TF2 - ROTF Movie reviews and comments.

[griffin]

As the days count down to the release of the Movie to the general public, and some are getting to see advance/review screenings, this is a topic for people to talk about the Movie, without fear of spoiling it for others.

So let yourself go, and talk about what you thought, good or bad (keep it sensible though). Give it a rating too if you want, to see what the general impression of it is by those of us here.

TURN BACK NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE AND DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILT!!!

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Cool, I saw it on Friday at a reviewers screening. I thought it was pretty cool overall and extremely enjoyable, but naturally there were niggles.

Overall I give it a healthy 3.5/5
I gave the first 3/5 for a comparison of my scoring.

On with the cool stuff. The opening scene was INCREDIBLE and it never seemed to slow down from there, which is quite something considering the movie is about two and a half hours. Whatever people say about Michael Bay, the boy knows how to do action! Fights are great and there are plenty of them. The best is the one in the forest, its long and great to watch. The final fight though was a bit of a let down and over too quick for my liking.

When there aren't fights though, the movie feels a little clunky. There are awkward bit where one character is explaining things over a scene and it all feels rushed and tacked on. Just to justify the current scene on screen. Odd that it is rushed, as the movie is two and a half hours long, and it doesn't really need to be.

There is a lot of TF lore being slapped into this one. The Fallen being one of the first TFs, Prime being a rank amoung Tfs and the Matrix of leadership being used as well ( although its use doesn't quite match up with the name). Protoforms are in there too.

It is very slapstick with in my opinion far too many comedy characters. I count 7!
Sam's roomate
Sam's Mum/Dad
The Twins
"Agent" Simmons
Wheelie
Bumblebee.

Too many methinks. The twins were cranking the Jar-Jar binks level of irritation towards the end which was not helped by the swearing they dished out. Why do a lot of TFs talk with anoying Urban "gangster(?)" slang?

Scenes were there that didn't really need to be. Sam's mum has a corker at the Uni involving marijuana that although quite funny, wouldn't have been missed if cut.

There is also the ocaasional continuity problem and some set ups for scenes just seem wierd. Optimus's entrance being the first, but it is a GOOD entrance:D. Megatron's return is justified, but later Blackout shows up and Scorponok makes a brief cameo. No reason arises for Blackouts return and Scorps has all his assets. Also I think the scene where that aircraft carrier gets downed by Tfs is just forgotten about. I can't recall exactly.

Soundwave is voiced by Frank welker again, but although he is doing his Soundwave voice, they neglected to synthesise it, so S/wave sounds like Dr Claw......

Devestator while impressive and cool wasn't in it for long enough and has devastation quotient was pitifully low. The twins take him on and are smashing up his head, but then later Devs is climbing the pyramid and we have no sign of the twins... Oh and Devs is male and naked....

And for those who whinge about the Devs toy only hvaing vehicle modes, well, it is sort of justified in the movie. It comes across to me that the constructicons are almost "clonish." There are plenty about and they look so similar as to seem like the same one. When Devs joins up, he grabs the cons from vehicle mode, so the actual ones that form Devs you don't see in robot mode. Then later on, you see a constructicon fighting melee whilst Devs s getting around.

I think that will do for now. Feeling tired and might go gets some sleeps.

[Sleeve]

Blackout shows up and Scorponok makes a brief cameo. No reason arises for Blackouts return and Scorps has all his assets.

Bonecrusher made an appearance too.


My thoughts?

First I have to get over the awesomeness of the review screening being in a new VMax cinema with plush leather seating and only about 20 people. Luxury. Plus, SeishinKibou won a foldout keyboard and I won a 'transforming' usb hub.

Anywho, what I can say is this is a typical Bay movie. There's the irreverent, 'slapstick' humour which works in parts but not in others (if you thought Bumblebee pissing on Simmons was bad, wait until you see what Bay did to poor Devastator), there's quite a few inconsistencies that fans should be able to piece together but the average cinema goer will have no clue about, and there's a shit-ton of explosions. And robots. Sooooooo many robots.

The twins weren't actually as bad as I thought they'd be, and though they had a moment or two where their actions made me roll my eyes, I actually liked them. They're certainly not Jar-Jar bad, and they had a few funny lines. Keep an eye on Mudflap when in battle, because he's actually got some skills.

Jetfire I feel was too overplayed as the 'old man', nonetheless I liked his character.

Prime kicked arse. Seriously, he can fight in this one. The forest battle from the previews ruled.

Wheelie was gold. I love how they took an annoying, rhyming 'tard and made a foul-mouthed malcontent. He was priceless, though the last scene of him is cringeworthy. Bay.....*shakes fist*

Ravage was awesome. That's all I need to say. And Soundwave's voice. Not exactly G1, but damn close to it. Yeah, it is Welker, but it seems based off another of his characters.

The main gripe I had was despite the amount of robot action, there still wasn't enough time put to developing all their personalities or giving each robot their due credit. They pretty much stuck to just a few (Starscream finally acted like Starscream), and a lot of the characters I was really looking forward to seeing were simply given 15 seconds of fame or used as cannon fodder.

I also feel they buggered up Megatron. Not only did his resurrection seem rushed (one second he's a corpse in many pieces, next he's reassembled in the blink of an eye), but the way he and the The Fallen interact seemed to diminish his presence of character and his ideologies.

I've been trying to work out if this is equal to or better than the first film. I think a few more viewings and this one will definitely rate higher, because the problem is it's still only fresh in my mind and I'm thinking too critically of it, not just from an entertaiment viewpoint. Plus, I've seen the first film countless times because I love it so it's hard saying if this is better or not.

Though for now, I will say it's slightly better for a few reasons. One - so many robots, some awesome action scenes and beautiful transformations. Two - Kevin Michael Richardson did a voice, and I loooooove his voice. Three - Isabel Lucas box shot.

From a critical observers point, I'd give it 3. From a fan's point, I'm giving it 4. I'll post up the review I have to do for the magazine. My editor came with me and he's also doing one, so his will be the 'average cinema goer' and mine will be the 'TF fan' viewpoint.

[Saintly]

a review by the atomicmpc team -> http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/Review/147861,transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-review.aspx

[Bartrim]

It sounds like this movie is pretty full on. The review on bigpond wap site described it as "Eating a piece of cake made entirely out of icing. Great for the first 3/4 but you really struggle to make it to the end":D

[shokwave2]

All these reviews are making me impatient. As long as there's more robot vs robot fights and destruction than the first movie, i'm happy.

[evilman378]

So what happens to Jolt and Arcee?

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

So what happens to Jolt and Arcee?
Jolt gets a throw-away line at the end, only after seeing him about twice. I sat through the movie wondering who some of the Tfs were...
Arcee: well one of them = BLAM!:D

[RageOnTheRoads]

Does Barricade make an appearance? Or does he turn out to be another conveniently forgotten loose end? :D

[Sleeve]

Barricade does not appear in the film. He did turn up in the prequel novel 'The Veiled Threat' and that is where he met his fate.

[RageOnTheRoads]

Barricade does not appear in the film. He did turn up in the prequel novel 'The Veiled Threat' and that is where he met his fate.

Darn. Guess I am another victim of Bay's misinformation campaign then. :p

Barricade doesn't die in the 'Veiled Threat' though does he? I thought he managed to dig his way out of the rock prison Prime had sealed him in.

[Sleeve]

Darn. Guess I am another victim of Bay's misinformation campaign then. :p

Barricade doesn't die in the 'Veiled Threat' though does he? I thought he managed to dig his way out of the rock prison Prime had sealed him in.

You're probably right. It was weeks ago I read it, so can't quite remember.

[i_amtrunks]

Anyone in NSW got tickets to a screening at George St tonight?

I may end up with a pair (sorry both taken), and just want to know if anyone else from these boards might be there?

[shokwave2]

Take a video camera for me. The final 48 hours are killing me:mad::mad::mad:

[i_amtrunks]

Short Version:
Overlong, and gets boring in final third, great cinematography, poor script, great acting, comedy is either decent slapstick or terribly crude. Effects worse than first film. This is a Prime movie as the first was a Bumblebee movie.

Long Version:
I saw the advanced screening last night at George St, Sydney. It was a strange session as it was for employees of LG, so the cinema was 2/3 men and their friends/partners in the 20-40 year age bracket, and the rest were families with children in the 6-12 bracket. Very strange not having teenagers on mobiles being gits! :p Also strange as the cinema was very long, and narrow, and the acoustics were terrible.

Many of you may remember that I am not a big fan of Bay and his work, but I have to say (and this might give Burn a heart attack) that I think Bay did a fantastic job this time around with the cinematography. He culled the lens flares right back, his use of explosives was top notch in both size and scope, and his general placement and shot selection were fantastic.

Too bad about the "story" which, unlike Sam's mothers "special brownie" was only half-baked. More screentime was devoted to dogs humping, and leg humping than to characters new and old. Unless you were a transformer called Prime, you really did not see much time on screen, even Bumblebee only got a few moments (he is still a crowd favourite going by the audience). Ratchet, Jolt, Arcee, Sideswipe, and all Decepticons bar Megatron and Starscream gain only seconds of screentime, Jolt himself is mroe-or less a deus ex machina. There is next to no character development, Starscream is probably the character who is fleshed out the most from the first film.

Humans were good for the most part, Turdterro was hammy once again, and neither my gf or I enjoyed his screentime. Scenes with Sam and his parents were comedic highlights, but much of the "humour" is lowbrow crudeness, or decent slapstick, this film is not something that younger kids probably shouldn't be watching, there are plenty of lines that will (hopefully) go over their heads.

As others have mentioned, this film is long, too long. Some longer films (LotR, Saving private Ryan) make the hours fly by, this film really dragged on, as Sleeve stated, you get to a point where the film has a climatic battle, and then there is another hour and a bit that really drags it's feet.
Once the movie shifts to Egypt I found myself struggling to really care, the big battle scene was very 'meh' as not for one second did I consider the Decepticons to be a threat, they were not all that menacing since they were rendered as mostly bumbling incompetents.

Speaking of which, Megatrons switch to a lackey to the Fallen was forced, and every scene with the Fallen grated me, he was very much the 80's Saturday morning super villain. The Decepticons for the most part also fill the 80's bad guy roles, being more or less incompetent, standing around waiting to be beaten, Ravage was about the only Decepticon to succeed in his mission.

This was also a film of clichés, and bog standard movie moments borrowed from other films, none very subtle, the last half of the movie would be best described as "Transformers and the Crystal Skull".

Just like the first film, the concept of time seems to be lost in this film, again mostly in the final third. It is hard to explain, but characters re-appear and disappear here and there, and while some human characters have run 3 miles in the film, others have sat still for what would have been 15 or more minutes in realtime (but only seconds in movietime) while enemies attack. it's a minor gripe, but it bothered me more in this film than the first.

The effects are either very good or bad. The motion blur has been toned right back, but you will still have trouble telling what is going on during some fights due to the intricate cgi character models. Some scenes look spectacular, and the fight between Optimus and the Decepticons in the forest was rather well done, and Ravage infiltrating the naval base was the best cgi of the film, but anything to do with Decepticons in the city or the Pyramids was terrible, Devastator in particular looked like a stop motion model for parts of it.
I am sure it was the cinema I was in, but the audio was terrible, many Decepticons were hard or impossible to understand when speaking english, and the film as a whole seemed quiet. The score and soundtrack were weak, no real highlights that I could pick up.

When I saw the first Transformers film it was a 7.30 session on opening day, there was raucous applause at the end. No applause for this film, everyone was up and out of their seats quick smart. A few moments had the general audience laughing, mostly in the first half of the film. Funnily a few guys applauded when Megan Fox was made to run in a lowcut top...

RotF is a decent popcorn flick, but could have been much better had the film been shortened. Other than the abysmal script, the main problem the film has is that it is trying to be too many things to too many people, and ultimately fails at all of them. It is not a comedy, it is not a road trip movie, it is not a trip to enlightnenment/personal betterment, it is not an espionage or war movie, yet it tries it hand at all of these genres at one point of another. On a more personal note, the film felt like it was trying to be cool and hardcore with its use of profanity and lowbrow humour it what was otherwise a mostly family friendly film, and came off the worse for it.

