Despite not being sure about the idea at first I was very impressed with the first Transformers, for me it was the surprise of 2007. The mixture of humour, action and special effects was spot on as well as making a star out of newcomer Shia LaBeouf. With Revenge of the Fallen, it's not a complete loss but it treads awfully close to being an absolute disaster.
Any problems that may have been slightly apparent in the first one, director Michael Bay just seems to have taken them and made them so much worse, within the opening 20 minutes a major one is apparent: the comedy. With Transformers the whole family dynamics element was amusing because it was light and believable, here it is just taken too far, especially with Sam's mother who is just so over the top, the most cringe worthy part is where she's running around Sam's college like an idiot, I couldn't wait for the scene to end.
I'd also like to ask Bay why Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Sergeant Epps (Tyrese Gibson) are so underused, they were important characters in the first film and with the part they have here they might as well have been written out. I'm sure plenty has been said already about the Transformer 'twins' so I won't go into it much except they are a complete disaster and are almost what Jar-Jar Binks was to The Phantom Menace. It's probably not too much of a spoiler to say, but in another act of madness there is a 'human' Decepticon, this is the worst thing Bay could've done because not only does this defy the whole point of the series it also begs the question: if they can transform into humans then whats the point in prating about with cars, planes etc. if they want to infiltrate a military base or something? In a more positive note the action sequences on the whole are very good with the special effects perhaps being even better than the first one. The opening in Tokyo is fantastic as well as a fight with Optimus Prime going hell for leather in a forest. The desert finale is not bad, but perhaps like the ending of the first it suffers from being a bit repetitive and how many times do we need to see LaBeouf and Fox running in slow motion! It was also completely pointless Sam's parents being involved, they should only be in the film as comic relief and it was overstuffed as it was.
On the performances, Shia LaBeouf (who surely has a great career ahead of him) remains a likable lead and does his best with the script. John Turturro (who stole the first one) provides solid support and is always good to watch, Ramon Rodriguez as Leo is pretty annoying and well outstays his welcome and like I said before Duhamel and Gibson are so sidelined they are hardly worth mentioning. I wasn't too keen on Megan Fox as Mikaela this time, despite what most people said about her in the first one I thought she gave a charming performance, however with Fallen she just looked like she couldn't be bothered therefore I didn't care at all about her character. Whats worse is the most attractive female from the first (Australian actress Rachael Taylor as analyst Maggie) wasn't even in this one which was very disappointing; hopefully there's a chance she'll return in the third.
From this review it's clear how little I've mentioned the actual story, thats simply because I don't know what to say about it! Similarly to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, all sense of fun has been drained out and all we get is an over complicated, overlong film. I couldn't even tell you who the Fallen is and what he's getting revenge against, so either the film wasn't clear enough about him or it just got to the point I couldn't care anymore.
So as it is, Revenge of the Fallen is a major disappointment and just shows that you should never assume a great idea can only get better. Michael Bay and producer Steven Spielberg, along with screenwriter Ehren Kruger (Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman bailed after this one thinking the idea could go stale) seriously have their work cut out for the third film (which is due out summer 2011) and need to tone down extensively in many areas and hopefully recapture the magic of the first film. Despite how many feel about Bay I think he's a good filmmaker (see The Rock & The Island) and I'm confident he can still turn the Transformers franchise around.
Any problems that may have been slightly apparent in the first one, director Michael Bay just seems to have taken them and made them so much worse, within the opening 20 minutes a major one is apparent: the comedy. With Transformers the whole family dynamics element was amusing because it was light and believable, here it is just taken too far, especially with Sam's mother who is just so over the top, the most cringe worthy part is where she's running around Sam's college like an idiot, I couldn't wait for the scene to end.
I'd also like to ask Bay why Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Sergeant Epps (Tyrese Gibson) are so underused, they were important characters in the first film and with the part they have here they might as well have been written out. I'm sure plenty has been said already about the Transformer 'twins' so I won't go into it much except they are a complete disaster and are almost what Jar-Jar Binks was to The Phantom Menace. It's probably not too much of a spoiler to say, but in another act of madness there is a 'human' Decepticon, this is the worst thing Bay could've done because not only does this defy the whole point of the series it also begs the question: if they can transform into humans then whats the point in prating about with cars, planes etc. if they want to infiltrate a military base or something? In a more positive note the action sequences on the whole are very good with the special effects perhaps being even better than the first one. The opening in Tokyo is fantastic as well as a fight with Optimus Prime going hell for leather in a forest. The desert finale is not bad, but perhaps like the ending of the first it suffers from being a bit repetitive and how many times do we need to see LaBeouf and Fox running in slow motion! It was also completely pointless Sam's parents being involved, they should only be in the film as comic relief and it was overstuffed as it was.
On the performances, Shia LaBeouf (who surely has a great career ahead of him) remains a likable lead and does his best with the script. John Turturro (who stole the first one) provides solid support and is always good to watch, Ramon Rodriguez as Leo is pretty annoying and well outstays his welcome and like I said before Duhamel and Gibson are so sidelined they are hardly worth mentioning. I wasn't too keen on Megan Fox as Mikaela this time, despite what most people said about her in the first one I thought she gave a charming performance, however with Fallen she just looked like she couldn't be bothered therefore I didn't care at all about her character. Whats worse is the most attractive female from the first (Australian actress Rachael Taylor as analyst Maggie) wasn't even in this one which was very disappointing; hopefully there's a chance she'll return in the third.
From this review it's clear how little I've mentioned the actual story, thats simply because I don't know what to say about it! Similarly to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, all sense of fun has been drained out and all we get is an over complicated, overlong film. I couldn't even tell you who the Fallen is and what he's getting revenge against, so either the film wasn't clear enough about him or it just got to the point I couldn't care anymore.
So as it is, Revenge of the Fallen is a major disappointment and just shows that you should never assume a great idea can only get better. Michael Bay and producer Steven Spielberg, along with screenwriter Ehren Kruger (Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman bailed after this one thinking the idea could go stale) seriously have their work cut out for the third film (which is due out summer 2011) and need to tone down extensively in many areas and hopefully recapture the magic of the first film. Despite how many feel about Bay I think he's a good filmmaker (see The Rock & The Island) and I'm confident he can still turn the Transformers franchise around.