(2009)
A Movie Review
By
Jonathan Moya
3 Out of 5 Stars or B
The
Plot: (from IMDB.com)
The battle for Earth = has ended but the battle for the universe has just begun. After returning to Cybertro= n, Starscream assumes command of the Decepticons®, and has decided to retu= rn to Earth with force. The Autobots® believing that peace was possible fi= nds out that Megatron's dead body has been stolen from the US Military by Skorp= inox and revives him using his own spark. Now Megatron is back seeking revenge a= nd with Starscream and more Decepticon® reinforcements on the way, the Autobots® with reinforcements of their own, may have more to deal with = then meets the eye.
The
Review:
Halfway through Transformers®: Revenge of the
Fallen I realize why this Michael Bay explode-a-ganza was becoming a slight
guilty pleasure. Socks: spell it out s-o-c-k-s. A mnemonic for the Spanish &=
#8220;esto
si que es”: it is what it is.
Bay does not pretend or ascend to anything than directing big glorif=
ied
action trailers that run way over their five minutes. T2 could be a choppy and loopy pre=
view
for T3, possibly a coming attraction for another Spielberg scion of Jones o=
r a
historical romance without the Japanese bombs. It is all there and nowhere at the=
same
time. It is what it is.
Transformers are those fiendish Hasbro® toy =
cars
that morph into robots and others things with years of patience and a thirt=
y-page
instruction manual. Mos=
t kids
can do it in a minute or less while their parents are still trying to assem=
ble
the one from four Christmases ago. &n=
bsp;
Michael Bay and I count among the frustrated adults able to get them
open but not closed—and certainly not into the cool third level planes
and weapons. The fights betwe=
en the
autobots® (the good) and the decepticons® (the bad) are lumbering
pinwheel bouts filled with clanging-banging metal effects. Think Mighty Morphing Power
Rangers with better lines and a bigger costume budget. T1 had fourteen spea=
king
robot parts while T2 has 46 —three times the metal but only one and h=
alf
times the pot and pan cacophony because Bay plays funereal music and slow
motions thing down on the big blows. =
The eternal punches count for most of the extended 150 minute running
time- six minutes longer than T1.
The screenplay by current Star Trek reboot write=
rs
Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman (with additional support from Ehren Kruger) d=
oes
not go boldly beyond the original.
It sticks to its Hasbro® world. The human soldiers do =
their
own G.I. Joe® thing—grunting, puffing, shooting and running away
whenever one of the big bots decide to do a fanny fall. The autobots® and Joes® ar=
e an
elite fighting team rooting out and destroying the last of the decepticons&=
reg;
left from T1. A very closely-knit group of boy toys in play here. Shia LaBeouf seems to be grooming himself for t=
he
upcoming Indy Jones five, practicing his snide repartee and comic fighting
skills and donning an almost classic jacket (sans fedora) when T2 goes thro=
ugh
all the Egyptian artifacts and sets of Indy 3 (The Last Crusade). Yes, the Jones action figures are =
also
part of the Hasbro® universe.
In between the trailers there is almost a comic
romance going on. LaBeouf and=
the
recently voted sexiest woman in the world, Megan Fox generate a candlewicks
worth of heat despite all the balls on action around them. The romance speeds by at 200 words=
per
minute, in true screwball style but without the precision and timing. Kevin Dunn and Julie White (and a m=
anic
John Turturro) as the flappable parents provide the main laughs.
Bay lets the product placement provide the rest =
of
the reality. Chev=
rolet
is still the only car on the block, the factory worth of destruction probab=
ly
keeping it viable between government funding and chapter 11. Still, it is disconcerting t=
o see
LG (a Korean company) providing all the monitors for the military.
I give Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 3 out=
of
5 stars or a B. <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>
The Credits: (From AllMovie.com)
Michael Bay&=
nbsp;
- Director / Executive
Producer Ian Bryce =
- Producer Tom Desanto&=
nbsp;
- Producer Loren=
zo Di
Bonaventura - Producer Don Murphy&nb=
sp; - Producer Ehren Kruger
- Screenwriter=
Alex Kurtzman<=
/a>
- Screenwriter=
Roberto Orci
- Screenwriter=
Ben Seresin&=
nbsp;
- Cinematographer Steve Jablon=
sky
- Composer (Music Sco=
re) Linkin Park&=
nbsp;
- Featured Music Roger Barton
- Editor<=
span
style=3D'font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> Tom Muldoon&=
nbsp;
- Editor<=
span
style=3D'font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> Joel Negron&=
nbsp;
- Editor<=
span
style=3D'font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> Paul Rubell&=
nbsp;
- Editor<=
span
style=3D'font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> Nigel Phelps
- Production Designer=
Brian Goldner<=
/a>
- Executive Producer<=
/span> Steven Spie=
lberg
- Executive Producer<=
/span> Mark Vahradia=
n
- Executive Producer<=
/span> Deborah L. S=
cott
- Costume Designer Indust=
rial
Light & Magic - Animator
/ Visual Effects
With: Shia LaBeouf - Sam Witwicky Megan Fox - Mikaela Banes
Copyright
2009 by Jonathan Moya