Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

[NecronLord]

Yes, he has a long career as a film critic. Doesn't that make him more qualified to make an objective analysis of a movie? What's with all this bile towards the man? Is the disagreement of a film critic enough to shatter confidence on your own personal tastes?

Some statements in his first review are objectively untrue. "There's no explanation for Sam's parents being there" - I for one distinctly recall them being kidnapped by the Decepticons, and Soundwave pretty much saying 'bring on the bait to lure the kid out.'

I figured that was obvious when Sam actually holds up the sock with the remains of the Matrix and says something like "This is what you want. Leave them alone." Ebert obviously wasn't paying attention, which is evident by him saying that Starscream had a fucking beard, when he looks completely different than Jetfire.

I have edited the above comment. Looking at his review he says 'doesn't make crystal clear' which is a bit iffy. Though he has edited his review (or someone's done it) since it was posted here, as it now correctly identifies Jetfire. I suppose there's no detail of them being transported to egypt, but that's a supremely lazy objection.

[Oskuro]

Yeah, I caught that mistake in his review too. Really, it wasn't one of his greatest reviews, and the man is hardly perfect in his reviewing, but just by the sheer amount of movies he's watched he is still better qualified to make objective comparisons than most of us, wich was my point. Now, more qualified doesn't mean infallible, and he obviously didn't care much for TF2.

[VF5SS]

I think Mark Kermode said it best.

[tim31]

I hadn't heard of Mark Kermode before, but halfway through listening to that clip I opened another tab to confirm my suspicions that he was a public school boy effecting a working class accent to sound 'ard. More interesting was how varied his opinions can be, so at least I know he's hasn't got a stick up his arse. On the other hand, comparing Bay to a porn director, 'FWOAR! LOOKIT THAT CUMSHOT!' that may be so, but get your hand off it.

[Big Orange]

I don't like Kermode, but I also didn't like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I agree it was rather boring and crass, and this is from someone who quite liked the first movie and doesn't particularily dislike Shia LeBeouf. I wanted to walk out the cinema; I give it 3/10.

Megan Fox was extremely easy on the eyes, but she was absolutely terrible.

[hongi]

I despise this movie, it was a fucking shambles. I hated the first movie too, but this one blows it out of the water in its crapness. The funny parts (the Constructicon's 'balls', Jetfire, the jock's tight shirt and a couple of others which I've forgotten already) are too few to make up for its nonsensical plotting. I wasn't even entertained.

I groaned at the shameless up-skirt's of Isabel Lucas, the 'loving' exposes of Fox. If Bay wanted to pander to the male audience, he might as well have dispensed with the hour of filler crap and give guys what they wanted, nude scenes galore.

The only part I felt really engaged in was the pitched battle at the end between the soldiers and the Decepticons, that's what I came to see. I would've been happy if half the movie had been just that.

[Big Orange]

OK, I'll do a more indepth review on this overloaded mess of a movie. I found Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen a not particularily fun movie to sit through and my head hurts just thinking about it, it was a cringe inducing parody of Michael Bay movies, it is the worst movie he has done since Pearl Habour, and worse of all it bored me to tears. The first Transformers was by no means a great movie, but it had a better balance of action, eye candy, humour, characters, and plot, by no means perfect but entertaining as a guilty pleasure.

The overblown sequel is an aimless mess that ups the ante with greatly diminished returns. I hated the clumsy token nods to Britain and Britishness, I thought the movie was way too long for its subject matter, I disliked the racist stereotyping, I hated the overlong info dumping of a plot we don't care about, I disliked Prime's calculated death, I disliked the new Autobot duo squandering the screentime, I disliked the excessive padding, and Megan Fox seemed worse than in the first movie, her lines were crap to begin with and she delivered them like a Mentat.

It is full of plotholes - why the heck was Sector 7 shut down for? Why the equally senseless and draconian clampdown on the NEST team by the US Government? Why the fuck didn't that US Navy railgun fire again? Why the Highlander II: The Quickening style retcon of the Transformers always being among us? Why does the Fallen want to do what he does, just because? Where are the pyramids located in? What is it with the elastic geography? Why the fuck is John Turturro wearing those awful Sector 7 Y-fronts?

