Bring on the robot throwdowns!! ‘TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN’

“Cool!” “Way cool!”  I lost count how many times I actually said that!  ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ is a non-stop metal-crunching, guns blazing, engines-roaring, debris-flying, heroes sprinting, ducking, shouting, Michael Bay-size explosions and fun, fun, fun!

 The movie takes place 2 years after mankind’s initial introduction to the Autobots and the Decepticons.  The Decepticons are being hunted down by an ultra-secret special ops team that’s made up of humans and Autobots when they learn that a powerful being, The Fallen, is gunning for them.  Sam is now moving out of home, starting college and about to embark on a long-distance relationship with Mikaela.  But he now wants to be “just a normal guy with normal problems”.  When Optimus calls on him for help, Sam refuses.

There are now 42 robots in the film and it is incredible, as the action moves around the globe, how seamless the blend of real-life and CG has become!  As Bumblebee stood in the doorway of the magnificent ancient temple of Petra in Jordan, he looked like he totally belonged there!  I swear, if the CG team don’t get the Oscar for special effects next year, I will throw something at the TV!  But one drawback of the amazing imagery is that as the action picks up the pace, it became a lot harder to keep track of who you’re cheering for!  Favourites Ironhide and Ratchet are lost in the mêlée and it was hard to fall in love with the new Autobots because they weren’t on screen long enough!  Even big baddie, The Fallen, only got two scenes that really proved why Megatron would even bow to him in the first place!  And the hype about Devastator…well, really was just that…hype (though he got to be the object of one of the most tongue-in-cheek jokes in the film).  The plot had holes one of the Autobots could drive through and I wanted to taser Sam’s new room mate, Leo, in the first five minutes of meeting him!

But what saves the film, apart from the amazing special effects, intense action sequences and robot throwdowns, is Peter Cullen’s Optimus Prime and Shia LaBeouf’s Sam.  Shia commented in an interview that he didn’t have to act very much in the film but when he did…

 ’Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ won’t win any critical acclaim but it’s a great a film to watch for pure escapism.  So for 150 minutes, shut the door on the global financial crisis, climate change and squabbling political leaders, grab the popcorn and enjoy feeling like a kid again.  Cool….

Photo source: ComingSoon.net

Leave a Comment