‘Transformers’ sequel: Less than meets the eye 
June 29, 2009 by Richard Pierce
Second movie follows director’s tradition, disappoints
Two summers ago, Michael Bay did the unthinkable when he made “Transformers” – He made a really good movie. But this summer Bay delivers “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen:” a sequel that fails to deliver on nearly every level where its predecessor succeeded, making it feel more like a regurgitated clone of the original than something new.
Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) is off to college in an attempt to return to a life of normalcy (one without giant alien robots).
Things quickly go south after an angry batch of Decepticons devise a plan to revive their fallen leader Megatron and exact revenge on the human race. Once again, Sam, along with his crazy-hot girlfriend (Megan Fox) and two bumbling parents, is stuck right in the middle of another all-out war between good and evil.
The first “Tranformers” was a genuinely likable film, perfectly encapsulating the term “popcorn flick.” With the sequel, it’s almost as if they are parodying themselves. The characters don’t even seem to care about what’s going on in the story and simply wisecrack their way through impending armageddon.
Several new characters join the ensemble robotic cast, yet none are given their due or even a proper introduction. I only know who they are because of my brief familiarity with the old cartoon. (I know that female Autobot’s name is Arcee, and she turns into three motorcycles! How cool is that? So why was she hardly in the movie?)
One of the biggest problems with “Revenge of the Fallen” is that the focus lies too much on Sam and his human co-stars. I understand the need for a human element, but it’s almost like they forget they were making a movie about giant fighting robots.
I know they paid a lot of money for LeBeouf, but did they really think we’d rather see him over Optimus Prime kicking the crap out of Decepticons?
It’s common knowledge that summer movies should be graded on a large curve. And on that note, it should be mentioned that they do blow up a lot of crap in this movie. And yes, people run away from it in slow motion.
In this regard, “Revenge of the Fallen” may still have enough goods (explosions) to deliver passable entertainment. Let’s just hope part three is better.
The first is still better! By far!!
Yo Dick, I have some issues. First, if you enjoyed the first one, how does this movie “follows director’s traditions” in disappointing? also, you spelled disappointing incorrectly. and you need a semi colon in the first paragraph. somebody needs to take your editor to skool.
Clearly the guy above me has some daddy issues and is mocking the writer here for some reason. I thought the review was great. It described exactly how it didn’t quite impress critics like everyone thought it would.
1.) Shia Lebouf is a [deleted] terrible actor. Outside of Hollywood people, I don’t know anyone who think’s he’s a decent actor, but he keeps being cast in these big budget productions that bring in gobs of money from mouth breathers and the mentally degenerate, so people keep casting him like he’s the god damn missing link.
2.) Michael Bay is functionally retarded. He’s made one film that was passable, which was “The Rock.” He lives in some Candyland-esque universe where he’s well liked and what he does is worth half a shit, and he’s unfortunately been given a passport to visit our dimension and release shitty films that the aforementioned mouth-breathers waste shit tons of money on because of the large explosions, car chases and plot that doesn’t require any brainpower. Someone should take Michael Bay out back to the shed and put him down like Old Yeller.
3.) The Transformers was a shitty cartoon to begin with. The toys, back when I was a kid, were cool as hell, but the television show made me cringe it was so terrible. And that’s when I was young – the newest iterations, however, make that show look Emmy-worthy. Recently, drunk at 4 in the morning, I caught half of a new one that looks like it’s an American Attempt at an Anime Transformers cartoon. I wanted to destroy something rare and beautiful, I was so angry.
Despite my hatred of the Transformers, even I can agree that they shouldn’t be supporting characters in a TRANSFORMERS MOVIE. Michael Bay somehow fails to realize that nobody walks into “Transformers” giving a shit about Shia Lebouf and his hard-on for himself. People are walking in to watch giant robots beat the shit out of each other. Also, the small possibility of Megan Fox getting topless, no matter how remote.