Overall RotF is nowhere near as coherent and solid in storytelling as the first film, there iss till little characterisation for all but a few characters. RotF certainly ups the ante on robot screen time and battles are handled much better. However you must turn your brain completely off before viewing. Oh and make sure to use the bathroom before the film, and pack snacks as well.

Cinematography: 4/5
Story: 1/5
Acting 3.5/5
Voice Acting: 3/5
Visual Effects: 2.5/5
Audio (I hope it was the cinema): 1.5/5
Overall 2.5/5

[i_amtrunks]

As a side note, my gf reactions: SPOILERS

Positives:
- Lots of Spongebob voice acting
- Easy to tell Autobots apart compared to the first film
- Twins, Wheelie and Bumblebee all fun
- Fights pretty good
- Loved Jetfire, but wished his VA would have made up his mind if he was old or British.
- Kitchen bots
- Ravage
- Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson)

Negatives
- Too long
- No idea who was who (little use of names)
- Confusing at times as to which decepticon was who
- Guys that died already came back (from earlier in the film, and the first film)
- fights hard to see who was doing what
- last hour boring
- Turdterro very annoying with ham acting
- Fallen was terrible and did nothing
- hated the whole Matrix earned deal
- Bad guys had too many cheesy lines

Overall the missus enjoyed it, but she was very bored by the end, but she loved the early stuff. She also loved the first film (much more than me) and said had the film been stretched more in the middle and the film ended with the death of Prime, with the third film dealing with that it would have been better. Never did she feel that Prime was going to stay dead, and said that Dr Claw (Soundwave) was pretty boring.:D

[Bartrim]

Yeah but was it better then Dragonball Trunks? Coz i know you loved that film:p

[i_amtrunks]

Yeah but was it better then Dragonball Trunks? Coz i know you loved that film:p

Damn you for making me remember that turd of a film.

The "plot" of TotF is very much like the quality of Dragonball, but the acting and effects are far superior in Transformers.

Only a few hours till you see it and understand what I mean!

[shokwave2]

Mixed reviews so far but all have said too long a movie, great forest battle, and no character development. I know i'll enjoy it.

[Bartrim]

Yep sounds like a good movie to switch the brain off and enjoy without thinking about the worries of the world... Kinda like Bad Boys 2 for me:D:o

[Sleeve]

Damn you for making me remember that turd of a film.

I don't think I've laughed as hard as I just did reading that comment than I have in a while.

[Robzy]

Well, I can't wait to see it... only a few hours now! :eek:

[King Atlas]

Yeah I didn't think it was that great. I agree with most of what trunks has stated.

*I hated the twins, the parents and "alice".
*No character development and some bots only lasted 30 seconds.
*The fallen had one cool scence and that was it.
*IMO the jetfire scence dragged on.
*The forest battle was great.
*ravage and wheelie were cool.
*Prime was awesome.

[Sky Shadow]

I want a Pretender toy of Isabel Lucas.

That is all.

[Saintly]

i want the nano-combiner bot that came out of ravage's mouth!

[i_amtrunks]

i want the nano-combiner bot that came out of ravage's mouth!

For all the going on about how spectacular and advanced the cgi at the end of the film was, I found that whole scene with Ravage breaking into the facility the best cgi in terms of realism (blending in with the live action footage) and overall awesomeness in the entire film.


I don't think I've laughed as hard as I just did reading that comment than I have in a while.

Trust you to laugh at my pain! :p

[GoktimusPrime]

I like Bartrim's comparison between this movie and Bad Boys - it is very enjoyable on that level, and that is what I was expecting to get from this movie, so I thoroughly enjoyed it! In fact, it exceeded my expectations in some areas, such as the twins. I thought I'd hate them, but I don't. I don't love them but I don't hate them either.

As for the jokes...
+ The dog humping I could tolerate, I thought that was okay. But they went too far with Wheelie, cos it just makes no freakin' sense.
+ The special cookies scene was just stupid and I didn't find that funny at all. Maybe if I were 10. (-_-)
+ Simmon's joke about the "enemy scrotum" made me lol. But you all know my thing with janglies. :D

Otherwise I thought the movie was fantastic. :) My friend and I commented about the savagery, such as:
+ the way the Constructicons cannabilised one of their own to rebuild Megatron
+ the merging sequence of the Constructicons into Devastator - it was like Demolishor was like watching Demolishor raping the other Constructicons and forcing them to merge with him. It was kinda disturbing to look at!
+ Bumblebee ripping out Ravage's "vertebrae" (the audience at IMAX were like "Whoooaaa!")
+ the way Jetfire tore out his own spark and seeing Ratchet and Jolt tear him apart to upgrade Optimus Prime

[Saintly]

oh yeah... there's some violent language in it, which I'm not sure if I want saintly legend to learn yet.

[i_amtrunks]

+ the way Jetfire tore out his own spark and seeing Ratchet and Jolt tear him apart to upgrade Optimus Prime

Now I beleive that was about the only time we see Jolt, and only about the third time we see ratchet do anything...

The Hash Cookie scene was aun-needed in the context of the film, but I didnt mind it too much. The dog humping, and continual scrotum jokes annoyed me, there were about 3 testicle jokes in the last 30 or so minutes of the film, taser, knee/landing on them and then the Devastator joke.

Also the cannibalising scene just before Megatron is revived could have been done better, 5 went down, 6 came back (Megatron and Scalpel were the two new ones) but it was a little unclear. There was also a shot that almost looks as though the Constrtucticon that was used for parts was standing back in the group when megs revived...

[Lord_Zed]

Overall I enjoyed the film :), I mean I wasn't excpecting a masterpiece or even something on the level of the great TF comics, just something above the cartoon, and that it was. It was a really frantic film, the action was frantic, the plot was frantic, some of the acting was frantic to.

There were a lot of gaps in the plot, and unexplained so and so's back etc. But I'm sure there are many way they could explain it. Blackout for instance could have been ressurected by the Constructicons after Megatron, or he could just be a standard Decepticon clone sorta bot (like the G1 seekers).

I also agree the film was savage, the Autobots seemed unusaly vicious but were actualy effective warriors. It was difficult to remember the Decepticons deserved their fate given the massive destruction and deathtoll they cause (albiet mostly of camera).

I really enjoyed Starscream in the film and It doesn't really bother me that Sideswipe, Arcee, Jolt etc had no character cause at least they gave the Decepticons some screen time, and even though the Megatron dynamic with the Fallen was not the classic Megatron we know I still enjoyed it. I agree the Fallen was a let down at the end, he didn't do nuffin. But he sure does look creepy I really like the Fallen's design as well as the Decepticon base It looked really alien and helped flesh out what movie Cybertron might look like.

I noticed the canabalising scene but also found it a little confusing, for a moment I though they revived Brawl an used him to rebuild Megatron, which would make sense given his crab tank form. :D

Jolt I believe appeared 3 times, once at the base, once in the Eygpt battle, and at the end when he was named.

I also thought the film had to much crass humour, sure a little is fine but there was far to much here. A lot of the extra human player amused me though they were overplayed in parts. The twins are fine to, there not as annoying as Jarjar, there just a little slow.

Overall I like the way this film opens up the Movie Universe a bit, while the plot is a bit pothole filled, IDW could actualy make decent comics about the movie universe now, seeing as how the Autobots and Humans had been fighting Decepticons for 2 years, who knows which other Decepticons or Autobots may have come and gone. there's also the many Decpticon attacks on earth we didn't see. The film also added a little bit of Transformers mythology with the Primes, I'm sure someone can build on that.

In the toy realm, the film actualy seems to explain Hasbro's release of seperate Constructicons and Devestator, and Crab Megatron actualy appears to be the most accurate ROTF Megs toy.


lastly though, where was Barricade?????? :mad:

[Sleeve]

Now I beleive that was about the only time we see Jolt

Second time, actually. He's in robot mode when Prime's body is returned to the New Jersey base and the humans surround the Autobots. Though all he did was stand in the background, so it's not as if he did much.

[Scattershot]

Too much crappy humour for me. A few jokes is fine but whats with the ongoing toilet humour, it loses its comedy value after a while.

The whole Constructicon/Devastator thing I thought was handled very poorly. I was so dissapointed seeing him combine only to see individual Constructicons still looking for Sam. Whats up with that? Clones??? Weak excuse, boring excuse.

I'm sorta dissapointed with it all atm but I can't say I didn't like the movie. I think I need to go see it again and get my head around it all.

[Dylbot]

The whole Constructicon/Devastator thing I thought was handled very poorly. I was so dissapointed seeing him combine only to see individual Constructicons still looking for Sam. Whats up with that? Clones??? Weak excuse, boring excuse.


I agree. I'm confused with blackout and bonecrusher returning as well. I'm annoyed that we barely get to see the Autobots, and the army does most of the work.

[i_amtrunks]

I agree. I'm confused with blackout and bonecrusher returning as well.

That lazy Soundwave only scanned a half dozen alt modes for the entire Decepticon army! :p

Most of the cons that appeared in teh final battle did not even get to scan an alt mode, they stayed in protoform/asteroid mode, event hough there were plenty or armed forces vehicles for them to scan that they could have better used to their advantage.

[Fungal Infection]

Saw it today and loved it. Plot holes aplenty but its not exactly a cerebral movie but then again, thinking movies don't bring in the patrons (ie. Watchmen). Only thing I didn't like was the fact that there was a guy in the cinema sitting in front of me who reminded me of Roller only 10 times more annoying and less charming :p He came into the cinema with a group of friends and the first thing he does is stand at the entrance and shout "One shall stand, one shall fall!" to the laughter of his friends. Then throughout the movie he kept on explaining things to his friends about different plot holes and how Sideswipe was red in G1, Sam is supposed to be Spike from G1 etc...... Then at the end he shits on the movie then says to his friends he wants to see it in IMAX and see if its any different to this "deconstruction of G1". Fucking annoying shit. Seeing it again this weekend in IMAX with the missus and friends.

[1AZRAEL1]

Saw it today and loved it. Plot holes aplenty but its not exactly a cerebral movie but then again, thinking movies don't bring in the patrons (ie. Watchmen). Only thing I didn't like was the fact that there was a guy in the cinema sitting in front of me who reminded me of Roller only 10 times more annoying and less charming :p He came into the cinema with a group of friends and the first thing he does is stand at the entrance and shout "One shall stand, one shall fall!" to the laughter of his friends. Then throughout the movie he kept on explaining things to his friends about different plot holes and how Sideswipe was red in G1, Sam is supposed to be Spike from G1 etc...... Then at the end he shits on the movie then says to his friends he wants to see it in IMAX and see if its any different to this "deconstruction of G1". Fucking annoying shit. Seeing it again this weekend in IMAX with the missus and friends.

Hahahaha that guy sounds like a complete w**k.

Word of warning for IMAX, go to the toilet beforehand, try to get as far to the back and middle as you can, so basically be first in line :p

[FFN]

Reuse of models is a simple financial thing. You see how much stock footage from the last film is used. If the Constructicons all went into Devastator, well, there would be nobody left to fight NEST and the Autobots, well, except for the protoform mode guys.


+ The special cookies scene was just stupid and I didn't find that funny at all. Maybe if I were 10. (-_-) You know, I was sitting next to you and I'm pretty sure you were laughing, along with everybody else in the audience.

[Lord_Zed]

Yep I agree it would take ages to build and rig such complex CGI characters so re-use is pretty much necesary, most big budget movies usualy have multiples of there super cool monsters, rather than many unique ones.

I personaly have no probelm at all with the re-use, including the re-use of the previous films suposedly dead characters. The ROTF film just captures a part of what has been a 2year long battle so anything could have happened, and clones and drones are as steeped in Transformer mythos as the Matrix and Energon. I can't fault the movie for that.

I can fault it for excessive nerthandernal humour though.

[Gutsman Heavy]

Dissapointed, its not a bad film, I just think it didn't do anything better than the first. Bumble Bee who WAS the first film didn't do squat in this, Devvy was grossly misused, Fallen didn't live up to his pedigree, and Megatron Bows to NO ONE!

