darthphere (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} darthphere) wrote,@ 2009-06-29 20:14:00 |
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Transformers 2: Electric Boogaloo
So I saw Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen a few days ago and been meaning to do a review for a while. So here we go. Warning: This will be pretty spoilery and revealing so you may want to wait to read this post. On the other hand, you don't watch Michael Bay movies for the story details so it might be safe.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a complete and utter success in what it's trying to accomplish. Giant Robots? Check. Huge explosions? Check. Hot chicks? Check. Great action scenes? Check. This through and through a classic Michael Bay movie. Everyone wants to hate on him for doing his thing, but people love what he does. Hence, the $200 million opening. But like the famous comic book argument, sales don't equal quality.
The actual story in the movie is kind of complicated for no reason. It boils down to the Fallen being one of the original Transformers who visited Earth back in the days where cavemen and women ruled the Earth, or so we thought. A machine was created that would destroy our sun as it provided a source of Energon, the life force or in simpler terms what made the Transformers run. To activate the machine, a key was needed called The Matrix of Leadership which was long lost. Sam Witwicky, Shia Labeouf's character inadvertently is given the details of it's location when he comes in contact with one of the remaining pieces of the All Spark from the first movie. So now, the Decepticons know he knows, so they want him to tell him what he knows, hence the driving force of the movie. See, if that sounds complicated it's probably the reason the movie doesn't lay this out clearly. So now that's out of the way, here we go with the actual review.
The movie is much bigger than the first one. From the opening scene in Shang Hai (for no real reason) to the huge battle at the end we have more robots, more fighting and much bore explosions. The opening scene does a great job of setting the mood as NEST which is a special division of the Army that deals with the Decepticon threat tries to take down a giant Decepticon. We get introduced to new Autobots Sideswipe and Arcee. We actually don't, because they don't actually tell you. Of course, Optimus steals the scene when he is rolled off an airplane, parachutes down, and takes him down single handedly. Optimus Prime gets a lot of the juicy scenes in this movie. The best scene would be right in the middle as they race through a forest after rescuing Sam from a newly thawed out Megatron and 3 other Decepticons and backup is nowhere to be found. Optimus Prime proclaims "I'll take you all on myself!" and beats the crap out of 3 Decepticons before being taken out by Megatron. Of course, nothing can keep Prime down and he comes back to kick some ass in the finale. The ending in the desert is just fantastic. Decepticons, Autobots and the Army just going at it, Bumblebee kicking ass, Optimus coming back to life and whooping on Megatron and The Fallen. Fantastic. The scene also featured an explosion that took 100,000 gallons of fuel to pull of and holds the world record for largest on film explosion and largest on film explosion with actors present. That's right, Michael Bay almost blew up Shia Labeouf. If there's one reason to see this movie, it's the action.
This movie is also incredibly funny. Shia Labeouf pulls of one of the funniest scenes in the movie when he lets off a huge girly scream when a hot co-ed reveals herself to be a steel tongued Decepticon. Hilarious scene. There are so many funny scenes in this movie featuring John Turturro and Sam's roomate (I forgot his name). This movie is genuinely funny, and not in a racist type of way either.
Which brings me to the controversy behind Skids and Mudflap. These two characters are not racist, whoever designed them is. I'm not even talking about the way they talk, because frankly, a lot of people talk like that that aren't black. No, they're appearance is what makes me question how Michael Bay lets this slide by. Buckteeth, gold tooth, huge ears. It's like Ebony White all over again. Some people want to throw in the fact that they can't read as well which I think it's ridiculous. Not being able to read is a racial thing? Don't get me started on that. But yes, I know Michael Bay is not a racist, but he really dropped the ball on this one. I know he didn't design them, but it's his movie and he needs to be a lot more careful with what goes in there.
This movie has been trashed in the press and by the critics. This is simply a direct effect of The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight and to a lesser extent Iron Man have caused people to question the necessity behind "popcorn flicks". TDK and Iron Man provided us with summer blockbusters that are actual good movies. So now, everyone is expecting the same from many of this year's summer blockbusters. This is the reasoning behind the terrible reviews for Terminator Salvation and Transformers 2. Critics want to review summer blockbusters the same way they review the movies that come out during Oscar season. While it's understandable, is that really fair? I don't really know. All I can say is that when I decide to see a movie, I can't compare Transformers to Schindler's List. They're not the same movie and they're not trying to accomplish the same things. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is what I expected it to be. A summer blockbuster with lots of action and explosions. It never tried to be anything different and it didn't want you to believe it was any different. You want to have a good time watching things go BOOM!, Transformers is for you. You want a movie with great plots and characters, then Transformers isn't for you, and that's ok. I hate ratings but Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen would get like an 8/10 from me, a 3/5 stars or an 81 out of 100. Choose your poison.
