My review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Last night, in a feat of impromptu glory, Jen and I decided to catch the 11:30pm showing of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Needless to say, we didn't get out until almost 2:30am.

My verdict: It was awesome.

I went into the first Transformers movie not quite knowing what to expect. I mean, the entire franchise is based on action figures, which is a form of children's entertainment that has basically been made obsolete nowadays because of hand-held gaming systems. Very rarely so I see kids above toddler age playing with dolls of any kind. As soon as their hand-eye coordination gets good enough, they opt for buttons and touch-screens.

But I used to watch Transformers on Sunday mornings and after school when I was a kid, so of course I went to the movie to see the amazing special effects. Shia LeBeouf notwithstanding.

What really ended up surprising me was how funny the movie was. It seemed like the kind of Transformers movie that I would write. I mean yeah, it's about giant robots having a war, which is at once unbelievable and a little stupid really. But the movie doesn't take itself too seriously, which makes it good.

Now, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is definitely for people who liked the first one. Makes sense. You might go see the original out of morbid curiosity, but if you didn't like it, and then you go see the sequel, it's your fault that you're disappointed. You have to like Transformers to like Revenge of the Fallen. The humor is still there, but for the most part its overshadowed by the IMMENSELY complicated plot.

In my opinion, though my expectations had been low before the first movie, Shia LeBeouf is the best source for comedic material. He has a few good stream-of-concious monologues in the beginning of the film, but later his character is too caught up in the circumstances of the movie to reall ymake light of them. So they stick John Tuturro in as the clown. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz (represent!) he does a pretty decent job, but it takes some suspension of disbelief.

I am a big fan of the addition of Sam's brand new college roommate, played by Ramon Rodriguez, whose main function is to get slapped around and cry. He does it well.

Megan Fox is hot as usual. As are Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson, but WAY underdeveloped. Sgt. Lennox(Duhamel)'s wife and baby are completely absent from the story, which was pretty much the only thing that gave his character any depth in the first movie. And while they try to give Gibson's character a few witty one-liners, they fall a little flat.

If we're talking Smash, Bang, Crash, this movie is the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life. Massive civilian casualties: Funny every time. The action sequences are so good there were literally times when I had tears in my eyes. Virtually every historical landmark ever was destroyed.

All in all, this movie was fun. It was not a life-changing film experience, but it was a damn good time. And there were SEVERAL scrotum jokes. Always fun.