Still, they did a top job with Starscream!
Long Haul looks f'ing badass.
A Wheelie who doesn't suck!
A Jetfire who I like!
The Twins were almost ok! (they actually remind me of my brother who is going through a "gangsta" phase, damn kids)

[Robzy]

You know, I was sitting next to you and I'm pretty sure you were laughing, along with everybody else in the audience.Well, I wasn't laughing at the "cookie" scene that's for sure. And neither was anyone else at the screening I went to. I sunk in to my seat at that point.


Megatron Bows to NO ONE!+1!
Couldn't agree more! In fact, this has been playing on my mind all day. I would have rather seen Megatron and Optimus have to reluctantly work together in order to stop the Fallen!

[Gutsman Heavy]

oh and don't get me started on the "apprentice" crap!

[Kyle]

I thought Megatron should have been happy that the Fallen was killed so he can take his place...

Lackey...

[Robzy]

oh and don't get me started on the "apprentice" crap!Yeah, I was pissed at that too!

[roller]

where were the Actionmasters?!

where were the Turbomasters?!

where was the Cybernet space cube?!!!


:D

[loophole]

well i think i hyped myself up a bit too much for this film which can ruin it all in itself but i did walk out of the cinema with a massive smile on my face.

It did tend to drag on a bit it some spots and some of the humour wasnt actually that humurous(like the first film) but overall a very enjoyable film i'll see how i feel after the 2nd time i see it when im not all hyped up

[RageOnTheRoads]

Dissapointed, its not a bad film, I just think it didn't do anything better than the first. Bumble Bee who WAS the first film didn't do squat in this, Devvy was grossly misused, Fallen didn't live up to his pedigree, and Megatron Bows to NO ONE!

Still, they did a top job with Starscream!
Long Haul looks f'ing badass.
A Wheelie who doesn't suck!
A Jetfire who I like!
The Twins were almost ok! (they actually remind me of my brother who is going through a "gangsta" phase, damn kids)

My sentiments exactly! :D

All in all not a bad movie, but nothing brilliant either. I was annoyed that once again the robots took the back seat to the us military/human fluff, and suffered a severe case of underdevelopment. There were plot holes and deud ex machinas all over the place, and don't get me started over Devi's pitiful demise.

On another note, the whole multiple Constructicon thing confused the hell out of my friends. (Those not so educated in TF lore.) One comment went something along the lines of "WTF, didn't that big mining truck dude just form the monster thing!?" I found myself having to explain a lot of things over fish and chips after the movie. :D

Of course the action scenes=mind numbingly awesome. My brain is still a puddle of goo... and thats a good thing. :) Props to ILM who outdid themselves again.

That forest scene.....WOW! :eek: Starscream's voice was unbelievably wicked. The "come here boy!" sent shivers down my spine. Very cool.

It was also nice to see Megs and Screamer at each others throats agian.:p
Long Haul is now undoubtably my fave movie 'former design. And Prime was truly the king!

[loophole]

actually one thing i loved about the movie is that the Decepticons had different transformers for very specific purposes

[autobreadticon]

I loved the movie, the visual storytelling was great, the only criteria I wanted from Bay was it had to be enjoyable, it was damn fun,the humour appealed to various groups, the moments of seriouness were cheesey and the onscreen errors were amusing similar to the charm of the G1 cartoon,while it maintained nods to the TF continuity. Bay IMO was a perfect choice, I went with an open regardless of the expectation of it not being an oscar winner.

Critcism
Jolt no love what tha hell?
Final Desert battle scene was lame and boring
BB minimal interaction later on

[autobreadticon]

I enjoyed the pop culture references , the scene of the Black Hawk (black hawk down) with the reference to the independence day speech by simmons, referenced to the scene in the garage to the actual guy who was in ID (the guy who talks to Mukaela while on the phone to Sam), little things like that
lots in the movie!! Also loved the nod to the law of conversation of mass during lecture scene, also possible references in the aircraft museum , Ransack and original Japanese fighter plane? Ransack? Also lame was the dec. Protoforms did not take alt modes(I.e tanks and jets) the desert scene was useless, I wished there was more focus on the robots rather than on the human element of the fight

[sifun]

multiple demolishers, long hauls and mix masters? so theres one of each to form devastator then ones on their own for the battle.

loved how optimus was actually a good fighter in this film compared to being thrown around last time.

Did not like how megs wasn't as much of an adversary to prime
Did not like how soundwave had welker g1 soundwave voice without the soundwave robotic voice filter on it.

[sifun]

Devastator wasn't as great as i thought he'd be.
He's supposed to wreak havoc and be quite invincible. yet he's taken out by some whimpy small cars-

[turbonegro39]

Loved megs voice. It sounded more like hugo than the first flick. Loved it as a popcorn film.

[Lord_Zed]

Devastator wasn't as great as i thought he'd be.
He's supposed to wreak havoc and be quite invincible. yet he's taken out by some whimpy small cars-

Don't you mean a fancy railgun?

[sifun]

i mean when mudflap got sucked into his mouth i expect him to die. I thought to myself good riddance, but nooooo he had to live.

[PirateCop]

prime shoulda chucked the fallen onto the sun thing, the supreme supreme leader of the decepticons shouldve been strong enough to not get crushed by prime

[Stompy]

Liked:
- Jetfire
- Wheelie
- Skids & Mudflap
- Ravage
- Kitchen bots
- humour
- Megatron & Starscream banter
- Prime lore

Disliked:
- short to no screen time for some of the characters like Sideswipe, Jolt, Arcee Triplets
- robot action either way too close to the screen, which felt like I was in a washing machine full of garbage, or or the action is covered by sand, smoke, buildings, parachute which felt like I was watching the action thru a keyhole
- generic decepticon bots
- Megatron's role severly weakened and diminished by his underling like behaviour around the Fallen

I just didn't like it that much. The action was always obstructed by stuff. Especially when Optimus was rising from his ressurection. Should have been a glory moment, but instead I got to watch a parachute/cover flailing over the screen. Underused autobots, where's more Arcee action and Sideswipe Grrr. I was quite disappointed bar the twins and wheelie. Prefer the first movie by a mile.

[Kyle]

I've learnt not to expect a Michael Bay film to have depth, and I did not walk away form the cinema disappointed. The new film served its purpose to be very very entertaining. I'm happy with it and have already scheduled to watch it 3 more times before the end of next week.

They showed us the Nemesis!!!!!! How awesome was that?

I read some spoilers before watching it. Soundwave and the twins were better than I expected. OP and BB are much better fighters in this one!

I hope there won't be fans adding custom balls to the Devastator toy to make it more movie accurate... but I'm sure there'll be... :o

[Bartrim]

Ok first of all I think the movie is too big for IMAX. It almost hurt to watch it and I couldn't follow everything.
I was kinda dissapointed that Sideswipe didn't get more time as i though he rocked in that first scene.
Loved the twins. Their bickering reminded me of how me and my brother act:D
Loved the Starscream/Megatron interaction.
Would of liked more names mentioned. Like how Starscream referred to Rampage by his name.
Long Haul looked awesome. Would of liked him to have a bit more time.
Sams roommate bugged the crap out of me.
Alice wasn't as annoying as I thought she would be. Loved how Bumblebee treated her:D
I like Sams quick wit. Especially the "tighter t-shirt" line. Shia delivers those lines really well.
Hated the Fallen/Megatron, master/apprentice thing. What are they Sith?:mad:


I'll probably post more comments as I think of them but overall this movie was exactly what I thought it would be. Switch off the brain, sit down and hang on. Very enjoyable:D

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I've learnt not to expect a Michael Bay film to have depth, and I did not walk away form the cinema disappointed. The new film served its purpose to be very very entertaining. I'm happy with it and have already scheduled to watch it 3 more times before the end of next week.

They showed us the Nemesis!!!!!! How awesome was that?

I read some spoilers before watching it. Soundwave and the twins were better than I expected. OP and BB are much better fighters in this one!

I hope there won't be fans adding custom balls to the Devastator toy to make it more movie accurate... but I'm sure there'll be... :o

Fans Project order for custom robo-testicles anyone?:p

I think your sentiment is spot on there Kyle, don't read too much into it and its enjoyable. Sure you can pick on a lot of stuff but just try and enjoy i for waht it is, a spectular action flick.

After having watched it for the 3rd time, I find myself annoyed at the amount of swearing in it. I think I REALLY hate gangsta talk. It just seemed going for the cheap laugh of a little blue robot saying "bitch" and stuff like that. For me though, the movie peaked at the forrest scene with Optimus. WHen it got to the final fight between the fallen and Op, I was left wanting more coz I was expecting something along the lines of the forrest, but it wasn't and it was over too quickly too.

I also find myself saddened in Megatron's (now permannently) diminshed role. The guy has no chance of winning now. In previous series Megs was usually more powerful than Prime (military/combatant vs civilian sort of thing), here we see the Fallen as Prime's brother of sorts, since Prime is a descendant of the fallen's brothers. Megatron is now just a dude, he is immediately on the back foot.... As Prime is a legendary figure now. Loss of respect there for Megs. Whats wiht the "EVen in death my rule is total" speech from Megs when HE does what the fallen tells him to do?!?!?

Liked the banter between Megs and Stars though. Especially in the ship when STars was getting strangled where he "warned" megatron about the fragility of the hatchlings instead of yeilding.

Lots of killing in this one withsoldiers getting blown up all over the place and Autobots executing Deceps left right and centre.

One thing I am tiring of is this apparent magic love for New Yorkers WTF is up with that? Sure, Madagascra 2 had it, but they were from the city (although it was far too excessive) this movie just kind of chucks it in somewhat randomly. They could have also shortened it a bit by cutting out some of the military scenes. Is Bay trying to recruit for the war on terror or something?

The more I see it the less I seem to enjoy it as the holes are more noticeable. I guess ts a good thing the action sequences are good.

[Krayt]

Hated the Fallen/Megatron, master/apprentice thing. What are they Sith?:mad:



OF COURSE THEY ARE!!!!!

Levitating stuff around the Pyramid.....

and always have been.... Don't you remember the weapons Megs used on Prime in 1986?

[Mr_K]

BIGGEST disappointment in recent movie history :(

Seriously, what were they thinking. They ended up with about 30 transformers in the movie, all of which pretty much got only a few seconds to a few minutes of screen time apart from a handful.

I was really looking forward to a huge optimus + jetfire vs devastator fight but oh no, aparently humans have a gun with enough power to take devastator down by themselves. It isn't explained how they got this gun or tech (considering it is explicitely outlined that the autobots will never assist with new tech) and then after it IS revealed they only use it once when if it can take down devastator then why not use it against the fallen and megatron as well who were standing together pretty much where devastator was?

What did they do to our Megatron! Megatron has never had a master. Galvatron had Unicron for about 45min but to see Megatron become the sidekick was -> overly disapointing.

LOL, Bay said that they didn't put Arcee in the first film because they didn't want to have to explain how there could be female transformers, well he didn't explain it in this one anyway so that was lame.

Devastator was a huge letdown. As soon as demolisher was killed I was like, but you're part of devastator! Thinking they might resurrect him some how for that role it came to devastators entrance and I thought, wow, cool. But then the next frames were of rampage, mixmaster and haul fighting and I was confused because didn't I just see all you guys combine? Using carbon copies of robots to form a devastator without individual bots was soooo weak. If devastator had to be just a lot of parts coming together then why not use different vechicles then those you're already using for other characters in the film -> HUGE letdown and utterly confusing.

Plus no barracade who was awesome in the first film, oh but bonecrusher is back now -> wtf.

I would have prefered half the cast of transformers and each having more screen time so that we could actually see who they are and why each is an important part of each team instead of just gun fodder.

That said, they did do some things right. Soundwave and Ravage were awesome but totally underused. The terminator chick was cool, something I didn't see coming, and I'll let them have that one because of the Japanese Pretenders.

Starscream was done really well for this film. His smugness and lack of loyalty was back and it was great to see.

The twins were annoying, but mostly because that screen time could have been used for actually cool transformers like Ironhide and maybe some of the bikes and new TFs.

Well that's my rant. I'm glad I haven't gotten any of the toys yet because I don't think I will get any. The first movie was great, this one had so many plot points and yet only a few characters out of the huge amount that were fleshed out enough to even attempt to carry the storylines.