So I saw Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen a few days ago and been meaning to do a review for a while. So here we go. Warning: This will be pretty spoilery and revealing so you may want to wait to read this post. On the other hand, you don't watch Michael Bay movies for the story details so it might be safe.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a complete and utter success in what it's trying to accomplish. Giant Robots? Check. Huge explosions? Check. Hot chicks? Check. Great action scenes? Check. This through and through a classic Michael Bay movie. Everyone wants to hate on him for doing his thing, but people love what he does. Hence, the $200 million opening. But like the famous comic book argument, sales don't equal quality.
The actual story in the movie is kind of complicated for no reason. It boils down to the Fallen being one of the original Transformers who visited Earth back in the days where cavemen and women ruled the Earth, or so we thought. A machine was created that would destroy our sun as it provided a source of Energon, the life force or in simpler terms what made the Transformers run. To activate the machine, a key was needed called The Matrix of Leadership which was long lost. Sam Witwicky, Shia Labeouf's character inadvertently is given the details of it's location when he comes in contact with one of the remaining pieces of the All Spark from the first movie. So now, the Decepticons know he knows, so they want him to tell him what he knows, hence the driving force of the movie. See, if that sounds complicated it's probably the reason the movie doesn't lay this out clearly. So now that's out of the way, here we go with the actual review.
The movie is much bigger than the first one. From the opening scene in Shang Hai (for no real reason) to the huge battle at the end we have more robots, more fighting and much bore explosions. The opening scene does a great job of setting the mood as NEST which is a special division of the Army that deals with the Decepticon threat tries to take down a giant Decepticon. We get introduced to new Autobots Sideswipe and Arcee. We actually don't, because they don't actually tell you. Of course, Optimus steals the scene when he is rolled off an airplane, parachutes down, and takes him down single handedly. Optimus Prime gets a lot of the juicy scenes in this movie. The best scene would be right in the middle as they race through a forest after rescuing Sam from a newly thawed out Megatron and 3 other Decepticons and backup is nowhere to be found. Optimus Prime proclaims "I'll take you all on myself!" and beats the crap out of 3 Decepticons before being taken out by Megatron. Of course, nothing can keep Prime down and he comes back to kick some ass in the finale. The ending in the desert is just fantastic. Decepticons, Autobots and the Army just going at it, Bumblebee kicking ass, Optimus coming back to life and whooping on Megatron and The Fallen. Fantastic. The scene also featured an explosion that took 100,000 gallons of fuel to pull of and holds the world record for largest on film explosion and largest on film explosion with actors present. That's right, Michael Bay almost blew up Shia Labeouf. If there's one reason to see this movie, it's the action.
This movie is also incredibly funny. Shia Labeouf pulls of one of the funniest scenes in the movie when he lets off a huge girly scream when a hot co-ed reveals herself to be a steel tongued Decepticon. Hilarious scene. There are so many funny scenes in this movie featuring John Turturro and Sam's roomate (I forgot his name). This movie is genuinely funny, and not in a racist type of way either.
Which brings me to the controversy behind Skids and Mudflap. These two characters are not racist, whoever designed them is. I'm not even talking about the way they talk, because frankly, a lot of people talk like that that aren't black. No, they're appearance is what makes me question how Michael Bay lets this slide by. Buckteeth, gold tooth, huge ears. It's like Ebony White all over again. Some people want to throw in the fact that they can't read as well which I think it's ridiculous. Not being able to read is a racial thing? Don't get me started on that. But yes, I know Michael Bay is not a racist, but he really dropped the ball on this one. I know he didn't design them, but it's his movie and he needs to be a lot more careful with what goes in there.
This movie has been trashed in the press and by the critics. This is simply a direct effect of The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight and to a lesser extent Iron Man have caused people to question the necessity behind "popcorn flicks". TDK and Iron Man provided us with summer blockbusters that are actual good movies. So now, everyone is expecting the same from many of this year's summer blockbusters. This is the reasoning behind the terrible reviews for Terminator Salvation and Transformers 2. Critics want to review summer blockbusters the same way they review the movies that come out during Oscar season. While it's understandable, is that really fair? I don't really know. All I can say is that when I decide to see a movie, I can't compare Transformers to Schindler's List. They're not the same movie and they're not trying to accomplish the same things. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is what I expected it to be. A summer blockbuster with lots of action and explosions. It never tried to be anything different and it didn't want you to believe it was any different. You want to have a good time watching things go BOOM!, Transformers is for you. You want a movie with great plots and characters, then Transformers isn't for you, and that's ok. I hate ratings but Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen would get like an 8/10 from me, a 3/5 stars or an 81 out of 100. Choose your poison.
