Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

I went and saw Transformers: Revenge on the Fallen on opening day yesterday with a few friends. I had already glanced over the ratings at RottenTomatoes.com so I was prepared for it to stink, but as the show went on I started to wonder if the reviewers saw the same movie as me. I found it was a great rollar coaster ride of a movie. The story wasn't super deep and there was several elements that seemed to be obviously lifted from other stories, but overall I really enjoyed it. The first half was definitely stronger than the second half, stronger acting, and more character development. I was thinking that they were going to have more talking scene's with the bots, to flesh out their motivations, but that quickly changed. In the end it seems that the character development (if any) was left to humans. Humans were in charge of figuring things out, bots were in charge of fighting. Maybe we'll see a change in this in the future, but I doubt it.

Likes
Optimus Prime was much tougher than in the 1st movie. In the 2007 movie, Megatron was giving him a beat down almost the entire time. This time Prime was able to take on Megatron, Starscream & Grindor all by himself. This was one of the best action sequences in the movie. I also found that he was the one bot that you could emotionally connect to. During his debriefing with NEST and his talk with Sam in the cemetery he felt very real. He also had a wicked entrance in Shanghai, skydiving as a truck, transforming, cutting his chutes loose, and retransforming. The animation has come a long way.

The N.E.S.T. organization for the human/autobot alliance. This seemed like such a natural next step from the 2007 movie. It only makes sense that the soldiers that fought along side the autobots would develop some sort of camaraderie with them. Also its not that surprising that the government would distrust them, especially since they are at a major technological disadvantage.

The camera work was much better this time around. Longer shots and a less shaky style made it much easier to tell what was going on during the intense fight scenes.

Megatron and Starscream's chemistry was reworked. Starscream was much more sniveling and Megatron really put his foot down (literally) to keep him in line This was much closer to their original G1 relationship. Maybe in the next movie we'll see him trying to usurp Megatron more, just like in G1

I found the comedic elements were really well done. I thought I'd find the twins (Skids & Mudflap) annoying. They've been compared to Jar Jar, but I found their banter quite funny and it lightened the tone of the movie. Although some of their language is definitely not for kids. Some thought they were a racist portrayal of African Americans but to me they felt like they watched too many rap videos, sort of like a caricature of a caricature, which would explain why they thought they were so cool. Sam's girly scream at college was quite funny too.

Jetfire was hilarious. I wasn't sure what to think of him when he showed up at the Smithsonian with his strange accent and acting (for a robot) but it grew on me quickly. Wheelie was also great as the remote control truck.

The Fallen had a really cool look. He definitely looked like he inspired Egyptian artwork.

Dislikes

Number 1, Alice. The pretender fembot at the University of Pennsylvania. I understand that there is a precedent for this in the transformers mytho, but it seemed really out of place and a bit too much like Terminator 3. I think they definitely could have removed her. It would have been better if there was a bit more explanation to her existence, but it didn't really fit with the internal logic that they have established thus far.

Seemed kind of weird that only a Prime could kill the fallen. Could have used a little more clarification like "Only a prime is powerful enough to destroy me" or something like that, it would seem less magical.

The final battle at the Giza pyramid between Prime, Megatron, and The Fallen was waaaayyyyy to short. Seemed like there was a lot of buildup for this and Prime just destroyed both of them so bad it wasn't even funny. I think they should have shortened the military part of the final battle by about 10-20 minutes so that they would have more time for this fight scene.

Megatron seemed to be very subordinate to the fallen. This really doesn't fit in well with past Megatrons. Somewhere I read that they should have made him scheming to kill the fallen at the right moment, this would have been much more in line with his character. Megatron also seemed a bit too weak, in the old shows prime would win, but it was usually close, and this wasn't close at all.

I would have liked to see other bots fighting Devastator instead of just the twins. They were funny, but I would have rather had Sideswipe or Ironhide or Jolt in there fighting as well.

New robots didn't get enough character development. They were merely eye candy, it would have been nice to get more from them. Again they really need more talking scenes for the bots, this will help the audience connect with them more.

Overall I really enjoyed it. I would have watched it again, but I had to go get my daughter at the sitter's place. Maybe next time I will watch it at IMAX, I hear there is some extra footage there.

Over and out.