Review: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Director: Michael Bay (Transformers, Armageddon)

Cast: Shia LaBeouf (Even Stevens, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), Megan Fox (Transformers, Jennifer's Body), Josh Duhamel (Transformers, Las Vegas), Tyrese Gibson (Transformers, Four Brothers), John Turturro (Transformers, Mr. Deeds), Isabel Lucas (Home and Away)

The Deal: Though the battle may have been won, Earth is still not safe. An ancient Deceptacon named The Fallen has returned and Sam (LaBeouf) possesses the information he needs. To make matters worse, the Deceptacons have revived Megatron to join the fray. Optimus and Bumblebee must do their best to protect Sam from falling prey, but the Deceptacons have returned with greater numbers, and the Autobots may finally be outmatched.

Thoughts: After a very successful first film, Revenge of the Fallen is a massive disappointment. All of the elements were there for another solid addition to the franchise, but the film has fallen prey to director Michael Bay. Don't get me wrong, when it comes to explosions and epic battles, Bay is the man. Unfortunately, a relevant plot is cast aside for Bay's CGI, leaving over an hour of this film as unnecessary fluff. It aways looks nice, but there are just far too many rock-bottom plot lines to rescue this film (do we really need robot testicles). Many of the scenes flat out don't make any sense, and some of the new characters are just plain awful and annoying (I'm looking directly at you, Mudflap and Skids). There's also the issue many have pointed out that some of the Deceptacons are appearing in two separate battles at the same time.

I get it, Megan Fox is a slammin' hottie, but that is no excuse for this film. She serves no relevant purpose other than to look good. She's just cast in there to flaunt her sexyness and muddle up the already thin plot. There's just far to much time spent emphasizing her looks and far too little spent on focusing on the actual plot. LaBeouf isn't any worse than he was in the first film, but it still doesn't make his performance very good. I'm going to peg a lot of this on the script, which is just corny and frequently makes little sense.

Verdict: Visually, Revenge of the Fallen looks awesome, but non-stop action and tons of Megan Fox can't change the fact that there was rarely a coherent plot. The film runs over 2.5 hours, and at least half of that time is full of unnecessary plot. ☆☆