After the success of Michael Bay's 2007 Transformers film, it was obvious that we'd get a sequel. But though the first film pulled in mega bucks in both ticket sales and merchandising, its actual craft was called into question. Does the sequel stand any better?
In a common trend for big summer blockbusters, the new movie tracks real time and begins two years after the conclusion of the previous film. The Autobots and the human military have formed a special strike force dedicated to covertly destroying any Decepticons hiding on the planet. Of course the terms 'covert' and 'giant robot' don't go hand in hand, and so after a destructive opening mission the team comes under threat from pencil pushers. The actual opening battle is a lot of fun, reminiscent of the cold openings of the James Bond series. It's especially enjoyable to see Optimus Prime take centre stage in the fight and give a taste of how mighty he is. Away from this, Sam Witwicky is starting college life. The movie switches gears in this respect: the scenes focused around Sam are very much about teenage hormones and social issues in a way that' feels a lot like demographic box-ticking. LaBeouf does a great job and gets a range of good scenes, but it also feels like his stuff is taking time away from the title characters. In the first movie there was at least the excuse that things had to be established, and the Autobots even had to find him first. Here, though, it just feels as if someone ultimately couldn't accept that the lifeblood of the franchise were worth focusing on, and that the audiences were paying to see a mix of Shia's previous Mutt Williams character and Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker.
The two storylines finally merge when remaining Decepticon forces discover Megatron's remains and revive him. In the first film, Megatron was made out to be an unstoppable colossus. But he loses a lot of this menace when it is quickly established that he's been working for another villain all along: the Fallen, one of the first Cybertronians. The Fallen is in fact a pre-existing character, though one only found in the franchise's comic books. For what should be the starring villain he's actually pretty weak. It isn't helped that he and Megatron are played as second=rate versions of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, with plenty of "I have failed you, my master" "You have much to learn, my apprentice" type lines. The character's dramatic impact is further weakened by a very poorly paced finale, with one of the shortest final fights I've ever seen.
Pacing is an overall problem with the film. It comes in two halves. The first is generally exciting and funny, with flashes of character. However, after successfully building up tension and setting up various cliffhangers, the movie then drags them out for over another hour in a very human-centric second half which puts Sam and friends on a quest in Egypt. This second half drags on so long that I'd honestly forgotten about the established cliffhangers until they suddenly appeared again. Many will probably be wondering how the 'bot characters fare this time round. It's a mixed bag, with Optimus, Megatron and Starscream getting the best attention. Optimus gets a fair share of scenes to highlight the living legend he is, including some great fight scenes. Megatron and Starscream are portrayed as having a relationship closer to the original cartoon, with Starscream as the two-faced suck up who is constantly receiving violent discipline from Megatron. The other 'bots don't do so well, with most being around just long enough to drop their name, do something cool, and sell their toy. Even the much-hyped appearances of Soundwave (voiced by Frank Welker doing his unmodified Dr. Claw voice) and previous star Bumblebee are disappointingly minor. The exceptions are the trio of kid-appeal characters (Skids, Mudflap and Wheelie), though "kid-appeal" sounds like the wrong term, given how far these characters go with swearing and other acts, to the point I'm amazed that Hasbro okayed most of their antics. These are the tip of the iceberg sadly, in a movie that includes dry humping, drug use, panty shots and even implied robo testicles. Parents really should do their research before deciding if they want younger kids to see this. One of the few charms of this trio is that two of them are voiced by famous voice actor Tom Kenny. Kenny was a regular on Transformers: Animated (which was sadly cancelled to make way for this movie), and it's great to hear him voice some 'bots that will reach a wider audience.
The special effects work well, with most of the characters having a generally realistic appearance with small elements of a more cartoony nature. However, the visual spectacle can only go so far; I know ILM put a lot of work into this film, but the dramatic 'camera spins around a transformation' shots soon lose their appeal and flashy visuals are no match for genuine characterisation. At least it can be fairly said that the animators have done their best to imbue soul into the characters they're handling: when you look at Optimus face in close ups, you can see there's deep thoughts going on behind it. Combined with Cullen's great voice work, this helps to pick up some of the slack from the script and directing, though it shouldn't have to. Overall, I think Revenge of the Fallen is disappointing. Whilst there are some good parts (especially of the 'switch your brain off' variety) the movie comes off as senseless and immature, as though Hasbro were drunk on the success of the first film and Bay didn't care enough about the established mythos to give it time in its own movie. I'd actually say the first movie was better, as at least it had a firm identity. Revenge of the Fallen seems uncertain what it wants to be. A military movie? A superhero movie? A teen comedy movie? I think a better creative team could have strung all three together well, but Bay doesn't achieve it, and gives us a mish-mash that makes the Transformers feel like outcasts in their own film. I'm sure it'll make a ton of money at the box office, but I think ultimately it won't endure as well as the previous film, and hopefully this will give Hasbro and Paramount good reason to sit down and put out a film of higher quality, as the franchises' history shows it's capable of.
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