Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
WARNING: Since there's so many details that would be counted as spoilers, this review should not be counted as a decision maker but more of a opinion sharer. Unless you don't care about spoilers, please do not read this until you've watched the film. :)
Revenge of the Fallen reminds me of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi rolled into one. The mighty Optimus Prime falls and finds a way to rise again and the boy Sam learns to become a man, kind of.
Transformers 2 is definitely a summer blockbuster with all the thrills therein. But as with any blockbuster film sequel that tries too hard to top itself, it gets itself lost in its own chaff and churns out a feeling of "YEAH! Woot! So... what now?"
Transformers 2 suffers from TMC, Too Many Characters syndrome. The first film's characters return but not all in the main spotlight. Megatron makes way for a new higher villain that -- like Megatron in the first film -- only shows himself for 5% of the footage if even that much. The Autobots gain new recruits in the form of a new sports car Sideswipe and 2 sets of combiners: Arcee trio (3 sexy motorcycles) and Skids/Mudflap (who later stay as 2 separate car entities, and as comic relief).
New Decepticons show up too. Soundwave makes an appearance in space watching on-high, coordinating Decepticon activity with Ravage and his micro-Deceptiprobes as support. The jackhammer-action Rampage and the mega-wheeled Demolisher come into battle. The giant combiner Devastator trashes the Egytian pyramids. And a T3-like female infiltrator checks out the goods on Sam. Plus a tattooed Starscream (with a closer-to-classic-cartoon voice) and even Blackout and Scorponok return for the fun hehe.
Two new but wavering Decepticons level the playing field with the puny cowardly Wheelie and the old irascible Jetfire (sound familiar? ;p).
Story goes that the All Spark wasn't entirely destroyed, that a shard or two remain. Sam has one of them and becomes the key to finding the other part of the puzzle that intrigues Megatron's "master" so much. The Fallen is part of the mechanical race that fathered the Transformers, but instead of embracing life, the Fallen betrayed his brethren for the rich power from the Earth's core. The Fallen never achieved his goal and now he's here to finish the job.
As again with the first film, unfortunately, humans play a huge part in the film with whole sequences devoted to just human interaction, like a 10-minute scene with Sam and his dad chasing across campus after Sam's mother stoned on marijuana brownies. (Yeah, you heard me.) Megan Fox returns as the girl and gives an admirable performance beyond the cheesecake except the script's been dumbed down even more than last time, making Mikaela sound more like a bimbo, mainly due to the relationship storyline. The whole "I love you" tug-of-war was sweet but sounded whiny at times. If the filmmakers were truly serious, some tweaking would have been nice.
The military also return with fewer squad members -- died in action, according to the prequel comic -- and it was good to see that at least the officer from the first scene of the first film survived Blackout's attack.
Lennox and crew act more as support for the Autobots in their fight against the invading Decepticons, forming a new squad called NEST. Sector 7 also isn't completely dead thanks to a return of our favorite lubricated officer who redeems himself nicely as a serious hero later. And Sam's college roommate tag-along hardly seems necessary beyond the comic relief which the scriptwriters (or is it Bay?) love so much.
The Autobots were treated cursorally. Ratchet hardly appeared at all. Ironhide was appropriately crusty but kind of in the background. Jazz is still dead.
And the fact Bumblebee lost his vocal chords again is just strange. A prequel comic explained the loss of voice as another battle injury but I just think it's a way to capitalize on what made 'Bee unique in the first place. 'Bee plays protective guardian but with so much else going on became more of a chaffeur than a true character.
Optimus Prime had some great battle sequences that I applaud. The showdown with Megatron could have been less busy since Optimus ended up fighting three Decepticons at once. The ending ended up being somewhat anti-climactic though, since Optimus made finishing off the Fallen seem too easy. Megatron and Starscream live to see another day, so a sequel is a definite possibility.
The rest of the Autobots and Decepticons were hardly touched upon after the final battle. So the news of who survived and all was glossed over and tossed aside it seemed, making me rather peeved.
