Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen *Recommend*

"Fate rarely calls upon us at a time of our choosing..."

In short:

It was a fun summer movie - worth the whatever I payed for to see it. The fight scenes are amazing, the characters funny and believable, and the plot drove the movie forward as needed. All good signs considering the large fanbase. There were things that bothered me, but they didn't ruin the experience.

It will not win any academy awards - perhaps it has a chance in the Special Effects or Sound department, but I doubt it will be recognized - but it was still very enjoyable.

In long:

I have always enjoy new concepts in filmmaking. We are now at an age in the world where giant-sentient-transforming-alien-robots have the ability to be real personalities on camera. However, these Transformer movies were wise in telling the story through the eyes of human personas like Sam (played by Shia Laboeuf). Doing so gives the audience a grounding-effect to the intergalactic war going on in the films. This was really the only connection in the first film- because humans were basically bystanders in a war for the All Spark - and it thankfully expands into a more balanced relationship in the second.

Story: Contains the contents of the entire

movie, read at your own risk

The introduction to the second film has the voice of Optimus explain what will eventually drive the plot of the movie by showing pre-civilized humans being attacked by Decepticons. An interesting reveal of the leader of the Decepticons is revealed and the words "Our peoples have met before..." echo. Then, we find ourselves back with the autobots in present-day China. The Autobots remained on Earth and are working with (I hesitate to say the world governments because the only sign of this is an english accented soldier who appears randomly...) the american strike forces to eliminate Decepticons who are popping up all over the world.

Meanwhile, Sam is off to college... and thus does the plot follow a rather unimaginative version of the Hero's Journey: Sam wants to be normal again; is called to action by the transfer of the All-spark's info into his head; refuses the call to action and still wants to be normal; Optimus dies, forcing him to action ; secondary characters added throughout (Agent Simmons is back and a new college/friend/student named Leo is caught in the fray to aid in the quest) including an old-man autobot for the role of the Guide in all of this; and, of course, his girlfriend is about and the two of them ague on who will say 'I love you first' - yay romance.... Through a series of adventures, they find out that they can bring Optimus back to life by using the Key of Leadership, which is also the key to using a device that sucks the energy out of the sun and turns it into life energy for Cybertronians. This machine was contructed after the All-spark-cube was lost and the Cybertronians were looking for alternate sources of life in far away systems. The Primes, the leaders of Cybertron, agreed to use these machines only if the systems held no life - one Prime disobeyed this promise, and was forever after named the Fallen because he tried to kill Earth's sun in 170000 BCE. Thus, we have the name of our super-villain/true leader of the Decepticons and the reason for naming the film. Together, the remaining autobots and their human allies attempt to defeat the Fallen and his followers, including a resurrected Megatron. There's only one problem: the Fallen can only be killed by another Prime and Optimus Prime is still dead. But low and behold Sam is able to impress the dead spirits (yeah, you read right) of the Primes who sacrificed their bodies to seal the Key into a phalanx of protection. This "sacrifice" allows for Optimus to be revived. With the aid of the Old-Man-Robot's parts, Optimus gains the power to defeat the Fallen. And while Megatron and Starscream still live to fight another day, the humans and autobots have won this war for the time being. Sam and Mikaela finally confess their true-love for one another and all is again well on Earth.

Major Fun-factors:

New Robots:

There are a few cool new robots in this film: female motocycle Autobots, small twin Autobots, little toy-truck Decepticon who switches sides, an enormous combo Decepticon made for consuming large bits of earth in order to excavate the hiden Sun-killing-machine, a hudge leech-like Decepticon who attaches himself to military satellites for information, a femme-fatal/terminator Decepticon that disguises herself as a human in order to try and capture Sam in college, plus a few original-concept Decepticons who have not been hiding on earth, therefor, don't need disguises - their designs are much like Megatron.

Most notable are the Fallen and Jetfire, our Old-Man-Robot.

Fallen is particularly terrifying in his regard and he brings some very potent fire power to the battle scenes. Voiced by Tony Todd (Stargate SG1 as Lord Haikon), he reminds me of the Emperor from Star Wars, only much, much stronger. He is vicious and destructive the only way Decepticons know how to be and does a good job at being the main villain.