[autobreadticon]

notice Sam was wearing that leather jacket with jeans while holding that knife, 3.75 Indiana Jones toy.... Again thinking over it the desert scene had huge potential to develop the unused autobots, I hated how military was predominately used , I was pissed that cheap fallen protoform took the limelight, while there was potential for the humans and tf just to fight constructicons, maybe different groups having different melée since there was spare constructicon around while showing some of their characters through banter and fight style, again big let down during the ending

[Sky Shadow]

(Oops. I accidentally posted this here rather than in the 'Revenge of the Fallen, Anyone else Dislike?' thread. Oh well, it fits in here too. :))

I, personally, have absolutely no interest in the movie universe - it just takes up shelf-and-peg space from aesthetically pleasing Transformers toylines and saves me lots of money.

That said, I was far from disappointed by this movie. Wheelie and Jetfire got some characterisation, I loved its concept of the Seekers and the first new Pretender in twenty years = yay. An 150 minute running time... that's the equivalent of seven cartoon episodes. Did I get seven cartoons worth of enjoyment out of this film? I think I did.

(What I don't understand is why I keep hearing people say they liked the forest scene. It was just yet another generic fight that ended with Optimus Prime falling sideways to the right of the screen. What the heck was up with that camera angle? And was that weird sideways fall just in the IMAX version or in all the prints?)

[Lord_Zed]

I dunno Megatron has been subsurvient a few times, although perhaps not for the length of time implied here. But I seem to recall Megatron being humbled by Shockwave a few times, and Galavtron in the IDWverse is a servant of Nemesis Prime. So the Fallen Megatron thing didn't bother me that much, just the Fallen's quick demise at the end.


Originally Posted by Kyle
They showed us the Nemesis!!!!!! How awesome was that?

I agree I loved that scene.

Despite it being full of holes, I like the way this movie expands the Movie Universe, the first one kind of implied that the 5 Autobots and 7 cons might be the sum total of earthbound Transformers, and that they all flew there in commet form. Little tidbits like the glimpse of the Decepticon base they use space ships, the Ancient Primes, Spark Cores, and the revelation that there are many Decepticons on earth help bring the movie universe more in line with classic Transformers lore.


I, personally, have absolutely no interest in the movie universe - it just takes up shelf-and-peg space from aesthetically pleasing Transformers toylines and saves me lots of money.


That's how I felt about some of the previous TF mian lines, I'm happy the movie line is back although now my wallet is suffering again.

[Thanatos]

I went into this expecting poor dialogue, poor decisions, and overall a sloppy movie. In many ways, I was proven right and wrong. The thing I've come to expect from the movie-verse is that it is for the general masses, not for the huge fans like us.

There were plenty of things I liked. Alice was a very interesting included character, and I chalk her poor use of subtlety and seduction as the fact that's she's a Decepticon rather than Isabel Lucas is an awful actress. Call me sentimental, but hearing Soundwave's Frank Welker voice was phenomenal, despite it sounding more like Doctor Claw. I do wish he'd come to earth for a bit of Starscream banter but that was fulfilled in this movie with Megatron finally getting a chance to beat on his lackey.

I loved the twins. I think adding a layer of tomfoolery was very good, especially considering Tom Kenny got one of the voice roles. Jetfire was another favourite, because I ignore previous continuity when watching the movies. The angry old senior was very entertaining, and his sacrifice to power up Prime was definately more interesting than a "look we combine" thing.

I think they bypassed the "individual bot modes" thing with Devastator and the toy. By showing a bunch of generics become Devastator and keeping the individual bots there's nothing but intelligent marketing there. The Arcee girls were cool in execution, as well as Sideswipe. Some of the Decepticons did very well as well, especially Rampage, Ravage, and I loved the Auto/Decep Wheelie.

There was a lot I wasn't happy about. For example, Sideways only being used for about what was shown in the trailer. Big let down, considering how much I liked his Alt-mode. Devastator getting smashed so quickly was also a let down. The other big downer of these movies is you need to characterise the robots or we just don't care about them. I need a reason to give a crap about them, to know their story. I need to know why Blackout is back! I mean, for me, I know that's Grindor, because that's what the supporting fiction tells us, but if you're the average movie-goer, if you remember what happened in TF1, you're bound to be confused.

Finally, the inclusion of a ridiculous amount of nerd lorelike the redesigned Matrix of Leadership, The Fallen, and the combination of Mudflap/Skids and Devastator tells me that the writers tried their very best to get as many references in there to shout out to the fans. I left the theatre with a sense of satisfaction but not excitement or amazement. Overall a 7/10 movie, but I'll give it 8 for the giant robots I love :)

[lcz128]

I think what might be a smart army builder would be the generic Decepti-comets that fell to earth and started wreaking havoc - except for the fact that they just transform into falling turds <_<;

Also...

Sideways got a whole 2 or so seconds like from the trailer as botmode and then he dies?!?!?!? Totally skipping the toy :\

[Lord_Zed]

Sideways got a whole 2 or so seconds like from the trailer as botmode and then he dies?!?!?!? Totally skipping the toy :\

Yeah poor Sideways still love the toy though, Although most of the new Autobots weren't much better served really.

It was such a Michael Bay movie a whole bunch of special effects cahined together. because as we all know Bay doesn't understand the differance between effects and ideas.

Although at least that showcases his strong points, I imagine if he tried drama it would end up like Lucas atempt in Star Wars Epsiode 2...or errg Pearl Harbour.

[shokwave2]

Even though i spoiled the movie by keeping up with spoilers, i still found it enjoyable. Yeah it has plot holes, bad comedy and annoying characters, i'd still watch it over and over just for the robot action. Loved Devastators screen time, Bubmblebee's tougher style, Optimus's fighting, Sam's parents comedy routine (i find them entertaining and so did the audience),

Now i'm being really picky, but if i had to edit the movie, i agree it was too long, i'd cut out:

- Sam's roomate. Why? He did nothing beside find Robowarrior, which Sam could of done by looking for his old Sector 7 buddy or keeping in contact with over the past 2 years.

- Cut out the whole hour wasted in the desert looking for the Matrix. Just make Jetfire read the hiroglyphics, say it's located here, have them teleoprt there and they're on their way.

- Get rid of Jolt (Ratchet's a medic, he could have combined Optimus and Jetfire), Sideways (done absolutely nothing but show the audience Sideways cool arms), Arcee (no need for them), and cut out alot of The Twins bickering.

- Also, didn't like the decepticon (does it have a name?) made from the micro-balls which Ravage releases into the naval base. Ravage could have just done it himself IMO.

This would put the movie in the under 2 hour mark, which would make it a non-stop action flick. Anyway, i'm still going to watch this over and over

8/10

[Paulbot]

I agree in general with your suggested cuts, but


- Sam's roomate. Why? He did nothing beside find Robowarrior, which Sam could of done by looking for his old Sector 7 buddy or keeping in contact with over the past 2 years.

If the guys can have Mikaela and Alice, give the girls and, uh, others, someone nice to look at too ;)

[shokwave2]

Valid point Paulbot. Wasn't Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson enough for those interested?;)

[Doubledealer]

Overall I had fun watching ROTF. It's certainly not as good as the first movie and in a lot of ways it's a very disappointing sequel; but at the same time it has a lot going for it and for the first 2/3's especially it's quite the action rollercoaster.

Things I liked:
-The Shanghai setting. Wish they spent more time here.
-The short and punchy action scenes - Discovering Demolishor, Sideways VS. Sideswipe, BB VS. Rampage & Ravage, Prime VS. Blackout & Screamer were real standouts for me.
-The whole sequence from Soundwave catapulting Ravage to earth to Ravage escaping with the shard. That last bit with Ravage spraying the marines with machine gun fire as he slides around in the dirt was fantastic and will stick in my mind for some time to come.
-Wheelie. Wow, what a surprise. From 'this is the freakin' house of horrors' to 'That's my eye you stupid b**ch!!'....He had so many funny moments. I loved him.
-Terminator lady - really didn't see it coming and it was a great surprise.
-The relationship between Sam & BB. I loved the moment they shared in Egypt, darn near brought a tear to the eye. :p
-Megatrons revival sequence, then seeing him smash into that sub and fly to Cybertron.
-Sam's parents. They're no Bobby B but I still find them funny. :D

Didn't like:
-I was disgusted when I saw Optimus Prime dropped like a sack of potatoes. No respec I tell you.

-One thing I was really looking forward to was seeing Demolishor lead the constructicons, and how they act around him and Sideways. Needless to say, my dreams were shattered (along with Demolishors brains) 10 minutes into the film (I hated Prime at that point in time, haha).

-The length. This movie is waaaaay too long and I think a lot of people, especially non-Transfans will get bored with the final third.

-Anything to do with the Fallen. He bored me to death, looked rubbish and took away the respect I had for Megatron. Are we meant to believe the Fallen is stronger than ALL of his brothers combined and that's why they had to shield the matrix?? Come on, they could have overpowered him and toasted his arse in a nano-click. Instead, they chose to sacrifice themselves in a 'protective' tomb which simply hides themselves along with the artifact (while not actually shielding it at all).

-Most of the action scenes in the desert. The action scenes that really work and hold my interest are the ones involving a handful of Transformers with inventive choreography & flashy finishing moves...Not this generic shooting into dirt for an hour with every Decepticon acting as threatening as a monkey in a samurai suit.

-Jetfire. I had tears rolling down my eyes he bored me so much.

-Hardly any screen time for the bikes, Jolt and Sideswipe. :(

-Devastator...There was no dialogue between the constructicons. The leader was killed nearly straight away. He wasn't even comprised of the constructicons in the end. By the time he showed up I really didn't give a crap about him.

-The quest to find the matrix. I was expecting a bit of an adventure like the end of Indiana Jones and the last crusade (don't set my expectations high at all, do I? :D) in finding the matrix, not just 'Oh look, the stoopid bot made a crack in the wall and there is the matrix' deal we got.

[Saintly]

Like JD said in the other thread -> http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?p=108249

This is very similar.. perhaps a merge?

[jaydisc]

Jolt, like the LG phone, and the Cisco Webex display on Michaela's screen is simply paid product placement. GM was desperate to show off their first foray into the electrical car space.

[Norcinu]

Well, coming from a kid's point of view, I found the movie filled with excitement, action and explosions. From a fan's point of view I found it shallow, meh and explosions.

I think towards the general public this is a good movie for quick sugar rush and hype. Coming out of the movie I couldn't stop myself from trying to act out the moves OP pulled in the movie and talking about how cool the robots were. But that's all, I couldn't talk about how good the plot/story was or the characters and whenever I tried mentioning names for robots my boyfriend couldn't keep up.

What I liked:
-EVERYTHING about Soundwave, Ravage and that thin Transformer
-Seeing The Nemesis/Decepticon hideout
-Interactions between the Decepticons
-The improved battle performance of the Autobots

What I didn't like:
-The dog humping
-The Fallen and "Sun destroyer" being destroyed so easily
-The disrespect of Optimus D:<
-What the Matrix of Leadership looked like.

Is it too early to start discussing about ideas on the next movie :D?

[GoktimusPrime]

Coming out of the movie I couldn't stop myself from trying to act out the moves OP pulled in the movie
Please don't try transforming into a truck, even if you are a trained and experienced contortionist! :p ;)

[Fungal Infection]

One thing I liked about seeing ROTF - the new GI Joe movie trailer. This movie looks like it could match or beat ROTF (and I rate ROTF highly for pure entertainment value).

[SMHFConvoy]

I didn't like it. It's not something that I feel strongly about but I really thought the movie was too long and a lot of the time the action was so fast I could not tell which bot was kicking which bot's @$$.

The start of the movie was really strong but the twins, the dogs and later Wheelie humping Megan Fox's leg... Ha funny...:confused: I think it all went south after Ravage secures the shard. I liked that scene there were insecticons in it!

Megatron was very UnMegatron, he's like THE big bad second to no one, out for it all but fawns over the Fallen:confused: Even in the 1984 movie after being resurrected by Unicron as Galvatron he still sought to break free of Unicron's control and become Unicron's master...

At least the whole non-robot mode set of constructicons toys make sense...

[Lord_Zed]

One thing I liked about seeing ROTF - the new GI Joe movie trailer. This movie looks like it could match or beat ROTF (and I rate ROTF highly for pure entertainment value).

