Transformers: Bigger, Longer, More Explody
URGA MOTW
Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen
Just before the first new Transformers movie came out a few years ago, many men (and probably a few women) around my age were praying that Michael Bay would not rape our childhoods. Our prayers were answered - there was possibly some inappropriate touching of our childhoods - but nothing that made us weep. The film was quite enjoyable, and although many liberties were taken with our memories of the cartoon, we had to remove the rose-coloured glasses to put on dark sunglasses because of all the ultra cool explosions.
For this sequel, I think Bay may have overdosed on his medication as I can imagine him just saying "More! More! MORE!" to all the special effects people. Transformers 2 definitely has more: More explosions, more action sequences, and more big f---ing robots fighting with each other. And that's good. I must say the action set pieces (which are probably 99% CGI) are very exciting and great to watch. In between all these some other stuff happens, but it's not really that important (you know - some sort of plotline, human characters, annoying sidekicks and some infantile attempt at humour. Oh and Megan can't-act-can't-emote-can-show-T-and-A-a-little Fox).
If you ignore the bits between the huge robot fights (and I could) then it's really not that bad a film. What you expect it to deliver, it does so in spades. I can imagine how all those in-between bits would put off other film viewers (and some of them are really, really groanworthy, confusing or just plain stupid) but because I'd heard such bad reviews prior to seeing the film, I had really low expectations, and hence just left my brain at the door and slapped on those aforementioned metaphorical dark sunglasses and enjoyed the special effects.
Considering how much dosh this film has already made, I'm sure Bay will be making a third one - I'm just hoping that they can find someone to write it a little better. I don't care if the plot is simple or stupid or just plain nonsensical, but if you're going to put jokes in a script, at least make them funny, or leave them out entirely. Oh and sound effects people - apart from Optimus Prime and Jetfire, we really can't understand a single word any of the Transformers are saying, because of vocal processing. I know their dialogue probably isn't important (and it's certainly not adding anything to the plot or humour) but the antagonistic relationship between Megatron and Starscream was one of the better bits of the cartoon, and in this movie, it possibly would have been better had we been able to understand what either of them were saying.... At least some of the Decepticons get subtitles when they speak cybertronian....
My other big complaint is that although we see plenty of scenes with Transformers fighting each other, there's very few where we actually see them transform from robot to car/plane/whatever with any sort of nice clarity. And sometimes it takes a full 20 seconds for Optimus Prime to go from truck to robot, and sometimes he can do it in less than a second.... wtf, man?
If you like big CG-laden fight scenes between alien robots, and you're happy to ignore anything that isn't a CG-laden fight scene between alien robots, you'll probably enjoy this movie. If you actually care about plot, characters, or decent dialogue, you'll probably hate it. Go see Sunshine Cleaning instead :) Considering my low expectations going in, I'm in the former camp :)
7/10
Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen
Just before the first new Transformers movie came out a few years ago, many men (and probably a few women) around my age were praying that Michael Bay would not rape our childhoods. Our prayers were answered - there was possibly some inappropriate touching of our childhoods - but nothing that made us weep. The film was quite enjoyable, and although many liberties were taken with our memories of the cartoon, we had to remove the rose-coloured glasses to put on dark sunglasses because of all the ultra cool explosions.
For this sequel, I think Bay may have overdosed on his medication as I can imagine him just saying "More! More! MORE!" to all the special effects people. Transformers 2 definitely has more: More explosions, more action sequences, and more big f---ing robots fighting with each other. And that's good. I must say the action set pieces (which are probably 99% CGI) are very exciting and great to watch. In between all these some other stuff happens, but it's not really that important (you know - some sort of plotline, human characters, annoying sidekicks and some infantile attempt at humour. Oh and Megan can't-act-can't-emote-can-show-T-and-A-a-little Fox).
If you ignore the bits between the huge robot fights (and I could) then it's really not that bad a film. What you expect it to deliver, it does so in spades. I can imagine how all those in-between bits would put off other film viewers (and some of them are really, really groanworthy, confusing or just plain stupid) but because I'd heard such bad reviews prior to seeing the film, I had really low expectations, and hence just left my brain at the door and slapped on those aforementioned metaphorical dark sunglasses and enjoyed the special effects.
Considering how much dosh this film has already made, I'm sure Bay will be making a third one - I'm just hoping that they can find someone to write it a little better. I don't care if the plot is simple or stupid or just plain nonsensical, but if you're going to put jokes in a script, at least make them funny, or leave them out entirely. Oh and sound effects people - apart from Optimus Prime and Jetfire, we really can't understand a single word any of the Transformers are saying, because of vocal processing. I know their dialogue probably isn't important (and it's certainly not adding anything to the plot or humour) but the antagonistic relationship between Megatron and Starscream was one of the better bits of the cartoon, and in this movie, it possibly would have been better had we been able to understand what either of them were saying.... At least some of the Decepticons get subtitles when they speak cybertronian....
My other big complaint is that although we see plenty of scenes with Transformers fighting each other, there's very few where we actually see them transform from robot to car/plane/whatever with any sort of nice clarity. And sometimes it takes a full 20 seconds for Optimus Prime to go from truck to robot, and sometimes he can do it in less than a second.... wtf, man?
If you like big CG-laden fight scenes between alien robots, and you're happy to ignore anything that isn't a CG-laden fight scene between alien robots, you'll probably enjoy this movie. If you actually care about plot, characters, or decent dialogue, you'll probably hate it. Go see Sunshine Cleaning instead :) Considering my low expectations going in, I'm in the former camp :)
7/10