So after seeing this sequel, I conclude I'd love to see it again just for kicks but unless the filmmakers clean up their act a bit by providing tighter plot and better focus of the Transformers themselves, I might just skip Transformers 3.
Revenge of the Fallen reminds me of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi rolled into one. The mighty Optimus Prime falls and finds a way to rise again and the boy Sam learns to become a man, kind of.
Transformers 2 is definitely a summer blockbuster with all the thrills therein. But as with any blockbuster film sequel that tries too hard to top itself, it gets itself lost in its own chaff and churns out a feeling of "YEAH! Woot! So... what now?"
Transformers 2 suffers from TMC, Too Many Characters syndrome. The first film's characters return but not all in the main spotlight. Megatron makes way for a new higher villain that -- like Megatron in the first film -- only shows himself for 5% of the footage if even that much. The Autobots gain new recruits in the form of a new sports car Sideswipe and 2 sets of combiners: Arcee trio (3 sexy motorcycles) and Skids/Mudflap (who later stay as 2 separate car entities, and as comic relief).
New Decepticons show up too. Soundwave makes an appearance in space watching on-high, coordinating Decepticon activity with Ravage and his micro-Deceptiprobes as support. The jackhammer-action Rampage and the mega-wheeled Demolisher come into battle. The giant combiner Devastator trashes the Egytian pyramids. And a T3-like female infiltrator checks out the goods on Sam. Plus a tattooed Starscream (with a closer-to-classic-cartoon voice) and even Blackout and Scorponok return for the fun hehe.
Two new but wavering Decepticons level the playing field with the puny cowardly Wheelie and the old irascible Jetfire (sound familiar? ;p).
Story goes that the All Spark wasn't entirely destroyed, that a shard or two remain. Sam has one of them and becomes the key to finding the other part of the puzzle that intrigues Megatron's "master" so much. The Fallen is part of the mechanical race that fathered the Transformers, but instead of embracing life, the Fallen betrayed his brethren for the rich power from the Earth's core. The Fallen never achieved his goal and now he's here to finish the job.
As again with the first film, unfortunately, humans play a huge part in the film with whole sequences devoted to just human interaction, like a 10-minute scene with Sam and his dad chasing across campus after Sam's mother stoned on marijuana brownies. (Yeah, you heard me.) Megan Fox returns as the girl and gives an admirable performance beyond the cheesecake except the script's been dumbed down even more than last time, making Mikaela sound more like a bimbo, mainly due to the relationship storyline. The whole "I love you" tug-of-war was sweet but sounded whiny at times. If the filmmakers were truly serious, some tweaking would have been nice.
The military also return with fewer squad members -- died in action, according to the prequel comic -- and it was good to see that at least the officer from the first scene of the first film survived Blackout's attack.
Lennox and crew act more as support for the Autobots in their fight against the invading Decepticons, forming a new squad called NEST. Sector 7 also isn't completely dead thanks to a return of our favorite lubricated officer who redeems himself nicely as a serious hero later. And Sam's college roommate tag-along hardly seems necessary beyond the comic relief which the scriptwriters (or is it Bay?) love so much.
The Autobots were treated cursorally. Ratchet hardly appeared at all. Ironhide was appropriately crusty but kind of in the background. Jazz is still dead.
And the fact Bumblebee lost his vocal chords again is just strange. A prequel comic explained the loss of voice as another battle injury but I just think it's a way to capitalize on what made 'Bee unique in the first place. 'Bee plays protective guardian but with so much else going on became more of a chaffeur than a true character.
Optimus Prime had some great battle sequences that I applaud. The showdown with Megatron could have been less busy since Optimus ended up fighting three Decepticons at once. The ending ended up being somewhat anti-climactic though, since Optimus made finishing off the Fallen seem too easy. Megatron and Starscream live to see another day, so a sequel is a definite possibility.
The rest of the Autobots and Decepticons were hardly touched upon after the final battle. So the news of who survived and all was glossed over and tossed aside it seemed, making me rather peeved.
So after seeing this sequel, I conclude I'd love to see it again just for kicks but unless the filmmakers clean up their act a bit by providing tighter plot and better focus of the Transformers themselves, I might just skip Transformers 3.