Really, I didn't see the trailer cause it doesn't come bundled with IMAX. I have even lower excpectations than for ROTF and Terminator 4 so that would be nice if it was that good.

[MV75]

Loved this movie, so much in common with the G1 cartoon version.

Wheelie (name only this time, he was great in this movie).
"Earning" the matrix of leadership.
Prime dying.
Megatron having a "master".
Devastator.

I'm sure there are some more, but anyway, great stuff.

I also liked the reappearance of the s7 guy. :) And the railgun shot on devastator, seemed more like it didn't destroy him, but just broke him up and resulted in the individuals being knocked out for the fight.

The twins were better than I thought too, I still don't like the little buzz box cars they were, but their characters were great.

And megatron with the fallen, seemed like darth vader / palpatine to me. :)


Oh yea, and with that gijoe trailer, I dunno about those suits...... seemed to take away what made each joe special.

[Krayt]

I wish people would stop bagging out the "dropping" of prime when they return his body to base....

1) What, the Choppers suppossed to Land on top of him? It wasn't a special souped up thing... it was a plane old cargo carrying thing with some chains on it!!!

and 2) it was to show the change in attitudes.... NEST was on the outter, collection was by the USA not NEST (i think anyway, otherwise they would have done alot more to load him into a plane and work on him or something)

It works to show that things are going bad and they, both autobots and NEST, aren't in control anymore

[jacksplatt11]

Just saw it, I liked the first one better but still enjoyed this, massive robots fighting is always good. My friends, and I for that matter, complained about the fact that you can't clearly make out whats going on in the fight scenes, but that's the same as the first so what are you gonna do eh...

Dislikes:
-All attempts are humour were rubbish, humping dogs, TFs humping legs, Devastator balls, reefer cookies wtf wasn't even realistic, Spitz tasering himself with his boxers down got the biggest laugh and we didn't even think it was funny? hmmm
-Devestator did nothing really, had this awesome vortex sucking thing that was sucking in and destroying everything, but it couldn't grind up one of the twins? Isn't that the purpose of it, to destroy stuff?
-Fallen was no big threat really when it came down to it but I guess Optimus was super powered at the time, which also annoyed me, since when was Optimus such a good fighter? Must have got a lot of training in the 2 years between
-Decepticons not seen as a viable threat, how are we meant to believe they will ever actually threaten us when all it takes is a handful of Autobots and humans to take down 30-something Deceps
-Death isn't forever
-No real characterization of most TFs, but it was good to see the Starscream of old, even if Megatron became a lackey

One question though, have these 'hatchlings' been explained? I haven't read the comics cause I'm lazy so I'm not sure if they're in there, do they grow up into protoforms that get sent to planets or whatever?

[darockk]

well ive been puposely keeping myself in the dark about this movie so here are my impressions after seeing it without knowing anything about it

likes:

- opening sequence and intro of prime
-forest fighting scene. this was awesome. the reason being the camera was panned far away enough to actually see what was going on.
-starscream gets to talk
-heaps more robots, even if not character developed


dislikes:

-lowbrow human humor, should have ditched the parents, sector 7 man and sam's roomate altogether. they were annoying, not funny.
-hated how we get a terminator X / Species chick in this movie. since when can TF's become humanoid?
- twins got irritating fast. talk about the jar jar binks of this movie.
-hated the 'sam holding the key to earths future' plotline used again
-didnt get to see jetfire fly in jet mode much.
-how robots can come back to life. why should we care if someone dies from now on, knwoing they can come back later?
-didnt get to see the motorbikes and that silver concept car much
-the design of devastator, he just looked like a blob to me(and testicle gag was stupid)
-problems with identifying whats going on in the final fight scenes (unlike the forrest scene)
-final scene with prime combined with jetfire was too short.
-no autobots died, are the decepticons that bad? i was hoping this movie would end on a sad note like empire strikes back.

wow thats alot of bads, but overall i enjoyed the film, but like the first, it could have been better with a bit of editting and smarter choices.
first half was good. 2nd half not so good. u can tell they kinda ran out of money and couldnt get the effects they wanted for the 2nd half.

3/5 stars

[Eazy D]

Just saw it.

Not happy

I didn't mind the first movie [although I hate the bionicle -like bots] becuase it was good value summer blockbuster action cheese. ROTF is too long and just gets boring.

Megatron is whipped by the fallen who himself isn't very scary. Heaps of new bots are chucked in randomly but no attampt at characterisation is made for most of them. Its difficult to even figure out who is who since everyone looks like bionicle silvery mush. The ending was incredibly dragged out. Its basically just Sam and his friends taking an hour to cross a stretch of sand with lots of explosions around them. Jetfire was embarassing. Such a cool SR-71 blackbird transforming into a Geriatric piece of junk with a walking stick and a bad british accent. Ecen I can't accept that much cheese.

The only saving grace of the movie for me was the prime vs megs/screamer/blackout fight. Thats was beautiful. I had been disappointed with the first movie coz there wasn't enough robot on robot action but this fight was exquisitely done. The camera was pulled back enough to give a good view and the focus was kept on the bots. Prime was heroic, valiant and totally bad-ass. He nailed all three of them until a cheap shot took him down. That scene was worthy of the animated movie. I'd pay 14 bucks at the movies just to see that fight scene again

PS - I had major fan rage when prime's body was dumped from the chopper like that. Treat the body with some respect why don't you. It would'tn hurt to lower him down gently.

I didn't go into this movie expecting awesome dialogue or the intricacies of method acting. I expected big blockbuster cheese with some nice in-references for the fans. I ended up with a too long and somewhat boring movie that isn't even the best action-cheese out this summer.

[Tommy K]

ok so where do i begin

i enjoyed this movie, it was lots of fun, me and my friends loved it, we saw it on the v max screen in parramatta because thats the only way you can watch this movie, not in a normal cinema, but in a huge friggin screen! lol.

i was a big fan of ravage he was heaps cool

the isabel lucas made wonder, if more aussie girls were like her (robot sense not seductive sense) the world would be a much more scarier place.

the first primes and the fallen had a good design, was not a big fan of those helmet/ tiki mask type things they wore.

jetfire was amazing, they did say there was going to be an old timer robot in this movie, we all had our speculation, was it going to be a decepticon or autobot but it was great having jetfire as it, i even loved the walking stick, and they explained it perfectly, the rusted up parts and the depletion of energon in his body, it was a shame to see him go, i thought it was funny though when he argued with the sector 7 guy (mainly because the person whom played that character also voiced over jetfire).

i wasnt a big fan of the egypt concept when i first heard about it, but now looking back on the movie i thought it was great, it didnt have the whole alien vs predator, yugioh whatever thing it had with those popular frachises lol.

the finger thing was covered up allright i believe, using the bandage as an excuse was plausible, besides many people forgot it, only remember it when optimus was making his grand speech at the end.

optimus prime turned into a one mean awesom leader, he took on several decepticons just to save sam (some what simialr to code of honor or whatever teh dinobot episode was) and yeah

wheelie was SSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better in this movie then the cheap orange rhyming piece of, well you know this wheelie was a much better improvement

and lastly i was a big fan of those 2 awesome robots, skids and mudflap, theyre humor, even though childish at times, was great and was an awesome asset to the movie, just like wheelie

[Vector Sigma 13]

Saw it last night. And frankly i loved it! Nothing more to say really.

Its been interesting reading other peoples comments on this movie and how contrasting they have been.

[GoktimusPrime]

Loved this movie, so much in common with the G1 cartoon version.
I agree that like the first movie, it does well in capturing the essence of the G1 cartoon. The Constructicon army are like those purple Seekers!


I wish people would stop bagging out the "dropping" of prime when they return his body to base....

1) What, the Choppers suppossed to Land on top of him? It wasn't a special souped up thing... it was a plane old cargo carrying thing with some chains on it!!!

and 2) it was to show the change in attitudes.... NEST was on the outter, collection was by the USA not NEST (i think anyway, otherwise they would have done alot more to load him into a plane and work on him or something)
I would agree more with point #1. Optimus Prime's body was in the middle of a forest, presumably an area accessible by the public. They needed to evacuate him ASAP before some random civilian walks along with a mobile phone camera and "fuels the jet." ;) And to their credit they did bring the chopper down pretty low before dropping the body. With Egypt it was a high altitude fly-by, so they needed parachutes for Prime otherwise his body would probably shatter on impact. Also, they had time to prepare for it at NEST's secret HQ.

[Lord_Zed]

Optimus such a good fighter? Must have got a lot of training in the 2 years between


Well they were putting down Decepticons for 2 years, so yeah I'd assume the members of Nest would now be well drilled in anti-Transformer combat.



-Decepticons not seen as a viable threat, how are we meant to believe they will ever actually threaten us when all it takes is a handful of Autobots and humans to take down 30-something Deceps


Well they were still more of a threat than the G1 cartoon cons, but that was a kids cartoon. At least as stated above the handfull of humans and Autobots were veteran Decepticon fighters I'm sure they knew where to aim, and if the cons were mostly drones then that would downgrade their effectivness. And they did kill a lot of soliders and possibly an Arceee triplet or two.

[kup]

Before I begin please keep in mind that I saw this movie only once on IMAX so that may have warped my perception of the film a bit and some views may change once I see the movie again on a 'normal' screen - This mostly applies to some of the action scenes.

Here we go:

As mentioned I went to see TF2 on IMAX. I was already excited to see the movie and going to see it on IMAX for the first time ever added even more to the excitement.

The first thing we see in the movie is a prehistoric background story on how the Fallen and his kin had visited Earth before in the very distant past, before civilization begun - I thought this bit rather cool and epic. The Fallen's design is pretty weird but effective as an Ancient Transformer and it does evoke mystery in it - He is not much to look at in pictures but he does work in the movie.

After that 'set up' plot scene is over, we go back to the present which takes place 2 years after the first movie and I was very pleased how the story begun with the Transformers upfront which unlike the first film, they weren't trying to hide them from the audience but more willing to show them in action. Also the people behind the movie appear to have come to terms and accept the Transformers as talking and interacting characters rather than props to be used which is always welcomed - This aspect can be noticed throughout the movie with mixed results.

The scene started off with a pretty awesome and fast action sequence and an 'already in progress' plot about the Transformers allied with the humans going around on a global hunt tracking down any rogue Decepticons hiding among human machinery. This bit was very nice and a great opening - However I wasn't all that thrilled about the conclusion of this initial sequence. When the Constructicon by the name of Demolishor was defeated and knocked out of the action, no longer posing a threat - then comes Prime and executes him in cold blood in a savage manner that felt more like the movie artificially trying to be 'hardcore' than anything substantial and so much against the character of Optimus Prime not just from G1 but also the character we saw in the first movie. It was as if Optimus Prime was now a souless avenging killing machine rather than the compassionate leader we saw in the first movie.

Some people have said that he was also savage in the first movie when he decapitated Bonecrusher but that was during combat not after Bonecrusher was down and out of the battle - A little bit of my appreciation for the Prime movie character died when he killed Demolisher in cold Blood.

Anyway, the movie progressed along and now we were back with Sam at his house from TF1. I expected the cringy humor to make me roll eyes here but it wasn't as bad as I expected even if there was still pretty bad crude humor with the dogs humping and so forth. I am not a fan of the Allspark freak bots concept but the bit with the kitchen appliances coming to life after Sam dropped the Allspark shard was fun and I enjoyed it but what got my attention is that the freakbots look more cartoony than anything else I have ever seen in this franchise, including Animated; Yeah freaky but still cartoony in design with big heads, eyes and Gremlin like mouths. I thought that to be yet another irony given Bay's stand on "no cartoony stuff".

The part with Bumblebee coming to the rescue was cool and his part about being sad about Sam leaving for College without him wasn't that bad.

