I saw it. But Megan Fox does owe alot to Bay and these movies. She should've just kept her mouth shut. I guess she won't be back for part 3, not that I care. I won't be watching it either way.

[Gunde]

Originally Posted by RD1973

I guess she won't be back for part 3, not that I care. I won't be watching it either way.

Awesome! Now we just need Shia to call Bay a big, fucking idiot without any talent. Then we can have Transformers 3 without any humans at all!

[stingermck]

Megan has 6 movies listed after TF2. I think she'll be OK.

His comment about Cage makes me though. The Rock was just his first action movie, which became his thing in the late 90's.