Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Review by: Kat

The battle for earth is when Decepticon forces once again take up their battle to destroy mankind. Sam, now a freshman in college is pulled into the thick of it when the knowledge of the autobot race is downloaded into his brain via a shard from the cube. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is just like the first film, right down to the repetitive dramatic US army-vs.-Robots-in-middle-eastern-dessert sequences the first film opened with. Only, and I’m going to be a total anti critic here and say this, the film is bigger, louder, explosionier (yes, I know that’s not a word), funnier and dare I say it... better?

At two and a half hours I was starting to get a little tired of the constant action sequences and wishing the villains would just return to outer space but for most films that happens after an hour. I loved the pacing, loved the new dorky comic relief and loved the new autobots.

The thing to remember when viewing the film is there is no great moral lesson to be learned. It is essentially pointless but that doesn’t mean it can’t be entertaining. It’s escapism at it’s best. You think the recession and swine flu sucks? Try spending twenty-four hours running from robots intent on destroying the Earth. You will laugh, you will come close to crying once or twice, okay, no, you’ll feel a little sad and leave it at that, and you’ll jump in your seat every once in awhile. Don’t let the critics put you off. $400 million dollars worth of movie viewers can’t all be wrong. See the film and decide for yourself.

Review #2 by: Amanda

The sequel to the last summer blockbuster picks up two years after the events in the first movie. Sam (Shia Labeouf) is going to college and Mikaela (Megan Fox) is staying behind to work for an auto repair shop and help her father, recently released from prison, get back on his feet. This, however, does not last long. Sam soon finds himself at the center of another battle between the members of the robotic alien race because the key to its history has become locked in his brain by the shard from the All Spark that was supposedly destroyed in the first go around.

Normally, sequels have a hard time living up to the original. This one does a good job of trying.

The special effects and robot fight sequences are bigger and better than the last film. There are explosions, more organic looking Decepticons (the bad guys who lost in the first battle for those of you keeping score), and some battles that look like they could have been out of an old martial arts movie if they were not being fought by giant robots. There is also an interesting story detailing the history of the Autobots and Decepticons, and just how long they have really been hiding out on Earth. These items alone are probably enough to keep most fans of the action movie genre interested.

The acting on the other hand, is not. That’s not to say the acting is bad. Michael Bay (the director) just did too good of a job at making the focus of the story the fighting. The actors have to play second fiddle to the special effects. This is especially bad for the part of Mikaela. I really enjoyed the character in the first film. She was a strong character, a believable one. The first film found her holding her own in the thick of the action. In this, she does little more than complain about Sam being a bad boyfriend and show off the fact that she’s gorgeous. Sure, she gets to tangle with one mini-Decepticon on her own, and she gets to prove she still knows how to hotwire a car, but her role is definitely downgraded to sidekick in this one. Reportedly, even Megan Fox accused Michael Bay of making a movie that does nothing for its cast, and I whole heartedly agree with her.

That being said, if you go into the film wanting to see a showdown between two sides of an alien race, you are not going to be disappointed. The film also leaves the possibility open for a sequel. If the entire history of this alien race was contained in their magic cube (the one which put all of this information in Sam‘s brain), but this movie only examines one specific part of it, I am sure there will be more to come. I only hope Michael Bay won’t decide to come back to direct. The franchise deserves to let someone else take over the reins for a while, someone who won’t just keep wanting to see how much they can blow up onscreen.