Now we come to the college bit which was absolutely horrible. 'Alice' the Pretender was just crap and tedious and her purpose there was just for eye candy nothing more - She had no purpose in the film whatsoever and neither did Sam's room mate. They were just tedious and annoying characters and all the College scenes were a mess. The humor with the parents was a disgrace with the 'special cookies' and this sequence was ten times worse than anything we saw in the first movie. I visibly saw several people in the IMAX theater rolling their eyes with some moaning in frustration. It did get some cheap 'WTF?' laughs but that's all. Orci and Kurtzman should seriously be stopped from doing comedy, its just cheap crude humor and more cringe inducing than funny to begin with and this can be noticed in different degrees in all their works. Star Trek was an awesome movie but its humor was pretty forced and gimmicky even if it was no where near as crude, loud and distracting as it is in TF2 but still had that 'copy & paste' Terrence & Phillip feel as it was forced in rather than naturally occurring within the script.

The College sequences are by far the worse parts of the movie and thankfully they end when Sam escapes after being seduced/attacked by Alice which was all a very cringy affair. That whole Pretender character should of just been cut from the film as it wasn't fun it was just freaking tedious and pointless. Alice gives a bad name to G1 Pretenders.

Well with that over, we move on to my views on the better parts of the movie and where the action begins to pick up.

We get to see Soundwave in Satelite mode, thankfully he did have a solid purpose in this movie as he is coordinating Decepticon forces on Earth and although for some stupid reason they had removed the synthesizer from his voice, Welker doing Dr Claw on him worked reasonably well for me. Soundwave sends Ravage to retrieve the Allspark fragment which Prime removed from Megatron in the first movie - Ravage was absolutely awesome and well executed even if I am not crazy about that nanobot combiner thing he used to infiltrate the base. Ravage later firing on the base from his hip canons was also pretty awesome and it makes sense from the spying/retrieval point of view as he went in stealthily and then opened fire on the base in order to scape during the chaos.

Naturally the reason for acquiring the Allspark fragment was to revive Megatron and the sequence with the Constructicons jumping off the ship to reach the ocean depth where Megatron had been dumped was cool even if it contradicts the first movie as the depth of the ocean doesn't crush them but that could be interpreted as the Humans' lack of understanding on Transformers durability. Although I liked the ritualistic way in which the Decepticons revived Megatron, I was a bit disturbed about them Sacrificing the Constructicon. Why was that necessary? Megatron clearly looks as if he had been revived from Brawl's parts due to the tank mode and it seems that this was the original intention but probably for greater impact, Bay chose to do this rather pointless sacrifice instead.

With Megatron revived and well; they go to what I assume to be the Decepticon's ship on one of Saturn's moons and it was great to see the Decepticons in some sort of base, particularly a spaceship as it throws out the absurd notion that the Movie Transformers travel through space as rocklords. It seems that the comics and fan theories that the Autobots and Decepticons simply 'parked' their ship somewhere in the solar system and then traveled the rest of the way as comets has been realized in this movie. I can only assume that the Autobots also have their ship parked in the Solar System somewhere. Here is where we meet the Fallen.

I was honestly surprised to see the Fallen so soon, I thought he would be the big Bad that only appears at the end of the film as if he had been entombed or something. Instead he had been on the ship apparently leading the Decepticons since the start - This was surprising and doesn't really make much sense when it comes to the first movie. Another strange thing was watching Megatron subservient to the Fallen so willingly, in G1 (both cartoon and comic) Megatron bowed down to no one willingly and if he did so, it was only to get the upper hand later on but here he seems to genuinely worship the Fallen. However the Movie Universe is a completely different and isolated continuity to all others so I guess this Megatron is different than the others but just like Prime, this behavior also contradicts the Megatron character we saw in the first film. The best parts out of this scene was the interaction between Starscream and Megatron although we are yet to see Starscream's treacherous side as far as the Bay movies are concerned. When it comes to the hatchlings/protoforms - I didn't think much of them at the time, more of a 'What the hell?' specially since it had been established in the previous film that the Allspark was imperative to creating Cybertronian life. At least it raised a need for Energon which is a traditionally important aspect of Transformers which until now had been ignored in the movieverse.

Back on earth, after Sam escaped from college with his annoying room mate and Mikaela, Sam gets captured by the Decepticons and probed by Scalpel (The Doctor) who in appearance looks rather stupid but was given a somewhat fun personality so it warmed me up to the character. Sam eventually gets rescued by the Autobots before Scalpel does any permanent harm to him and escapes.

Later on we get an awesome Forest Battle with the Decepticons as Prime and Sam are separated and it becomes evident that the whole Decepticon effort with capturing Sam was primarily to lure Prime into a trap. In this battle Prime was awesome and this time the actions was clearly intended for IMAX as everything looked fantastic on the large screen. Optimus gets surrounded by Decepticons and one of them is either a resurrected Blackout or another Transfomer like him (kind of like how Starscream has several 'lookalikes' in G1 and how G1 Prowl looks like Smokescreen and Bluestreak). At first Optimus gets the crap beaten out of him and then he gets the upper hand and kicks a lot of ass until Megatron runs him through from the back. This sequence was fantastic and although it was fast, frantic and furious in a Michael Bay sort of way - it was possible to follow the action unlike the first film which suffered from a lot of bad zoom ins and an irritating tendency to move the camera away from the action. The action sequences are a clear improvement overall in this film when compared to the first movie.

The forest scene is my favorite part of the movie even if it ended in the overly cliched death of Prime which in my opinion was a bad plot idea as it flattened the already thin plot of the movie - There was no longer any surprises, we all knew he was going to be revived by the end and save the day but regardless of this, it didn't bother me that much. I was already expecting a thin cliched plot, this is a Bay movie after all so I continued to watch the movie for what it was and despite the overall cliched end of the battle, the Forest battle was so good that it had twists of its own. At some points it seemed that Prime was going to die but then it seemed that wasn't the case as he begun to kick ass and get the upper hand but suddenly Bang! He is dead!

[kup]

The plot then moves into following Sam around with his friends, Bumblebee and the twins. Now I know that before the movie many of us thought that the twins were a stupid idea and technically it still is but I found them somewhat likable and fun. I was expecting a couple of Jar Jars but thankfully that wasn't the case and like The Doctor, I warmed up to the characters which had fun personalities despite both of them being somewhat over the top and weird looking. I did not see anything racist about the Twins, by the way. I have no idea where this is coming from as I primarily saw that as a satire on small town hicks not black people. I think this racism thing is being artificially induced as criticism.

Since we are now discussing characters we all thought we would hate, let's talk about Wheelie. Wheelie's design looks shit - no doubt about that but the character was much like the twins, fun. He was a little over the top but I enjoyed his presence and again shows that the movie makers are no longer afraid to portray the Transformers with personalities.

The rest of the movie becomes a bit of a treasure hunt with Sam and the Autobots trying to work out what the writing that Sam sees in his mind means and Wheelie points them out to an ancient Transformer who has been hidden on Earth dormant for a long time. They go to the Aero space museum (I hoped we would see Ransack, the bi-plane but we only saw his alt mode ) and this is where we meet Jetfire.

Jetfire was a bit weird but likable even though his only real purpose was just story exposition which was somewhat disappointing but at least he wasn't a throwaway character (more on that later). Jetfire's story adds a bit of much needed back story to the Movie continuity which is vaguely based on the Marvel G1 origin with the 7 Primes who had a traitor among them. This is similar but still distanced to the 1980s origin with the first 13 Transformers created by Primus with the Fallen being the Judas of the group who chose to conspire with Unicron and betray his brothers and creator in return for power. The Movie version is a considerably more simplistic take on this origin story to the point that there is only a passing similarity.

Something in regards to Jetfire who is a Decepticon in the Movie verse is that it seems that the Decepticons in Movie Cybertron's ancient past weren't originally evil as Jetfire expressed disgust on what has become of them. This is a unique take in Transformers fiction as typically in G1 fiction (such as Marvel G1) the Decepticons are depicted as a breakaway faction of Cybertronians who rebelled against the original Cybertronian Council of elders. I was pleased to see this unique take on Decepticon origins and since Megatron is not the founder of the revolutionary movement in this continuity, it also brings some sense into why he is subservient to the Fallen. Too bad this aspect of the Movie Decepticons wasn't further expanded as its very interesting.

Jetfire then transports them to Egypt where they find 'The Matrix' of the Primes (I prefer the original look of the Matrix but was happy to see one in the movie verse even if its nature and purpose has been radically changed) and we come to the final battle.

This is a battle for the Matrix to prevent the Fallen from powering up his Super Nova causing machine to gain Energon. This was like most of the overall story, rather cliched and unimaginative but again, I wasn't expecting much of the story in a Bay movie so it didn't bother me as much. The Action again was very frantic, furious and fast but thankfully the focused remained on the action rather than some random side shot like it was in the first movie. Unfortunately the action here was rather poorly choreographed in the latter part of it when Sam nears Prime and illogical in many ways as it is clear that things were artificially arranged to make the US military look good which is yet another Bayism. The US military again fired the brunt of the fire power against the Decepticons defeating them and although there was some cool animation with some of the Autobots firing shots at the Deceopticons, they didn't really do much at all in this battle. Now having said that, we also saw some pretty poor CGI here with the Decepticons as there were way too many generics here including several Constructicon clones.

Now let's talk about Devastator, he was unfortunately poorly handled as some of the Constructicon generics simply merged into Devastator right away (traditionally this is done as part of a major offensive or a last resort) and set loose against Sam's bunch, particularly the twins which in my opinion was a bit of a waste. Devastator should have been used in the main battle against the military to properly shine while the Autobots fight the individual Decepticons but oh well. He later climbs the pyramid to destroy the top of it to expose the machine and gets blasted away by some high tech US military missile which was rather anti-climatic and gimmicky. Again they had some crude unwanted humor with Devastator's 'balls' but after the 'special cookies' stupidity, it wasn't that bad but once again shows how crudely poor Kurtzman and Orci are at comedy.

Of course Prime gets revived by the Matrix as well as repaired and upgraded by Jetfire arriving to help in the battle and later sacrifice himself which was good but rather sudden. Jetfire was severely injured during the fight so maybe he was going to die anyway and wanted his death to mean something but this was not properly explained and happened within just a couple of seconds.

Prime gets upgraded and beats the Fallen within just a few seconds which was rather disappointing as they showed the Fallen have all this crazy magical powers during the battle like his G1/War Within counterpart but was very easily defeated by the resurrected Prime ending the battle and the movie - It would have been better if they had allowed for a nice duel between the Fallen and Prime while the former used his magical powers against him but in a typical Bay fashion, the potential wasn't exploited.

The movie ends with the Decepticons retreating and the credits rolling.

General Comments:

This movie was certainly bigger than the original when it comes to action but unfortunately its a considerably lesser film when it comes to the screenplay as its rather soulless in execution. Yeah they do improve on some aspects from the first movie such as more exposition on Transformers but sadly in a typical Michael Bay manner, some characters were completely forgotten once they served their purpose in the action that was intended for them and are abandoned randomly during the film such as Wheelie and the twins. Something that I am sure would confused critics, fans and the general public alike is the huge amount of Constructicon clones. There were at least 3 identical sets of them with no explanation. What makes this more confusing is that we clearly see one of them be killed at the start of the movie. These 'multiples' are not explained in the film which is again a sloppy Bay signature film making flaw but my guess is that they are like G1 Seekers in which several Transformers share the same design.

Another thing that bothered me was that Soundwave never came down from Satellite mode. I expected him to join the battle at the end which would have been awesome but he didn't and again more wasted potential for something great - It seems that he was forgotten by Bay too but he did play a substantial role in the movie at least.

As mentioned, this movie is basically a bigger movie than the first one but its not greater. There is considerable improvement on the action which makes this movie entertaining and fun but they have done so at the cost of the plot which is barely there and seems more as an excuse for the action than anything else which is very typical of Michael Bay. The first screenplay wasn't a masterpiece of writing but it was certainly better than this one.

It has been mentioned that this movie is fun and thrilling but that you need to leave your brain at home to fully enjoy it and I cannot disagree with that. This time around this movie is more Bay than the first as there is no sign of Spielberg's influence here and the only thing that I can identify from Orci and Kurtzman's work is the crude humor which isn't exactly a highlight as those sequences were the lowest points of the movie and if they had been cut film it would have been better of. It's possible that the lacking screenplay is due to the writer's strike and letting Bay do whatever he wanted.

This movie was a massive action Summer Blockbuster movie, very entertaining, fun and exciting just like going on a fast Roller coaster ride but that's it. There is very little substance here just plain dumb fun. Now having said that, the plot is so thin that it may hurt its repeat viewing potential but like all modern Summer Blockbusters, they are not made for longevity and may even bore some who are unable to follow the action or fill in the plot gaps themselves.

