Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Bay, 2009)

[animatedude]

while i enjoyed it and everything,it's still bad.too much perverted jokes and shit special effects compared to the first one...and not to mention,messy storyline.

[ayaa1977]

...and next week release is a cartoon Ice Age3 and Enemy of The State...

Enemy of the State?

Crap! I meant Puplic Enemy.

My mind wonders like a 6 years old who got away from his mother's hand. I promise you guys, it was not the first time and it damn sure won't be the last. You are stuck with me though, lol.

[ozzylogic]

...and next week release is a cartoon Ice Age3 and Enemy of The State...

Enemy of the State?

Crap! I meant Puplic Enemy.

My mind wonders like a 6 years old who got away from his mother's hand. I promise you guys, it was not the first time and it damn sure won't be the last. You are stuck with me though, lol.

Is it related to Public Enemies by any chance?

[ayaa1977]

Is it related to Public Enemies by any chance?

You know me Ozzy, the sole purpose of my existence in here is to amuse you. And yes I meant Public Enemy; you brick!

[madali]

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Bay, 2009)
IMDB Link

I am confused. Bay’s second installment has some terrible reviews, 35 at Metacritic, 20% at Rottentomatoes, and Old Man Ebert gave it 1 star. I can understand Ebert, since he is in his late 60s, and at the time of the original Transformer toys and cartoons, he was in his late 40s, so in no way he is anywhere near the target audience. But is every other critic over 60? It such cases, it is always interesting to compare critics versus the audience. While Ebert has given a 1 star, his readers have voted an average of two and a half star. And in Metacritic, the Critics have given it average of 35 while the users gave it 6.2, close to IMDB’s 6.6, which is again close to the User rating at Rottentomatoes, which was 68%.

This makes “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” the year’s most misunderstood critic film. Professional film reviewers really dropped the ball on this one. Where they concerned that it would hurt their street cred? That they would be walking in some hip film credits party and they’re about to have some major sex when someone goes, “HEY EVERYONE!! GUESS WHAT!! THIS LOSER LIKE TRANSFORMERS!!” and he would be shamed and forced to leave while everyone enjoys a big sex orgy, 4 stars and thumbs up, right up in each other’s assholes.

I was expecting no plot, and was ready to be unconcerned about it, but it is there. Not the greatest plot ever, but in terms of summer blockbusters, it does have a fairly straight forward plot, its main intention being to present a clear threat to the world, and have the good guys save the day. It did that. The humor, while juvenile at times, fitted the tone of the movie perfectly. And characters? The guy was average looking and the girl extra hot, perfect vehicle for male fantasy time.

But *sound of breaks* wait! Forget all of that. Did it have scenes of robots transforming and smashing things up? Yes, and lots, and that’s it, movie has accomplished its intentions. You can all go home now. For those that are confused, this is a movie based on a cartoon from the eighties that was based on TOYS. I am going to step on lots of toys here, but I would prefer movies like this over a movie like “The Dark Knight” which pretends it is a serious movie with serious messages, when it’s based upon a comic book for kids about a man dressed up as a bat fighting bad guys.

This reminds me of sitting with my friends at a Shisha couple of years back. The subject turned to the “King Kong” movie which was just released. One of my friends made fun of it, claiming it was stupid and it had a giant monkey fighting a monster. He started mocking it and I got slightly annoyed and asked him, didn’t he see the poster of the film? It had a giant gorilla right on it, what the fuck did he expect? Family drama?
Not only did I watch the cartoons as a kid, I had the toys. I remember the incredible joy I used to have transforming them to one thing to something else. Watching this fim, it made me feel some of that boyish joy.

3/5

[ozzylogic]

I know exactly what it was based on...but MB bastardized it.

[fizz]

Mad, no one complained about plot. There was a plot, every film, even a bad one has a plot. Transformers 2's was preposterous. Explain to my why we were made to spend 30 minutes at Sam's place during the start with his parents getting kinky with each other? Or see a toaster come to life (yet again...) and have Bumblebee come and save the day. Is this not a unnecessary rehash of the original? If you agree, then you will also agree that the film proves itself as being pointless by virtue of this. Had this been the first film, it would have been mildly more tolerable and perhaps excused on these grounds. No one has misunderstood the film - it is crap and you don't have to apologize for liking it by comparing your beliefs, endorsed by an arbitrary IMDB score, against the general critics consensus.

Also just because the film is based on a cartoon show, itself based on a line or toys does not give it immunity from the right to be a proper film. It is badly structured (with help from 3 screenwriters nonetheless). It is a messy, incoherent, noisy action film that glorifies the military might of the US. It has taken a lot of slack from both fans and non-fans alike for a good reason and I don't need to get into that.

