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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Buzz says:   MPAA Rating: PG-13
Current Showtimes: No showtimes available

Michael Bay’s films are known for delivering explosions, gratuitous shots of gorgeous women and military equipment, a camera that shakes uncontrollably and slow-motion footage of cool men walking away casually as something explodes behind them. His latest work, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is certainly no exception.

Picking up two years after the original Transformers, the benevolent Autobots have teamed with the U.S. Army to hunt down what’s left of their archenemies, the Decepticons, who are now scattered across the globe following the “death” of their leader, Megatron. Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) is attempting to carry on a normal life at college while his gorgeous girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox) tries to make their long-distance relationship work.

New characters are thrown into the mix, including the titular Fallen, the baddie responsible for turning the two factions of robots against one another, but in reality, these plot points just serve to loosely string together scenes of explosions and special effects. Many complained about Bay’s disorienting, shaky camerawork in the first Transformers, and while it’s clear an effort was made to calm things down a bit, the camera is still prone to Blair Witch-style jumpiness.

Digital effects house ILM has supplied the most photorealistic mechs to ever grace the silver screen, but rather than wowing audiences with complex sequences of morphing vehicles as the first Transformers did, Revenge of the Fallen often opts to skip to the machines beating the tar out of each other. This is an unfortunate decision since most of the fun of a live-action Transformers movie comes from watching the robots, well, transform.

Speaking of robots, there are a lot more of them this time around — so much so that almost none of them is given more than a few scenes or speaking lines. You’ll often see a robot walk onscreen, blow something up and never hear from them again.

Far more problematic than the onslaught of random robots is the picture’s gargantuan running time — nearly two and a half hours. The film seems locked in a never-ending struggle to outdo itself, and it’s guaranteed that moviegoers will leave the theater with bloodshot eyes from countless flashes, explosions and twirling gizmos.

On occasion, the filmmakers attempt to break up the action with light humor. Much of it is pretty crude (i.e. robots humping Megan Fox’s leg), and the “gangsta” humor spewed forth by the twin cars, Skids and Mudflap, almost always falls short. However, there are genuinely funny moments (usually involving Sam’s doting parents), and on this level, Revenge of the Fallen definitely surpasses its predecessor.

In the end, though, eye candy and crude gags cannot salvage this bloated behemoth of a movie. Transformers epitomizes the excess of the modern blockbuster in all the worst ways. Even those who usually enjoy the mindless fun of a summer popcorn flick will walk out of this movie exhausted, and not in a good way.