Although Transformers characters here received much more exposure than the first film, there were some odd aspects. Most of the Autobots aside from Prime and the twins had at best cameo appearances, including ones from the first film such as Ratchet and Ironhide. Arcee had a single line and jolt and Sideswipe (who looks more like G1 Tracks) were mostly just there for one or two action shots and that's it. Jolt was just hanging around the background on a couple of scenes which is dissapointing.

The Decepticons on the other hand had much more exposition than the first movie which is very welcomed and one of the highlights of the film even if the heavily advertise character of Sideways had a tiny cameo appearance which was a bit disappointing.

Final thoughts:

I liked this movie and found it fun and exciting in a dumb sort of way. I didn't mind the lack of depth in the script as its just an excuse for the action as it is typical of Bay. Since this time around I knew what to expect since Bay is a very monotonous film maker so I wasn't disappointed in that regard as I went to see a big flashy action movie and that's what I got - It would have been silly of me to expect anything more.

Revenge of the Fallen is indeed bigger in every way to the first movie and this includes greater and better action as well as much worse cringe worthy humor. The humor (and the pretender) in the movie is the real killer for me, much more than the paper thin script and character discrepancies. To put it simply the good parts of the first movie are made better and the bad parts are made a lot worse which is rather shallow since aside from improving the first film they have just made it bigger.

Aside from the bad humor, a low part of the movie for me is Prime's savagery and later extended absence which robbed the movie from the 'soul' that the first had. In this aspect the first movie is a much better work of film making than this one which is mostly a big action romp and rather soulless in that sense.

I will go to see it again sometime soon on a normal screen and I may be able to amend some of my views here as I may change my mind on some aspects but overall I enjoyed the movie even with its flaws. I will buy some of the toys as I did enjoy several of the characters but I'll be conservative in my ROTF collecting as there were too many 'throwaway' characters in this one.

[SMHFConvoy]

I figured out why this movie didn't work for me. It felt like I'd skipped the second movie and watched the end of a trilogy.

[lcz128]

If the guys can have Mikaela and Alice, give the girls and, uh, others, someone nice to look at too ;)

Actually, please - throw them out too.
Megan Fox pisses me off with her character's airheaded-ness (though all her other roles I've heard of don't offer any diversity there) and Isabel Lucas - I don't know how good or bad her acting can get - but again the material makes her look stupid <_<;

Ooh - can you feel the hate for paperthin female characters <_> And all females in college are hot! Wth!?!? -_-

[shokwave2]

Ooh - can you feel the hate for paperthin female characters <_> And all females in college are hot! Wth!?!? -_-

Yeah i noticed that as well. Not one average looking girl to be seen anywhere. Except for the Dean.

[orionpax1]

I actually enjoyed this movie it was fun, big, and full of bots (even though you couldn't tell who was who half the time and whats with blurring of the fight scenes what a pain in the butt).

The length of time did not worry me as i was enjoying the the movie to notice the time, but i did feel they rushed the ending just to get the movie out that last fight scene over too quick.

Prime what can i say bloody awesome, really enjoyed prime's time (im a bit biased, prime is my fav character), the forest scene was great.

A few things that bothered me was that they bring in a bot and you just dont see him again and what about fragment that sam had gotten, where did that go.

i liked the twins they were cool, the humour ( like the humping parts) i did not like most of the time, just annoying.

Isabella Lucas hot.

Would like to see the next movie back on Cybertron maybe that way we will more bot time.

I could write more but i dont want to spoil it for those who have not seen it, overall i give this movie 8 out of 10

[Golden Phoenix]

+ Simmon's joke about the "enemy scrotum" made me lol. But you all know my thing with janglies. :D

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/jimmey-11/other/sebben.jpg
Dangly Parts

[autobreadticon]

kinda wished there the movie wasn't so sexual, scenes such as in the lecture hall and pretender on bed could of been erased and free up airtime for other important matters,after all the movie are based on children toys....

[Zippo]

Saw it again today and managed to finally make out Jolt in the movie, a good 4 times. Missed him all the last time.

Still confused about what they were showing at the botton of the ocean and who the constructicons were that went down (and who came back up)

[GoktimusPrime]

kup: You really ought to read the RotF prequels (e.g.: Defiance, Alliance) as it would answer a lot of your questions/comments about certain things in the movie.


When the Constructicon by the name of Demolishor was defeated and knocked out of the action, no longer posing a threat - then comes Prime and executes him in cold blood in a savage manner that felt more like the movie artificially trying to be 'hardcore' than anything substantial and so much against the character of Optimus Prime not just from G1 but also the character we saw in the first movie. It was as if Optimus Prime was now a souless avenging killing machine rather than the compassionate leader we saw in the first movie.
Movie Optimus Prime = DAI ATLAS! :D
Seriously! Both movie Prime and Dai Atlas harbour incredible compassion for innocents but are extremely merciless toward Decepticons. The way movie Prime hacks his opponents apart is the same as Dai Atlas' style of fighting - who could forget the way he cleaved Predaking in half? (Sideswipe did the same thing to Sideways in this movie)

But I like it. Unlike many other fans I never really disliked Dai Atlas because realistically speaking, in war you have to be ruthless against your enemies. As both Bob Budiansky and Simon Furman wrote in G1 Optimus Prime's TFU profiles, Optimus Prime's greatest weakness is his compassion - he would actually be a more efficient military commander if he were more cruel. But then he wouldn't be Optimus Prime; and I think it's that line which makes a lot of people dislike Dai Atlas, so I can absolutely understand why some people may be turned off by movie Optimus Prime being like this too.

But remember: different universe, different character. :) In a realistic situation I think it makes more sense.


The College sequences are by far the worse parts of the movie and thankfully they end when Sam escapes after being seduced/attacked by Alice which was all a very cringy affair. That whole Pretender character should of just been cut from the film as it wasn't fun it was just freaking tedious and pointless. Alice gives a bad name to G1 Pretenders
The university scenes were also my least favourite, but I don't necessarily dislike Alice as a character and I don't think she's bad by Pretender standards. In fact, she's pretty good - she's succeeded in one area which has _never_ been achieved by any other Decepticon Pretender before... she passed off as human and infiltrated human society!!

Granted that in G1 most of the Decepticon Pretenders looked like monsters, we did have a few that looked human, like Starscream and Stranglehold. But unfortunately Pretenders in Anglophone G1 continuity are all giants, so they're unable to pass off as humans unless they're in a planet inhabited by giants like Femax or Pz-Zazz. They certainly would never pass off as humans on Earth. In Japanese G1 continuity Pretenders were able to shrink down and pass off as humans - but we only ever saw this being done with the Autobots and never with the Decepticons. So I like Alice because she's the first Decepticon Pretender who can actually pass off as being human on Earth, and thus successfully infiltrate human society. In terms of the scene's purpose for the story, it was a device for incorporating Leo into Sam's party.


Naturally the reason for acquiring the Allspark fragment was to revive Megatron and the sequence with the Constructicons jumping off the ship to reach the ocean depth where Megatron had been dumped was cool even if it contradicts the first movie as the depth of the ocean doesn't crush them but that could be interpreted as the Humans' lack of understanding on Transformers durability.
I would assume so.


Although I liked the ritualistic way in which the Decepticons revived Megatron, I was a bit disturbed about them Sacrificing the Constructicon. Why was that necessary? Megatron clearly looks as if he had been revived from Brawl's parts due to the tank mode and it seems that this was the original intention but probably for greater impact, Bay chose to do this rather pointless sacrifice instead.
I disagree. Megatron's tank mode is entirely alien. Had he been revived with Brawl's parts then his tank mode should bear some resemblance to Brawl's Earthen tank form, but it doesn't, not a single part of it. It's completely Cybertronian in design. The movie shows them sacrificing a Constructicon so they could salvage parts to repair Megatron, the Doctor specifically states this. He also tells the Constructicons to kill the smallest of their party -- so it was a lot like the law of the jungle where the larger and stronger Constructicons cannabilised the weakest of their group.


Jetfire was a bit weird but likable even though his only real purpose was just story exposition which was somewhat disappointing but at least he wasn't a throwaway character (more on that later). Jetfire's story adds a bit of much needed back story to the Movie continuity which is vaguely based on the Marvel G1 origin with the 7 Primes who had a traitor among them. This is similar but still distanced to the 1980s origin with the first 13 Transformers created by Primus with the Fallen being the Judas of the group who chose to conspire with Unicron and betray his brothers and creator in return for power. The Movie version is a considerably more simplistic take on this origin story to the point that there is only a passing similarity.
The "first 13" origin was actually retconned by IDW and was never introduced by Marvel in the 1980s. Some members of Marvel continuity comprise the 13, such as Prima. The Dynasty of the Primes is also something entirely new that's been introduced by Revenge of the Fallen. Movie continuity portrays the Primes as an elite ruling class with power above that of normal Transformers, much like the Rangers of Middle Earth; this was never the case in G1. In comic continuity Optimus Prime was a regular soldier who rose through the ranks and was eventually appointed supreme commander of all Autobot forces with the dissolution of the Autobot Council of Elders by Councillor Traachon (at Councillor Xaaron's behest). In cartoon continuity Optimus Prime was a former dock worker called Orion Pax.


Of course Prime gets revived by the Matrix as well as repaired and upgraded by Jetfire arriving to help in the battle and later sacrifice himself which was good but rather sudden. Jetfire was severely injured during the fight so maybe he was going to die anyway and wanted his death to mean something but this was not properly explained and happened within just a couple of seconds.
It was explained. Jetfire said, "In all my Decepticon life I've never done anything worthwhile." -- Jetfire wanted to leave a legacy.


Another thing that bothered me was that Soundwave never came down from Satellite mode. I expected him to join the battle at the end which would have been awesome but he didn't and again more wasted potential for something great - It seems that he was forgotten by Bay too but he did play a substantial role in the movie at least.
I agree. :( I was also disappointed that many other Transformers never transformed, like Ravage and that robot that he regurgitated into the AllSpark shard chamber - I'm sorry but a bunch of balls is a really LAME alt mode. :/ It's sad that we saw Alice transform, but not Soundwave and Ravage. Boo.

Then again Soundwave was put into the story because fans voted for him, so I guess his role was always just going to be a fairly peripheral one. And I'm sure that Frank Welker is stoked that Soundwave was finally allowed to sound like the way that he'd always wanted him to sound! Welker was never happy that Sunbow digitally altered his voice in the G1 cartoon - he actually wanted it to sound like Dr. Claw. Now he's got his wish. :)


after all the movie are based on children toys....
That's not true. The toys are based on the movie. Usually you would be right - the vast majority of Transformers are conceived as toys first and then as comic book/cartoon characters afterward, but this is not the case with the movie. Also, the movie is rated M.

But I agree with what someone else pointed out when Bay tried to justify the twins' odd personas by saying that he made them "for kids" yet the movie is loaded with in-your-face adult references! Beast Wars is full of adult references too, but they're really subtle and fly over kids' heads. I don't think subtlety is a word that exists in Bay's vocabulary. ;D

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/Photocomic%20Faith/photocomic_faith17.jpg

[Sky Shadow]

Granted that in G1 most of the Decepticon Pretenders looked like monsters, we did have a few that looked human, like Starscream and Stranglehold. But unfortunately Pretenders in Anglophone G1 continuity are all giants, so they're unable to pass off as humans unless they're in a planet inhabited by giants like Femax or Pz-Zazz. They certainly would never pass off as humans on Earth.

Except in Anglophone G1 commercial continuity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecehJWexUaE (at least, it looks like Starscream is as small and cute as the teeny tiny Autobot Pretenders. Although perhaps that obnoxious battle armour might give him away.) ;)

They'd better make an Alice toy. HasTak is saturating our shelves with everything else from the film, it's ridiculous if she doesn't get one.

[Paulbot]

Ooh - can you feel the hate for paperthin female characters <_> And all females in college are hot! Wth!?!? -_-


Yeah i noticed that as well. Not one average looking girl to be seen anywhere. Except for the Dean.