Finally, I would also take serious offense at your statement then about how Batman is really just for kids. It isn't and never was (you ofcourse are oblivious to this fact - you've never read Batman or comics unfortunately), but I think you just put that there to be a natural provocateur. I could argue this point to death about how the stories in Batman (or any good comic book) are allegorical or symbolic of some fact of human existence, but I'm sure you'd disagree. Isn't the fact that you think Batman was a kids story but made to work so well as a mature film that was universally appreciated just more proof of how badly made Transformers 2 was?

[madali]

Fizz, aside from a few Frank Miller Batman comics, majority of Batman comics are made for young teenagers, how American comics have always been. The clue is in the laziness of the name. He dresses up as a Bat and is a Man so BATMAN.

In regards to Transformers, the film could have been cut down by 30 mins, I give you that, but the toaster coming to life, etc was an entertaining way to ease us into the later action scenes.

[shariqq]

Forget the Batman comparison for now (The Dark Knight was a good "movie"). This movie was plain bad! Mindless action can also be fun, as long as there is something to keep you interested. The biggest problems with this movie were:
1) It messed up the whole idea of Transformers with that one college-girl transformer. Since when are they able to replicate humans? And if they can, why just the one! And Robots can teleport? Then why do they drive/fly/shower as meteors?
2) None, not one of the action sequences lived up to any of the scenes from the first movie. From the opening in Qatar, the free-way Optimus vs Bonecrusher fight, the climactic fight, the Bumblebee vs Barricade... not one fight here was even close to any of those fights. And a sequel needs to be better atleast in the thrills dept. Else it just falls flat.
3) The prepostorous stupidity of the whole Jordan-Egypt geography.

It was such a bad movie. The way xXx 2 was bad. The was The Fast & the Furious 2 was bad.

[madali]

1) Not all can replicate humans! I mean, if they can replicate cars, toasters, planes, etc, maybe they have the technology to replicate humans too! And not all can teleport!

2) The action in the forest was amazing. "I can take you ALL on" (Prime kicks ass, anime style). And the last scene, with the army and the rockets and the fucking evrything was great!

3) The Jordan-Egypt geography was minor.

[ozzylogic]

Hey, I liked 2 Fast 2 Furious (Jap tuners!)! Tokyo Drift was bad!

[fizz]

Fizz, aside from a few Frank Miller Batman comics, majority of Batman comics are made for young teenagers, how American comics have always been. The clue is in the laziness of the name. He dresses up as a Bat and is a Man so BATMAN.

I'm sorry Mad, but not only is that a shallow generalization of a character specifically and a medium in general, but also an ignorant one. While there is no denying that Batman and a lot of other Golden Age comics (those that started in the late 30's, mainly by DC) and Silver Age comics (those that started in the early 60's, mainly by Marvel) were aimed at kids, like video games, they have matured with their target audience. When the boomer generation hit mid life crisis in the mid 80's, Miller's existential, dark, brooding Dark Knight Returns was there to greet them - I assume this is what you meant by the Miller reference.

Since then, both the character and the medium have undergone a radical change that continues to this day. Grant Morrison's work on Arkham Asylum is so psychologically in-depth, even after two readings, I'm still not sure I understand or appreciate it; Alan Moore's Killing Joke is so sickly twisted, it has to be read for its insight. These are all popular Batman books, not obscure titles, and some of his best selling ever (Arkham Asylum and Killing Joke are widely touted as the single best selling graphic novels of all time).

I haven't even started to talk about the stuff that comic writers have come up with in the last few years in comic books - serial killer, rapists, fetishes etc. In fact, if you consider a book like the modern day Daredevil, it has constantly been on the edge, pushing the envelope in terms of plot, characters and general situations. Prostitution for e.g. featured heavily in the books stories ever since the mid-80's. So did alcoholism in Iron Man for decades now (the movie even hinted at this). Comics have evolved and so have their readers and possibly their target audiences, but people still mistakenly consider them some sort of kids medium, when they clearly aren't. Like movies, they too have ratings and genre's - cuss words and sexuality is common, but so are elaborate, intelligent storylines that appeal to the head. There are Batman books for kids yes, but these are the exception, even the present storyline of the monthly Batman comic books (which are considered the real, defining way of comic reading) would be considered PG-13 material by movie standards. My recommendation to you is to actually READ a comic book for once and not just read about it.

[madali]

You're probably right.

[shariqq]

The ending of The Ultimates Vol. 1 is one of the most disturbing I have read... even by Alan Moore standards.

[ozzylogic]

I'm watching Transformers Energon and Armada these days to rid myself of the bad taste this movie left behind.