Scrap metal

I'm either a sucker for big events or a glutton for punishment. I'm not sure which is correct but both apply given that I opted to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen last night, despite not being overly crazy about the first one that came out back in 2007.

Most sequels are often described as being just like the original only bigger. That remains true for this film, unfortunately for me, what's bigger are the problems that existed in the original film. Once again, the film stars Shia LeBeouf as Sam Witwicky, a young man who has a strong connection to the Autobots as they continue their war with the Decepticons. Why there needs to be a central human character involved in this war still isn't clear to me, even after two films. It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I don't care for Shia LeBeouf, but I'll admit he's far from the worst thing about this movie.

Shia looks better comparatively to many of the other human actors that make up the cast. Once again, too much time is spent with these ancillary characters that either don't add anything to the story or are downright annoying. The worst offenders are Sam's mother, who gets way too much screentime at the beginning of the film providing "humor" and Sam's college roommate, who is whiny and useless as he tags along with Sam and his girlfriend Mikaela (once again played by Megan Fox). Speaking of Megan Fox, I keep hearing how she's the next "it girl", but frankly I don't see it. She's attractive, but not THAT gorgeous and has zero talent when it comes to acting. Thankfully, she's only in this movie for T & A, which director Michael Bay uses to his fullest advantage.

The story here also has major problems, mainly because there really isn't any story. The same basic war is being fought and this time everyone is after a different object instead of the AllSpark from the first film. In a movie like this, I can forgive them for not having a strong story because they simply want to feature cool robot fights. However, the one thing that bugged me is that the events of the film did not flow very naturally. Characters continually disappear and then reappear only when it's convenient for them to show up. For instance, after the Fallen, the new bad guy in the film, announces his evil plan he's not seen from again until the very end of the movie. There's this long stretch of exposition scenes that needed to be broken up by showing the bad guys actually going through with their plan.

Now I just mentioned above how story is eschewed for displaying the Transformers fighting. This is the one thing they did improve on from the previous film. There are a ton of new robots featured and there is plenty of robot-on-robot carnage throughout this film. Now there were still parts where I felt it was difficult to differentiate which robot was winning. However, there were a few scenes that were just visually awesome. The forest scene featuring Optimus Prime battling a few Decipticons is particularly great. If only the film could have someone focused on that. Just get rid of the human element and let's watch these machines duke it out.

While they did add plenty of new robots to the mix this time, not all of them were great additions. Most notably, are "the twins"; a pair of jive-talking Autobots that are crass stereotypes. I mean, we're talking Jar Jar Binks territory here. With the way that Michael Bay depicts African American characters in his films, I'm beginning to wonder if he is somewhat of a racist. I hate making such an accusation, but some of the stereotypes seen in both human and non-human characters are crineworthy at times.

In addition, to eliminating these crass characterizations, Michael Bay would have also been better served trimming down this film altogether. At almost two and half hours, this is just too much. There were several scenes that I felt could have been cut. However, it was perhaps most obvious during the final climax which involves Sam and co. racing across the Egyptian desert trying to reach Optimus Prime and the army. This takes forever! I swear Frodo got to Mordor in faster time. And you know we're in trouble if I start giving Lord of the Rings compliments.

In some ways, I feel like this review isn't going to be particularly helpful to readers and is just an opportunity for me to rant. Let's face it, those that were inclined to see this already probably did so already or will soon, regardless of what I say. Those that didn't plan on seeing this will just look at this as confirmation that they were justified in skipping it.

I will say this, for as much as I've pointed out the film's flaws, I truly believe that if you enjoyed the first film there will be enough in here for you to enjoy this one just as much, if not more. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is what it is. Don't expect this to be a best picture contender (even with that news the other day that they plan on expanding the number of nominees from 5 to 10). This is a noisy, action thrill ride that will leave you buzzing, literally. I left the theater feeling like I had just spent the entire day at Cedar Point. Whether you view that as good or bad, at least we can all agree that very few films are capable of that. Grade: C