Comments on: FG Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:21:45 +0000

Adam - Yeah, I totally understand some of the humor and objectification being a dealbreaker for people. It is pretty cool hearing Peter Cullen back in action, though!

Triton - I agree. While I'm sure for some people it's a valid complaint, I feel like if you're able to pay attention to faces and things, the robots have enough differentiation to be able to tell the difference if you care to try.

Ryan - I'm totally in agreement that that scene was one of the lowest points of the first movie, and similar humor really does bring down the sequel a few notches. However, for me, it's about seeing the exciting action and battle sequences, the technology, and that sort of thing, so I'm able to sort of roll my eyes at the annoying parts and move past them to the other, more enjoyable elements. My complaint with the negativity of the current reviews is simply that they should have known what to expect. I can understand poor reviews for the first movie because, yeah, it might not be what people were hoping for, or they were turned off by the humor or the cacophony. However, the film was marginally well-reviewed. Given that the sequel was more of the same in every way, I'm not sure why this time people decided that it was worth wholly panning. I think it's fine if people don't like it, but acting surprised that the sequel was very similar to the first movie seems a little silly, as does appearing to project expectations of a greater raison d'être on the movie than what's inherently there.

By: Ryan V.

Ryan V. — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:15:28 +0000

I wouldn’t be so hasty to assume that the critical masses’ disdain for Transformers is all from misplaced expectations. It is, after all, a movie based on comics/toys/cartoons, a sequel to a movie which also shared its “Big stuff go boom” philosophy. Which many reviewers acknowledge. But just because a movie isn’t aiming high doesn’t mean it can’t miss. For me, the first transformers lost me when it devolved into lame jokes/dialogue (the scene where shia was trying to get into his house and the robots were peeing on things was a low-point) and it just became a cacophonous fight/explosion sequence. I like explosions, but these explosions didn’t grab me.
While I’ll reserve judgment on this movie until I see it, I think it’s perfectly understandable that someone could go into this movie not wanting more than good summer popcorn action and still be disappointed.

By: Drew

Drew — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:51:56 +0000

Good review, man! I’m heading out to see it tomorrow afternoon and I am pretty excited.
I have to admit, I did expect a little more substance and storyline from the original Transformers, but you’re right; Michael Bay doesn’t really do well with “substance” – He’s just really good at blowing things up. (I am a big fan of The Island, though.) The sci-fi films this summer have been phenomenal and I’m hoping Revenge of the Fallen doesn’t slow down the momentum.

By: Goose

Goose — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:42:01 +0000

Way to bring it home .

By: Triton

Triton — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:48:44 +0000

Hear! Hear! All the military hardware was awesome to behold for a gearhead like me. The jets, tanks, etc. (not to mention, the sweet assault rifles they carried – I want one!) were easily as imppressive to watch in action as robot fisticuffs, action transformations and impressive explosive displays – and everyone knows Michael Bay is the potentate of cinema pyrotechnics.

One final thing – to those who say it was hard to discern who is fighting who in the Cybertronian melees, I call bull crap. I had no trouble telling who was who and that may partially be because I’m a huge geek and I like to keep track of those kinds of things, but I’m more prone to think you just wanted to hate the movie from the get-go and used this as a convenient add-on to your litany of dislikes.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:48:00 +0000

I saw a behind the scenes clip of Peter Cullen voicing Optimus Prime. I literally got goose bumps. Awesome! I probably won’t see the movie because of the raunchiness, but I’m now content after hearing Cullen instruct the Autobots to “Rollout!”