After Michael Bay’s live-action film adaptation of “Transformers” became a commercial sucess, a sequel was in development. Unfortunately, back in 2007-2008, members of the Writers Guild of America or WGA for short went on strike forcing Michael and his crew to finish the sequel without any re-writes and reshoots. “Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen” was released in 2009. (same year Coraline came out) Unlike the first movie, it received negative reviews from critics, fans and movie goers alike. Despite bad reactions, the sequel managed to recoup money at the box office.
“The Last Knight” is Michael Bay’s last film in the series. I thought about sharing what’s good or bad about Revenge of the Fallen.
This review contains huge SPOILERS! Read at your own risk. Now let’s see what the damage is all about.
Stand & Fall Elements
Stand: Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson & John Turturro reprise their roles and they all did a great job for their respective performances.
Tony Todd is the only good newcomer to the series voicing The Fallen.
Action Sequences are filled with high octane battles.
Like the previous film, Linkin Park (my favorite band) contributed to the soundtrack by writing the song, “New Divide.” They even helped out Steve Jablonsky to orchestrate the soundtrack.
Special Effects are gorgeous. The Autobots & Deceptions look real.
Soundwave, my favorite character from the series, finally appears for the first time in the films.
Easter Eggs with posters of Cloverfield, Bad Boys II, (Michael also directed the first film and its sequel) & Naruto. I would assume Michael & Mr. Spielberg are fans of the anime series.
The Annoying Mom mentions Sam’s college, as like Hogwarts. “Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince” came out the same year as this film.
Tom Kenny voices a Deception turned Autobot. Meaning, SpongeBob is allowed to cuss. I guess somebody was watching the episode “Sailor Mouth.” You know with the dolphin noises.
One scene pays homage to “Raging Bull” when Optimus gets hit in the face in slow motion similar to Jake LaMotta who gets punched in the face during slow motion.
Deep Roy who played the Oompa Loompas from Tim Burton’s “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” has a cameo appearance.
Negative: The Annoying Parents from the first film return. God, I can’t stand them.
The Marketing for the sequel was supposed to be darker and grittier than the first one, turns out the previews tricked us. What do we get? Sam’s chihuahua humping a French bulldog. Humor felt like it was written by college frat boys. I didn’t laugh.
Megan Fox’s character Mikaela is still treated like a Playboy model. I have nothing against sexy characters, if you’re gonna make an attractive female, she needs to be treated like an actual strong female character like Ellen Ripley from the “Alien” series or Sarah Conner from “The Terminator” without shoving the underwear scenes in front of us. Give her a three-dimensional personality and a witty sense of humor like my childhood crush Raven from the original “Teen Titans” cartoon.
I never cared about Sam & Mikaela’s relationship.
Sam’s college friend Leo is so obnoxious. Jonah Hill was originally gonna play him, but he dropped out. So glad he dodged a bullet.
Bumblebee still talks using audio clips on a radio. At the end of the first film, his real voice is repaired. It’s as if the writers forgot he was cured.
The Twins are racially offensive. Robert Downey Jr. got away with his portrayal in “Tropic Thunder,” because his character is a parody of a method actor taking his role way too seriously. As for The Twins, it’s like I’m watching a banned Looney Tunes cartoon from the 1930s/1940s. I’m doubling down on each of them. I’ll have to subtract a tremendous number of Points.
Galloway is even worse than J. Jonah Jameson. He doesn’t trust Autobots. Doesn’t he realize it’s a never-ending battle between them and Deceptions? Jon Voight’s character Keller was a nice guy in the first, he trusted the Autobots as allies.
Shia LeBeouf’s character, Sam is more obnoxious than last time. He screams like Timmy’s dad from “The Fairly OddParents.” Did he scream like a girl in the first movie? No! Sam rapidly shouts the word no.
A Plot Hole involving a shard of the cube with the power to bring robots to life. Why didn’t Sam use it to bring Optimus back from the dead?
I swear to God, Michael Bay had the guts to approve a “Reefer” joke. The mom gets high after eating weed brownies. You know, for kids!
Green Day’s song “21 Guns” is played in a garage scene. A few scenes later, it still plays the same song. As if the record player is in loop mode. I have no beef towards Green Day. They’re one of my favorite bands.
Rainn Wilson/Dwight Schrute’s cameo as a college professor was out of left field. He along with Sam’s mom were in Monsters VS. Aliens the same year Revenge of the Fallen came out.
Like that shocking moment in the 1986 film, Optimus is killed onscreen. It was way too soon. Coulda saved that wild card for last with Optimus connecting to the audience and then conclude a third movie with Optimus using every ounce of his strength against Megatron. The 1986 film worked effectively, because the cartoon featured Optimus in 65 episodes. The live action version appeared in two movies.
Product Placement (Pee Pee for short) is everywhere. Here’s a list of brands.
Unnecessary Sponsors
- Chevrolet
- GMC
- Mountain Dew
- Cisco
- Yahoo
- Panasonic
- Southwest Airlines
- Volvo
- MetLife
- LG
- Garmin
Dutch Angles appear often. Who’s in charge of filming, Izzie from “Total Drama Island?” Cinematography is mostly shaky.
One the grossest things depicted is John Turturro wearing a male version of a thong with his butt exposed. As a guy, I’m grossed out on what I just witnessed. I’m gonna Triple Down Points for looking at his backside. EW! It’ll haunt me for the rest of my life.
The Editing is bad, for example Jetfire teleports the humans, but Bumblebee & The Twins appear out of nowhere.
Optimus comes back to life until the very last minute of the final battle. Why the heck was he on the poster and heavily marketed?
I swear to God I’m not making this up. Devastator, one of the biggest deceptions from the series, has wrecking balls below his pelvis. Oh no! So that’s how Miley Cyrus wrote “Wrecking Ball!” Damn you Bay!
The Battle between Optimus, The Fallen, Megatron & Starscream was too quick and anticlimactic.
Sam’s resurrection didn’t make any logical sense whatsoever. He’s somehow brought back from robot heaven. Lazy writing at its finest.
The Final Verdict: F, FOR FAKER!
Let this be a lesson for screenwriters out there on what to do and what not do when you make a sequel like this. If it weren’t for the WGA strike, we could’ve got a cohesive story, good characters like Sari Sumdac, (from the 2007 cartoon) played by Keke Palmer and Optimus not getting killed off way too early.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 