I'm sure that Leo and his buddies had some lines explaining that they had use their geek skills to rig the dorm allocations to ensure that their dorm had lot of hot babes.

[Defcon]

Then again Soundwave was put into the story because fans voted for him, so I guess his role was always just going to be a fairly peripheral one. And I'm sure that Frank Welker is stoked that Soundwave was finally allowed to sound like the way that he'd always wanted him to sound! Welker was never happy that Sunbow digitally altered his voice in the G1 cartoon - he actually wanted it to sound like Dr. Claw. Now he's got his wish. :)


I did not know this. I thought the voice was really good though. I really enjoyed his role in the movie, ease dropping on earth communications and directing decepticon attacks. Awesome. I liked how he was a satellite in orbit staying in the shadows. I thought he had a perfect amount of screen time.

Ravage was awesome as well. He looked perfect. He should of been used in more scenes with skirmishes with the military. The regurgitated balls I thought that was ravage been sneaky transmuting to get down the pipe into the bunker, but was confused when it was some thin thing. Was that an Auto-scout ? I disliked how Ravage was killed.

The pretender concept was pretty cool. It seemed like some terminator/species type reference. It was never explained at all, so I guess people could speculate. It would be cool if it was a minion of a larger transformer, like frenzy was to barricade.

I wish they had a plague of insecticons at the end swarming around the military, yeah I can handle those been killed by gunfire. I was thinking about the same size as the appliance bots. Would have been awesome. That way the humans are tied up so that the decepticons and autobots could have their own little fragfest. I was extremely disappointed with the last battle scene, I loathed the focus on the military and how they saved the day! It sucks for a transformers movie. It would of been forgivable if some of the military hardware were actual transformers. They could of had a team of Aerialbot clones. A tank could of been Warpath, an osprey could of been Springer. To late now :(

I could say some more but this is all for now..

[Scattershot]

Check out this review. I couldn't stop laughing but I had to admit its true.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/797-Transformers-Revenge

[Sky Shadow]

Check out this review. I couldn't stop laughing but I had to admit its true.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/797-Transformers-Revenge

That was a very well-informed review. Good on him.

[SilverDragon]

Copy-pasted from every journal I have on the internet.

So I went and saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen today, or Transformers: Reveng as my movie ticket called it.

It was a mess of a film. It had a few solid sequences around the start and the middle, but it was kind of muddly everywhere else. The opening sequence in Shanghai was great...then we cut to Sam moving out of home and accidentally causing kitchen appliances to come to life...then we cut back to the robots...then to Sam...then to the robots...seriously, it was like lurching from an awesome party into a less awesome party until the two eventually just formed one massive party.

But it was also an AWESOME mess. There were a lot of kick-ass moments, mainly because of Prime and Jetfire.

Speaking of Jetfire, I freaking love Jetfire. He was awesome. I want his toy.

There were several moments which could have been awesome, but weren't due to either really confusing camerawork (if things like Cloverfield made you sick, don't see this film, it is worse), hi-then-die characters (oh hi there Blackout-lookalike, and Sideways, and Demolisher, and Rampage...), fights being pathetically short (there was a lot of ripping apart of robots in this), or all three. I'm looking at you, Devastator. Seriously, he just shows up, causes some devastation, then gets blown up. What the hell.

A bunch of characters I expected to see more of got little to no screen time. Sideswipe, Jolt, and the Arcee threesome have been hyped up a lot-the first two getting multiple toys, and Sideswipe looking extremely cool. But their total screen-time was less than an hour! Instead, the main Autobots were Bumblebee, Skids, and Mudflap, who, while rather cool and funny, were not really the guys I wanted to see the most. Also, while there were several interesting Decepticons, such as the 2D guy (officially called 'Reedman' and unofficially called 'the Bakugan from hell' by me), Ravage, Soundwave, and Alice, they didn't get enough time.

Also, I found it quite funny. While there were some things that just failed (i.e. Devastator's giant steel wrecking balls), there were more bits that were hilarious. Wheelie, Jetfire, Mudflap, and Skids in particular brought the funny for me. Apparently the last two have caused some controversy due to apparently being racist stereotypes of Afro-Americans. I failed to see that-I saw them more as being parodies of the tryhards who tried to be black gangsta/rappers.

One thing I found unintentionally hilarious was the way they kept chucking Prime's body out of the sky, mainly because I imagined him yelling "F**k yoooooooooooooooooouuuu...", or "Wheeeeeeeeee!" as he fell down (nevermind the fact that he was dead at the time).

Megatron and Starscream just getting away was annoying to me since it seemed like an exit more suitable to a TV episode, not a film.

Overall, I think I'd give it 3.5/5, or a 4. It was better than the first film, but it also had several annoying faults.

Also, where did Soundwave and Wheelie go? They just upped and vanished.


Check out this review. I couldn't stop laughing but I had to admit its true.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/797-Transformers-Revenge

The guy who did this seems to be trying to imitate Zero Punctuation and failing to notice that Yahtzee's humour stems from his way of describing things (and his images), not endlessly bashing the subject.

[RageOnTheRoads]

When the Constructicon by the name of Demolishor was defeated and knocked out of the action, no longer posing a threat - then comes Prime and executes him in cold blood in a savage manner that felt more like the movie artificially trying to be 'hardcore' than anything substantial and so much against the character of Optimus Prime not just from G1 but also the character we saw in the first movie. It was as if Optimus Prime was now a souless avenging killing machine rather than the compassionate leader we saw in the first movie.

Some people have said that he was also savage in the first movie when he decapitated Bonecrusher but that was during combat not after Bonecrusher was down and out of the battle - A little bit of my appreciation for the Prime movie character died when he killed Demolisher in cold Blood.

Couldn't agree more. In fact I wish they had portrayed Demolishers end the way they did in the comic adaption of the film. It was a lot less heartless and more in keeping with Prime's character.

[GoktimusPrime]

Except in Anglophone G1 commercial continuity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecehJWexUaE (at least, it looks like Starscream is as small and cute as the teeny tiny Autobot Pretenders.
I'd always thought that those Transformers were regular size and that it was just PM Prime who was ridiculously huge in his super robot mode. <shrug>


Although perhaps that obnoxious battle armour might give him away.)
Yeah but they can change out of their armour... as demonstrated to us when the Femaxian Queen elicited Cloudburst to remove his armour in an attempt to do Snoo-Snoo to him. ;)


They'd better make an Alice toy. HasTak is saturating our shelves with everything else from the film, it's ridiculous if she doesn't get one.
+10!!


Check out this review. I couldn't stop laughing but I had to admit its true.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vide...ormers-Revenge

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/avatars/facepalm_movieprime.jpg
If that guy hated the first movie so bad, why did he watch the sequel?? (o_O) He can whinge all he likes, at the end of the day Michael Bay has his money (unless he illegally downloaded it I suppose :/).

Whenever people ask me what I thought of RotF, I say that I really liked it, but it's the kind of movie that you'll only like if you liked the first one. If you hated the first movie you'll hate RotF too.

As if you'd waste your time and money watching a movie that you're expecting to hate. If I don't think I'll like a movie I won't go see it!! That's why I haven't seen The Incredible Hulk yet, because I hated Hulk. Now I have heard that it is a good movie so I'll probably rent it out on DVD some time and check it out (it shouldn't be a new release any more)

[Tabias Prime]

Just seen it, freaking loved it.enjoyed most of it and on the edge of my seat for most of it...

[loophole]

That's why I haven't seen The Incredible Hulk yet, because I hated Hulk. Now I have heard that it is a good movie so I'll probably rent it out on DVD some time and check it out (it shouldn't be a new release any more)

The Incredible Hulk sh-ts all over Hulk, you should see it

[Beast_Wars_Superior]

Hey guys, I haven't been here for a while due to a combination of lack of time and self-imposed ROTF media backout (wanted as much of it to be a surprise as possible).

I thought the film was excellent! It did pretty much everything I wanted, which was:

1. Take everything from the first film and push it as far as possible
2. Develop the transformers as characters (the Megs/Starscream banter made me want to squeal like a little girl)
3. Stay true to transformers without merely being two hours of fan service

Other positives (in terms of fan service) include Frank Welker playing Soundwave, Starscream actually sounding like Starscream, incorporating the Matrix of Leadership, and having Constructicons/Devastator. Also, the bit where Jetfire united with Optimus made me want to jump out of my seat.

Also, I liked the story, the acting was solid across the board (special mention to the voice actors who stole the show from the in-the-flesh actors), and the action was good.

4.5 out of 5 from me. I probably would give the original 4.5 as well.

EDIT: One other bit of fan service I forgot to mention...















The bit where Megatron says 'yeeeeessssss' was AWESOME! When he said that I was like 'No way! You gotta be kidding me!' It's awesome how they can grab all these references from all kinds of transformers and roll them into one film (that includes the concept of Allspark fragments bringing someone to life, which was pioneered in TF Animated ;) ).

By the way...


The guy who did this seems to be trying to imitate Zero Punctuation and failing to notice that Yahtzee's humour stems from his way of describing things (and his images), not endlessly bashing the subject.

Yeah, I noticed that too. It was a really crappy attempt at mimicking Zero Punctuation, and the pictures weren't even in sync with the words!


The Incredible Hulk sh-ts all over Hulk, you should see it

I disagree, I actually think it's the other way around. You see, everyone says the new Hulk is better because it has more action and less talking, but I've seen both movies and I actually think the new one has more talking than the old one. The difference is that in the new one, the dialogue sucks, the acting is the worst I've seen in years, and the action scenes aren't even that good. Ang Lee's Hulk IMO had a lot of talking and not much action, but the acting was better, the story was really good, and the few action scenes it did have were better than the few action scenes in the new Hulk film!

In closing, The Incredible Hulk (IMO) truly sucks arse, and if not for Hancock it would have been my pick for worst film of '08 (out of all the films I saw at the cinemas).

[WIIGII]

just curious, anyone know what the 'extra scenes' in imaz were?? I remember reading there were supposed to be extra scenes in the imax cut, but i didn't see any.

[Saintly]

watched the normal cinema version with my two boys on Sunday, ran into Gok at Parramatta.

The extra scenes for the Imax was a longer forest & desert fight.

[TF76]

I saw it at normal cinema on opening day. some of the same things bothered me mentioned by others but i liked it and want to see it again. Maybe in IMAX...

[STL]

Geez. How quickly did this thread die.

Anyways, this weekend appears to be the last opportunity to watch TFs at IMAX for those interested.

I fear I'm going to be dragged in again. I want to see it maybe one more time but was thinking maybe top of August... not so soon... :(

[Saintly]

greater union has it for $10 a pop for movie of the week... http://www.greaterunion.com.au/movies/whatsnew.asp?news=785
i might do it again

[Kyle]

Geez. How quickly did this thread die.

Anyways, this weekend appears to be the last opportunity to watch TFs at IMAX for those interested.

I fear I'm going to be dragged in again. I want to see it maybe one more time but was thinking maybe top of August... not so soon... :(

Last opportunity huh?

Tempting... :o

[Paulbot]

I rewatched the movie on Saturday night with a guy friend who'd watched the cartoon as a kid and had some toys but has been otherwise no knowledge of TFs apart from watching the first movie. And whatever he picked up from me in the past few months trying to explain why I'm still collecting them.

It was interesting to see someone's reactions who's not a Transfan and who knew nothing much about the film at all going in.

He got confused between Sideswipe and Sideways (seeing Sideswipe returning to NEST base he asked wasn't that car just destroyed?).

The kitchen transformers made him laugh, and actually he laughed at many of the jokes including ones I'd rolled my eyes at the first time.

The violence in the movie shocked him and it made me realise I had been a bit blind to the number of human deaths that occur in the film. Even though the newscast does say 6 or 7 thousand people die when the Fallen and the other Decepticons come to earth, it never really registered to me. I'd also not noticed Devastator sucking in a few of the locals either the previous two times I'd seen the film.

The thing that really blew him away was Optimus Prime 'combining' with Jetfire. It made me think how that I never considered that as a big moment. In my mind Prime's been merging with something into a super robot mode since 1988 and pretty much consistently this decade. Plus the ROTF Prime keychain had showed me it was going to happen in the film.

Overall he liked the film but feels he needs to rewatch it.