ROTF
I'm going to have to disagree with most of the people I know who've seen ROTF and seem to have loved it. I thought it was "Eh..." or maybe an "Okay" at best. I think the movie would have been MUCH better had it been about a half hour shorter, maybe more.
Spoilers below.
The last section of the movie, in Egypt, could have had a chainsaw taken to it. Seriously, how long did it have to be? When they showed Sam's destination to be a few miles away, I didn't think we'd actually see them run the entire damn distance. The sequence was probably only something like 15 minutes long, but it felt like four hours.
Some of the fight scenes had too much CGI, and not all of it very good. I thought the Fallen in particular looked subpar in his big fight scene.
And last, but certainly not least...holy crap, Michael Bay, what was up with the Minstrelbots? I completely understand all of the complaints about these guys, and I'm usually not one to find ANYTHING offensive. It really did feel like I was watching Amosbot and Andytron. Did I accidentally buy tickets to Birth of an Autobot Nation?
Yes, I know, they're not explicitly black, but come on...we all know what's going on here. I can't believe Bay didn't think people would have a problem with it. Then again, I've already mentioned that a lot of Bay's movies are filled with walking black stereotypes.
It was neat seeing Soundwave, but...why go to the trouble of getting Frank Welker to do the original voice and then not complete the effect? Hearing Dr. Claw's voice instead of Soundwave's was a little off-putting, but I did appreciate that they got Welker to do it at all, so it's a very minor complaint.
That's not to say the movie was bad, though. There were certainly some enjoyable fight scenes. Prime's fight with Megatron and Starscream was great fun - in fact, Megatron and Starscream, who had the closest thing to character development in the movie, were fun in the scenes they had together, which was something I thought was missing from the first movie.
The college stuff was ridiculous crap, but no moreso than in just about any TV show or movie that's ever taken place at a college. And thank God that chick turned out to be a Decepticon, because up to that point, I thought my eyes were going to roll out the back of my head. Aside from that, the human characters were fine, especially Sam's parents and Turturro, who's always awesome. I could've done without Sam's annoying roommate, though.
Ultimately, while I could see the first movie several times and still enjoy it, I don't think I need to see this one again. It was a fun way to kill a few hours, but it's just too much of a slog for repeated viewing. I can see how we got what we got - Bay decided to give us more of the same...MUCH more...but I think the amount we got in the first movie was just right. Hopefully, Bay or whoever takes his place will back off just a little bit for part 3.
Spoilers below.
The last section of the movie, in Egypt, could have had a chainsaw taken to it. Seriously, how long did it have to be? When they showed Sam's destination to be a few miles away, I didn't think we'd actually see them run the entire damn distance. The sequence was probably only something like 15 minutes long, but it felt like four hours.
Some of the fight scenes had too much CGI, and not all of it very good. I thought the Fallen in particular looked subpar in his big fight scene.
And last, but certainly not least...holy crap, Michael Bay, what was up with the Minstrelbots? I completely understand all of the complaints about these guys, and I'm usually not one to find ANYTHING offensive. It really did feel like I was watching Amosbot and Andytron. Did I accidentally buy tickets to Birth of an Autobot Nation?
Yes, I know, they're not explicitly black, but come on...we all know what's going on here. I can't believe Bay didn't think people would have a problem with it. Then again, I've already mentioned that a lot of Bay's movies are filled with walking black stereotypes.
It was neat seeing Soundwave, but...why go to the trouble of getting Frank Welker to do the original voice and then not complete the effect? Hearing Dr. Claw's voice instead of Soundwave's was a little off-putting, but I did appreciate that they got Welker to do it at all, so it's a very minor complaint.
That's not to say the movie was bad, though. There were certainly some enjoyable fight scenes. Prime's fight with Megatron and Starscream was great fun - in fact, Megatron and Starscream, who had the closest thing to character development in the movie, were fun in the scenes they had together, which was something I thought was missing from the first movie.
The college stuff was ridiculous crap, but no moreso than in just about any TV show or movie that's ever taken place at a college. And thank God that chick turned out to be a Decepticon, because up to that point, I thought my eyes were going to roll out the back of my head. Aside from that, the human characters were fine, especially Sam's parents and Turturro, who's always awesome. I could've done without Sam's annoying roommate, though.
Ultimately, while I could see the first movie several times and still enjoy it, I don't think I need to see this one again. It was a fun way to kill a few hours, but it's just too much of a slog for repeated viewing. I can see how we got what we got - Bay decided to give us more of the same...MUCH more...but I think the amount we got in the first movie was just right. Hopefully, Bay or whoever takes his place will back off just a little bit for part 3.