Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen UK Review
Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing: IGN
This was definitely the most anticipated movie of the summer, but unfortunately the movie script is full of gore and violence turning it into a bloody epic that that was shot well but the script was dragging the movie from the word go. Neverthless the movie was spectacular and Michael Bay made a point here that when it comes down to blockbsuter movies you have too much of a good thing.
The first installment of the movie was such a brilliant hit that they fetched a deal with the gaming industry which resulted in the release of the game in all platforms and did make a reasonable profit.The director was determined to make this movie go down in history as one of the best action flicks and it was more or less similar to the original one- but it had more: LOTS MORE!!!!
Two years on from Transformers, the Autobots are still on earth, now allied with the US military, working together to protect the earth from further Decepticon attacks. Meanwhile, the boy at the centre of events last time around - Shia LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky - is trying to forget that he discovered a robot alien race, and is instead worried about starting college, and holding onto his ridiculously hot girlfriend Mikaela - (played by a hotpant-clad Megan Fox). Unfortunately, as Optimus Prime solemnly intones, "Fate never calls on us at the moment of our choosing." The Decepticons are on the move again, with the very ancient and very evil Transformer - The Fallen - masterminding a diabolical plan to destroy the Autobots and the Earth itself and secure the future of his race. Soon our planet is once more a battleground for these ancient robotic foes to wage war.
It's a fine set-up that is forcefully established in the movie's superb opening hour. Bay zooms the camera from the events happening at Cybertron(Transformers homeworld), rows in several robot-on-robot battles for good measure, all at a breakneck pace that leaves you breathless.
One hilarious set-piece that sees his mother accidently eat a chunk of marijuana on Sam's first day at college had the audience in stitches, and confirms Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky as the two most likable characters in the franchise. It is also clear that Bay has refined and improved his technique when it comes to directing action since the first Transformers. Many found the robot-on-robot fighting in T1 over-edited and made even more confusing because they took place in unclear backgrounds (i.e. a smashed-up downtown LA) - often you couldn't even tell which Transformer was fighting which.Indeed the film reaches its pinnacle with one such action set-piece that takes place in a forest - a brilliantly crafted sequence that is kinetic, emotional and genuinely thrilling. Unfortunately however, it is a climax that comes only an hour or so into the movie - the remaining 80 or so minutes just never quite scale the same heights.
That's the one BIG problem with ROTF; the movie stops dead halfway through, and then spends the rest of its overlong run-time building up a head of steam again, painstakingly setting up the eventual climax.Bay could have cut 40 minutes from the bowels of Transformers 2, and it would have been a far more effective movie. Unfortunately, the director fell into the same trap with Pearl Harbour and Bad Boys II - each filled with spectacular moments, but both becoming bloated, arduous cinematic experiences that ultimately outstay their welcome.It is just kind of inexcusable that with such a ridiculously enjoyable formula, viewers of ROTF still spend the movie's final half hour nursing a numb head and arse, and willing the noise to stop. Transformers 2 proves that sometimes less is more.
3:26 AM
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