Sam Witwicky leaves the Autobots behind for a normal life. But when his mind is filled with cryptic symbols, the Decepticons target him and he is dragged back into the Transformers' war.
A youth chooses manhood. The week Sam Witwicky starts college, the Decepticons make trouble in Shanghai. A presidential envoy believes it's because the Autobots are around; he wants them gone. He's wrong: the Decepticons need access to Sam's mind to see some glyphs imprinted there that will lead them to a fragile object that, when inserted in an alien machine hidden in Egypt for centuries, will give them the power to blow out the sun. Sam, his girlfriend Mikaela Banes, and Sam's parents are in danger. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are Sam's principal protectors. If one of them goes down, what becomes of Sam?Written by
<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material| See all certifications »
Before filming at La Place de la Concorde in Paris, Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia was used as a stand-in. See more »
Goofs
At the start, Sam's mother's hair is blonde, with brown roots. In the next scene at college, her hair is reddish-brown. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Optimus Prime:
Earth, birthplace of the human race. A species much like our own, capable of great compassion and great violence. For in our quest to protect the humans, a deeper revelation dawns: our worlds have met before...
See more »
Crazy Credits
The DreamWorks and Paramount logos are accompanied by a series of robotic sounds. See more »
Alternate Versions
The mainland Chinese release censors all mentions of the name "Shanghai" (where the opening battle takes place). Galloway's line "You guys made a mess at Shanghai" is edited to remove the last two words, while other uses of the city's name are bizarrely overdubbed with something that sounds like "Shanghaish." See more »
I quite liked the first Transformers and this film. Neither of the Transformers films are masterpieces, but neither are terrible movies either in my opinion. And yes, this is coming from a fan of the 1984 series and 1986 movie. Transformers 2:Revenge of the Fallen is not the best of the year, but it is a long way from the worst either(not like The Ugly Truth or Dragonball Evolution). And is it the worst movie of all time as I have seen in some reviews and various message boards? For me, not even close.
Does this mean it is completely flawless? No. The characters are rather shallow(the twins especially, they are offensive too), the story is formulaic with some of the scenes with the humans on the dull side, the Autobots get nowhere near enough screen-time and some of the script is weak going overboard with some lowbrow and immature humour. In regards to the latter though, it does have a few humorous and exciting parts so it wasn't quite as glaring as the characters and story problems and to be fair to those two problems the original suffered from the same problems exactly.
But when it comes to the visual spectacle and effects, I can't fault this movie at all, the whole film does look amazing and the effects are in my view some of the best of the year. And the action sequences are very thrilling, there isn't too much and it makes up for the not-so-involving exposition with the human characters. The soundtrack is also fantastic, and the sound is very impressive in its authenticity. The acting is an improvement, Shia LaBoeuf is likable enough and while she is far from a great actress Megan Fox has improved as well. John Tuturo and Kevin Dunn are great too, but my favourite characters are Megatron and especially Optimus Prime voiced wonderfully by Hugo Weaving and Peter Cullen. Another improvement is Michael Bay's direction, I can find it murky and unfocused but it was serviceable here.
Overall, an okay movie that gets some not-entirely deserved but understandable flack. 6/10 Bethany Cox
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I quite liked the first Transformers and this film. Neither of the Transformers films are masterpieces, but neither are terrible movies either in my opinion. And yes, this is coming from a fan of the 1984 series and 1986 movie. Transformers 2:Revenge of the Fallen is not the best of the year, but it is a long way from the worst either(not like The Ugly Truth or Dragonball Evolution). And is it the worst movie of all time as I have seen in some reviews and various message boards? For me, not even close.
Does this mean it is completely flawless? No. The characters are rather shallow(the twins especially, they are offensive too), the story is formulaic with some of the scenes with the humans on the dull side, the Autobots get nowhere near enough screen-time and some of the script is weak going overboard with some lowbrow and immature humour. In regards to the latter though, it does have a few humorous and exciting parts so it wasn't quite as glaring as the characters and story problems and to be fair to those two problems the original suffered from the same problems exactly.
But when it comes to the visual spectacle and effects, I can't fault this movie at all, the whole film does look amazing and the effects are in my view some of the best of the year. And the action sequences are very thrilling, there isn't too much and it makes up for the not-so-involving exposition with the human characters. The soundtrack is also fantastic, and the sound is very impressive in its authenticity. The acting is an improvement, Shia LaBoeuf is likable enough and while she is far from a great actress Megan Fox has improved as well. John Tuturo and Kevin Dunn are great too, but my favourite characters are Megatron and especially Optimus Prime voiced wonderfully by Hugo Weaving and Peter Cullen. Another improvement is Michael Bay's direction, I can find it murky and unfocused but it was serviceable here.
Overall, an okay movie that gets some not-entirely deserved but understandable flack. 6/10 Bethany Cox