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What it’s about:
An evil alien race, the Decepticons, lays siege to the Earth and their ancient enemies, the Autobots, once again as they attempt to capture an ultra-scarce resource that allows them to reproduce. Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) becomes inextricably involved in the battle when he begins to experience revelations in an ancient language.
What we thought:
Transformers is regarded as a well-loved blockbuster success. Movie cynics begrudgingly applauded its slick action set-pieces and teasing one-liners, and as for the so-called "masses", well, we absolutely loved it, didn’t we?
Now, two years later, we have Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. As far as sequels go, this apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The explosions, chases and extra large robot-pummelings of the first film are intact, making this a must-see for action-junkies.
In fact, in the shallow waters of action comedy, Revenge of the Fallen stands a few feet taller than the original. Thanks to a stunning blend of animation and choreography, the melee between the Autobots and the Decepticons is exceptionably watchable. Optimus Prime in particular, looks like a nuts-and-bolts version of Jet Li when kicking ass. These fights get bigger and bigger as the movie reaches its conclusion, by which time we’ve reached a scale that can only be described as 'stupendiculous'.
Added to the visceral details of war are a cheeky string of gags, shared mostly by Sam’s parents and the lesser figures in both robot armies. Revenge of the Fallen aims just a little below the belt, managing two separate humping gags and a good old marijuana cookie incident among its jocular achievements. Dirty, offensive humour: who said robots couldn’t do American Pie?
There is an intricate backstory to Autobot-Decepticon conflict, we are meant to believe. But only the truly devout will be strung along by as unconvincing and confused a plot as this. Every fresh detail of the ancient war is less interesting than the last, each scripted ploy to keep the (inevitable) trilogy rolling tacked on and careless. Worst of all, the titular Fallen, a menace that threatens the very fate of the Earth, turns out to be a bit of a dud. Many fans, you suspect, would gladly jettison the filler in favour of another gear-grinding brawl between the great machine rivals of the franchise, Optimus Prime and Megatron.
Shia LaBeouf plays a solid lead role as the reluctant hero Sam. LaBeouf is refreshingly normal-looking for a Hollywood darling, and gets sufficient empathy from his performance as a Regular Joe drawn into interplanetary conflict. Not so normal-looking is Megan Fox, who has already set tongues wagging just by showing up to the movie’s premiere. While not disgracing herself, the starlet’s performance is all pout. As an aside, she might have asked the director why her character is never allowed to run without being led by the hand of a (presumably faster) male character. If gender stereotypes get your blood boiling, wait until you see the illiterate, buck-toothed, African-American flavoured robot duo called the Twins. They’re hapless, they’re funny, but they’re also bound to get someone in trouble with the Rev. Jessie Jackson.
Don’t get the wrong idea. If you have the time and the inclination to switch off for two hours to a non-stop chorus of exploding buildings and robot fart jokes, you’ve just found yourself a film for tonight. Transformers isn’t everybody’s idea of fun, but it’s great fun for anyone who’s ever wished their toaster would come alive and attack them more often. Oops, spoiler.