But thank God Jon Voight did not reprise his role as that Thunderbirds puppet in a suit.

I give it a final score of 2/10 (lower).

[DPDarkPrimus]

I know it's just one of your many complaints, but since it is answerable...

It is full of plotholes - why the heck was Sector 7 shut down for?

Because they said they were shutting it down at the end of the first film.

[SAMAS]

Why the equally senseless and draconian clampdown on the NEST team by the US Government?

Being overly cautious "Don't move until we can make an official statement"

Why the fuck didn't that US Navy railgun fire again?

Lack of targeting data?

Why the Highlander II: The Quickening style retcon of the Transformers always being among us?

Ask Grimlock.

Besides, it's not a retcon. Retcons mean changes to previously-established information. They just didn't know about the Seekers.

Why does the Fallen want to do what he does, just because?

The first time, he didn't care. This time, he was making it personal, and quite frankly, they didn't want to transport it away.

Where are the pyramids located in?

Egypt.

What is it with the elastic geography?

Plot Hole.

Why the fuck is John Turturro wearing those awful Sector 7 Y-fronts?

Shock Value.

But thank God Jon Voight did not reprise his role as that Thunderbirds puppet in a suit.

I give it a final score of 2/10 (lower).[/quote]

[Vympel]

Heh, I had a toy geekout and bought the Leader-class Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Jetfire (whose parts you can clip onto Prime! Fwar!!!) figures. They were on sale (RRP was 99AUD, I got them for 69AUD). They're very cool, I can't believe they haven't made a Leader-class Starscream, or Bumblebee yet (I know they made a [better-than-leader-class] super-expensive version of Bumbelle, though).

Now, do I act like a toy collector and keep them in the box and make money off them in a decade, or do I take them out of the box and relive my childhood?

[white_rabbit]

Jetfire (whose parts you can clip onto Prime! Fwar!!!) figures.

I am such a giant nerd, because that sounds completely awesome.

There is no choice, you have to get them out and fly them around the room, while making sci-fi noises and poorly imitating lines from the film.

I hated the clumsy token nods to Britain and Britishness,

Eh ?

[The Grim Squeaker]

I hated the clumsy token nods to Britain and Britishness,

Eh ?

Jetfire.

[SAMAS]

I think that was just Jetfire being Jetfire.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Heh, I had a toy geekout and bought the Leader-class Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Jetfire (whose parts you can clip onto Prime! Fwar!!!) figures. They were on sale (RRP was 99AUD, I got them for 69AUD). They're very cool, I can't believe they haven't made a Leader-class Starscream, or Bumblebee yet (I know they made a [better-than-leader-class] super-expensive version of Bumbelle, though).

Now, do I act like a toy collector and keep them in the box and make money off them in a decade, or do I take them out of the box and relive my childhood?

You'll be happy to know that people have confirmed that there will be a Leader-class Starscream figure out sometime next year.

[Crazedwraith]

Now, do I act like a toy collector and keep them in the box and make money off them in a decade, or do I take them out of the box and relive my childhood?

The solution is obvious; you need to buy two sets of every figure.

Seriously what are the chances of them being worth anything in the future?

[VF5SS]

Seriously what are the chances of them being worth anything in the future?

Transformers fans are fucking greedy hoarding bastards :< Like try finding a Titanium Ultra Magnus for less than 100 dollars. Sheesh.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Seriously what are the chances of them being worth anything in the future?

Not much. The only ones that might be worth anything are exclusives - otherwise if a figure becomes valuable, it's valuable in or out of package.

[Drooling Iguana]

Heh, I had a toy geekout and bought the Leader-class Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Jetfire (whose parts you can clip onto Prime! Fwar!!!) figures. They were on sale (RRP was 99AUD, I got them for 69AUD). They're very cool, I can't believe they haven't made a Leader-class Starscream, or Bumblebee yet (I know they made a [better-than-leader-class] super-expensive version of Bumbelle, though).

