Movie Review Transformers : Revenge of the fallen

Summary: A sequel to the 2007 Transformers, a college freshman is caught up in the battle of good robots (Autobots) versus bad robots (Decepticons). The bad robots want to destroy the human race and only the freshman can save the day.

Review: Let’s start with the length — a whopping 147 minutes! Isn’t that reserved for Oscar-worthy films like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — not a popcorn action fluff like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? This movie definitely gets Worst Editing of the Year; a nice hour could’ve been shaved off the epic junkyard film and it would’ve improved the entire film-going experience by 100 percent. By the two hour mark, folks were walking out of the theater.

That’s the first blow with Transformers and while the movie has its redeemable moments, it’s really two movies — one, a horny teen flick and the other a solid action flick. The two conflict, slowly chipping away the good. There is Megan Fox, who is cast as the hot girlfriend. Her opening scene is sitting on a motorcycle with her back arched and ass sticking out — looking like a scene from VH1’s Rock of Love. Shia LaBeouf, who reprises his role, is just a goofy teen who can save the day, which is obviously playing to the senses of their target audience. By the way, Tyrese was great in the film, but his role is more like a cameo — he has no more than 20 minutes screen time. They also had some hip-hop talking twin robots that used bad grammar and words like “punk ass.” Their slang was borderline offensive and they had more screen time than Tyrese. Is this the movie’s way of appealing to the African-American audience? I never knew that robots could shuck n’ jive…

The special effects are probably the flick’s strongest element, but even that at times gets messy. When the robot titans are fighting, you can’t tell who is fighting who. It’s just metal crashing and tumbling, but once you get over the motion sickness the action is exciting enough… and loud. Yes, loud. I felt like I was on a battlefield in Iraq, thinking, “Is this what soldiers in Iraq hear?” I know it’s an odd critique but even a poor child next to me did his best to scream over the movie and cried to his father, “Daddy it’s too loud!” I felt his pain; I needed an Advil as soon as I walked out of the theater.

Plot wise, I only wish Transformers could transform into a good storyline. The script was generic; felt overcrowded when it didn’t need to be and took itself too seriously for 147 minutes — for example, the movie begins in 17,000 B.C.!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen might perform well at the box office due to the media hype. But, without a doubt, this action sequel is the worst action movie of the year (so far).