Jetfire's character, however, reminds of my grandfather. He's an old Cybertronian who was sent to Earth to look for the Key ages ago and now he's rusting and falling apart. He used to be a Decepticon, but switched sides when he realized that he was aiding in such needless destruction. He's has the demeanor of an unstable old war-veteran and is depicted well; walking around with a part of his disguise - a SR-71 Blackbird - as cane and mumbling about the war he was in.

Fight scenes:

These are the main reasons anyone should see this movie. Every single fight scene is spectacular - there is nothing better than watching 15 meter-tall robots kick each other's ass.

My favorite battle is the final 'boss-fight', if you will, with Optimus vs Megatron and Fallen at the same time. It one of the sorter fights, but it delivers some ridiculous close quarter scenes that shame the first movie's fights to tears.

Comedy:

Better than the first film - if you can believe that. Both human and robot deliver some fancy one-liners that make you burst out laughing and there's some classic slap-stick with the twin autobots and Jetfire.

Favorite lines:

1. Twin #1: "Ow, that hurt!"

Twin #2: "It's supposed to hurt; it's an asswoopin'."

2. Jetfire: "Blasted door! Open!" *tries to fire a missile, nothing happends* "Open!" *a missile comes out and fires in the wrong direction.*

Human-factor:

Humans play a more active role in the fight against the Decepticons in this film. In the first movie, humans are clearly bystanders in the war for the All-spark, connected to it only by Sam. In this film, humans are very clearly the Autobots' allies and they need our help for the most part.

I like this idea. It gives the film a sense of unity within the film - a sort of comrades in arms mentality that drives the whole 'save-the-world' business home.

Major Down-factors:

Predictability:

The film's plot is ridiculously easy to guess.

Even though the scene of Optimus' death is quite well done, I didn't believe he was really gone for a second. I believe the main reason for this was because of how easily Megatron was resurrected so early in the film.

The same could be said for Sam's death' scene. It was painfully obvious that something spiritual had to happen to Sam in order for him to retrieve the Key, the fact that it was the Primes that he saw and not simply Optimus' spirit was the only surprise since there was a more personal connection between the two than with the Primes. What made their appearance so confusing for me was that the Primes were never mentioned as having mystical properties to them. Jetfire seems to revere them, but their entire appearance in spirit-form seemed so completely out of place that it broke the flow of the movie - leaving me, the two strange nerd-like males who watched me as much as they watched the movie, and probably half the theatre with our eyebrows raised and then frowing confusion.

Acting and script:

I have no beef with Laboeuf (pun intended), but someone needs to give female leads something other than their bodies to show off. Not that I mind watching Megan Fox because she is terribly attractive, but most of her lines were delivered as if forced or restricted. I'm not sure if this was the product of the script or her, but every part she was in made me want to skip to the next scene or mute it and just watch her.

The script itself was slightly better than the last one, but relied heavily on comedy to keep it afloat. Fortunately, great voice acting and amazing special effects allow for the longer dialogues and monologues to work well and inform the audience of special events and key story parts. There are still a few lines that seem out of place and forced for the majority of the human characters, but the robots dialogue is well rehearsed and easily believable.

The Hero's Journey:

As I mentioned before, the Hero's Journey is followed quite openly in this film. That's usually not a bad thing, but if you can pick up the steps to a Hero's Journey and match each part of the movie to it without any effort at all; something is wrong.

It worked in the original Star Wars films because each episode was long enough that it could flow without cramming the movie.

Transformers tries a bit too hard to follow the steps of the Hero's journey though. Everything that happens is in the exact same order; right down to the Woman as the Temptress (the 'Terminator' Decepticon that tries to woo Sam). The only thing that seems to be left out is the Return phase and I believe there is a reason for that: Sam's not actually returning to the world he once knew since the films are not over, I'm guessing that's why it's so quick and easy for him at the end.

If you would like to see the steps of the Hero's Journey by Josheph Campbell click here.

In conclusion: go see the damn movie. It's fun, it's popular and there are a lot of cool things to see in it. Just don't think too hard or you might disappoint yourself.