They have made a Leader-class Starscream, it's just not out yet. And while there's no Leader-class Bumblebee there is the "Human Alliance" version, which is about the size of a Voyager toy, has extra features like a flip-down battle mask and comes with a little Sam figure that activates various gimmicks mini-con style.

[white_rabbit]

and comes with a little Sam figure that activates various gimmicks mini-con style.

You don't...plug Sam into Bumblebee at any point do you ?

That would just be weird.

[Drooling Iguana]

I don't know all the specifics, but from reviews I've seen attaching him in various ways causes guns to pop out.

[Vympel]

Re: toys becoming valuable, you wait long enough and pretty much anything does. As an aside, it's crazy how valuable sealed-box LEGO gets - you want a 2006 release of Boba Fett's Slave I, still in the box? Be prepared to pay 350AUD. RRP when it came out? 99AUD.

I'd buy another bunch of them, but unfortunately I can't spend that frivolously

[Big Orange]

Why the fuck didn't that US Navy railgun fire again?

Lack of targeting data?

Like it's easy to miss giant robots and a deathray the size of a building on top of the largest stone structure on the planet? Although the Fallen (voiced by Tony Todd) could've anticipated the projectile.

Why the Highlander II: The Quickening style retcon of the Transformers always being among us?

Ask Grimlock.

Besides, it's not a retcon. Retcons mean changes to previously-established information. They just didn't know about the Seekers.

It's not as gruesome as the retconning in The Quickening, but it's still adding more layers of obstrusive backstory crap to add onto the other crap and padding weighing down the movie.

Why does the Fallen want to do what he does, just because?

The first time, he didn't care. This time, he was making it personal, and quite frankly, they didn't want to transport it away.

"Doesn't care" equals "just because". The Fallen's ultimate motives make less sense than the Ledger Joker's (who is meant to be an agent of chaos and random destruction).

Where are the pyramids located in?

Egypt.

Funny, I thought they were in Jordan, although I could be wrong, but the geography was more fucked up than in The Return of the King.

And to answer DPDarkPrimus: Being mentioned is not the same as being properly explained and justified, although I wouldn't be surprised if the S7 science/engineering support were used as advisors to NEST and the paramilitary S7 units were mostly cannibalized into the NEST unit itself. But why was S7 dismantled in the first place, when it would've probably been better off mostly as it was, and the dismissed Simmons saved the day anyway?

And surely the idiot US Government could tell the difference between the Autobots and Decepticons? They also stupidly tried to disband the NEST team, but like Simmons, they saved the day. A genuine plothole/retcon is where Mission City from the last film, with the final battle, was mentioned as Los Angelis in RotF (sure it was LA all along, but still).

All in all this was an unentertaining movie that failed to impress me with its excessive and mind numbing self-indulgence, a hefty 147 minutes of my life I won't get back. We could argue about its perceived plotholes and contrivances for an entire galactic cycle, but its biggest crime was that it was just BORING.

[ArmorPierce]

Like it's easy to miss giant robots and a deathray the size of a building on top of the largest stone structure on the planet? Although the Fallen (voiced by Tony Todd) could've anticipated the projectile.

I would think that you'd need to know where and what you are shooting at when they are shooting from at least 100 miles away.

Where are the pyramids located in?

Egypt.

Funny, I thought they were in Jordan, although I could be wrong, but the geography was more fucked up than in The Return of the King.[/quote]

I believe it was in Egypt since that's where the pyramid is located. Jordanian helicopters showed up for some reason not quite sure why, I might have missed it in the movie though.

[Anguirus]

I have HA Bumblebee and definitely recommend him. You can peg Sam into various parts of BB (i.e. seats, hand, platform on back) for stability but it doesn't "activate" anything Mini-Con style.

I've heard that OP is awesome but I can't see spending $50 on a toy right now, or at any point in the near future. Even the $35 for a great BB hurt. However, I've started collecting Deluxe and Voyager Decepticons like no tomorrow. Except for the weird green paint job, Voyager Megatron kicks the shit out of the Leader. We also will soon be seeing Leader Starscream and Voyager Bludgeon.

[Drooling Iguana]

Legends Prime is also pretty awesome, and much cheaper than the Leader version. Makes you wonder why Voyager Prime was such crap.