Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Grading & Discussion

[Captain Craig]

AVERAGE

My time has been tight and I can't read through the opinions so sorry if I repeat some other points.

I really loved the first one. I've watched my DVD countless times. I grew up on the stuff and was prepared to be let down when TF1 came out but was pleasantly surprised. With Fallen I finally was let down. I grade it 'average' cause in the grand scope I've seen much worse. Knowing how they made the first one good this one is pale in comparison.

My gripes:
- Where were all my Autobots? Ratchet and Ironhide were barely there. Bumblebee can't talk, come on. It was a good one off thing in the first one but he needs to talk.

- The Autobots I do get are foul mouthed assholes. Mudflap and Skids got the lions share of 'bot time and I felt like it was JarJar times two but with cursing. Hey Michael Bay parents can't take their kids to this, or they wont when word gets out. Pussy, you really had them say that.

- Momma Witwicky. Nice to know her character became NOTHING but comic relief. Way over the top. Waaaay over.

- Wheelie humping Mikela's leg. Really? WTF?

- Devastator - thanks I saw the trailer. For such a BIG aspect of what could've been he not only was underutilzed and shown 98% in the trailer but was beaten rather easily. What a waste.


The good.
- Megatron and Starscream has bickering 'cons was increased and was good.

- Primes forrest battle.

- Mikela + leather

- Liked how the army was used but this time I feel like they were crammed into the movie.


I demand I better TF:3, thats all for now.

 

[God Magnus]

Also, Optimus Prime is ruined. He executes a Decepticon! Optimus Prime does not execute. He expressed regret over defeating Megatron in the first movie.

Yes, but ultimately he is a warrior, however noble. This is war, and letting Demolishor go rolling around China would have meant more humans hurt/killed and that was unacceptable. In war, you make harsh choices and killing your enemy is among them. And it's not like he just tied the guy up and blew his head off. Demolishor did a fair bit of killing and smashing himself before they caught up to him.

This is also consistent with his portrayal in the original series. Never mind the series (where few consequences of battles were ever shown) but in the 1986 movie Prime was ready to execute Megatron despite his pleas for mercy.

 

[captcalhoun]

I could tolerate the penis jokes; I could tolerate the racist/gender/age etc stereotypes; but I could NOT tolerate the bad geography. PICK UP A FUCKING ATLAS!

* Egypt is not Jordan (nor is it Saudi Arabia as one map showed) - I'm pretty sure Egypt wouldn't want clearly designated Jordan warplanes flying in its airspace
* You cannot walk from Petra in Jordan to the Pyramids in Geza (well you could, but it would take a while - and you'd need food and water...and several weeks...)
* There is no border between Jordan and Egypt (hence no border crossing) - Israel is in the way
* And didn't the ruins near the pyramids look a lot like the Iraqi town in the first movie (well all arabs are the same...)

yeah, and there's no mountains in frigging Qatar either...and when the USAF flies to Diego Garcia, they fly westward across the Pacific and don't go near Egypt...

 

[DevilEyes]

Awesome review: Michael Bay finally made an art movie

 

[RoJoHen]

I could tolerate the penis jokes; I could tolerate the racist/gender/age etc stereotypes; but I could NOT tolerate the bad geography. PICK UP A FUCKING ATLAS!

* Egypt is not Jordan (nor is it Saudi Arabia as one map showed) - I'm pretty sure Egypt wouldn't want clearly designated Jordan warplanes flying in its airspace
* You cannot walk from Petra in Jordan to the Pyramids in Geza (well you could, but it would take a while - and you'd need food and water...and several weeks...)
* There is no border between Jordan and Egypt (hence no border crossing) - Israel is in the way
* And didn't the ruins near the pyramids look a lot like the Iraqi town in the first movie (well all arabs are the same...)

yeah, and there's no mountains in frigging Qatar either...and when the USAF flies to Diego Garcia, they fly westward across the Pacific and don't go near Egypt...

I don't know anything about Middle Eastern geography, but if this is all true, then it makes this movie that much more hilarious.

 

[davejames]

The thing I find hilarious, is that Micaela could fly to Sam's school in a matter of minutes, and Sam and Bumblebee could drive to Petra in minutes..... yet it took seemingly FOREVER for Sam and Micaela to make their way to Prime with the magic Matrix dust at the end! lol

Just one more example of how incredibly sloppy and haphazard the plotting in this movie was. I don't mind mindless action, but there at least has to be SOME kind of internal logic underneath it all. Once a movie starts jumping around randomly for no reason, that's when I start tuning out.

 

[Admiral Bear]

I've just gone to Box Office Mojo and seen the worldwide gross for this movie after a little over 10 days of release.

HOLY SHIT!

$1bn anyone?

 

[Trekker4747]

Awesome review: Michael Bay finally made an art movie

"[Shia LeBouf] babbling like a tumor removed from Woddy Allen's prostate that somehow achieved sentience."

 

[Hober Mallow]

Re: Grindor -- isn't it just Blackout? According to Hasbro, there is no "Grindor," it was simply a name they used to prevent the public from learning that Blackout was returning. So is Blackout in the movie or is it clearly a different robot?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Grindor -- isn't it just Blackout? According to Hasbro, there is no "Grindor," it was simply a name they used to prevent the public from learning that Blackout was returning. So is Blackout in the movie or is it clearly a different robot?

It's not Blackout. Grindor is a different character. Linky

 

[Mr Light]

419 million in SIX DAYS! Yowza! It's astonishing how much better this is doing than the first movie!

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Awesome review: Michael Bay finally made an art movie

That was pretty good.

 

[Blue_Trek]

Has any movie ever rated so poorly with critics and done so well with cash coming in?

18 score, let me repeat that 18 at RT, one of the worst possible ratings ever for a blockbuster movie.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transformers_revenge_of_the_fallen/?critic=creamcrop

compare that to the first one at 68
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transformers_the_movie/?critic=creamcrop


35 at metacritic
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/transformers2


Terrible terrible ratings, yet this movie could be the number one movie for 2009.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I've just gone to Box Office Mojo and seen the worldwide gross for this movie after a little over 10 days of release.

HOLY SHIT!

$1bn anyone?

And mark my words, next weekend it drops like a rock.

 

[Mr Light]

On a Monday, after opening the previous Wednesday, it made $15 million domestic.

 

[Hober Mallow]

And mark my words, next weekend it drops like a rock.

At this point, it makes no difference. Everyone who goes next week could all demand their money back and the studio will still laugh all the way to the bank.

 

[Plain Simple]

Re: Grindor -- isn't it just Blackout? According to Hasbro, there is no "Grindor," it was simply a name they used to prevent the public from learning that Blackout was returning.

What would it matter if the public found out beforehand? It's not like any of the secondary characters have enough personality that it actually means something whether either character A or B appears in the movie. It doesn't matter one bit whether Blackout appears in the movie or another Transformer that just looks like him.

 

[Plain Simple]

Awesome review: Michael Bay finally made an art movie

That was hilarious. Thank you!

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I've just gone to Box Office Mojo and seen the worldwide gross for this movie after a little over 10 days of release.

HOLY SHIT!

$1bn anyone?

And mark my words, next weekend it drops like a rock.

Number 1 for the second week running in the UK. £4m down from £8m last week.

 

[DarthPipes]

They had an article about ten big plot holes in this movie. There was a bunch of them but the one that sticks out to me is the fact that despite a massive Autobot/Deceptacon battle in a major American city, the government was somehow able to cover the whole thing up. Another good one is how when they exit the Smithsonian, they suddenly are in a desert area.