Sunday, June 28, 2009,
9:19 PM
Oh my.
I just watched Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen last night. Maybe there is some truth behind the ST's review on the movie, only giving it 0.5/5. A little harsh, but the movie could have been alot better given the expectations it was supposed to match up to after the first movie.
(My blogger's having problem uploading pictures so oh well. Transformer pics are everywhere now anyway.)
Overall, I think the movie was mind-blowing. But that wasn't the only thing they blew up. And I think it was really smashing as well. They smashed up a whole lot of other stuff as well. In general, the main selling point of the movie was it's awesome fight scenes and endless destruction. Well, a movie can't go wrong with giant mechanoids mashing one another in epic battles right?
Overall, I'd say it's a 6.5/10
Plot (5/10): There really isn't a need for a synopsis, seeing that so many people are going ahead to watch it :D But careful of spoilers if you have yet to (ever since Prelim 2 ended)! I think the scriptwriters got a little lazy besides the movie would be a hit anyway with the awesome graphics and success of the previous movie.
First off, I found it slightly predictable. There wasn't really much of a twist or personal internal struggles, the storyline started off rather linear about Sam being dragged into the whole issue again (okay the leading in by him finding a shard of the Cube in his old jacket was slightly too...convenient a reason to start the story). Then about the fall of the leader, Optimus, and definitely he'd be revived once again. The fall of Sam was kind of predictable as well. And that there was something obviously wrong with Alice and her sticking onto Sam like glue without a apparent reason. I think the machine hidden in the pyramid was fine, but the whole idea about the Matrix wasn't.
Please, I expected a large complicated riddle that wasn't going to solved by a conversation that the two of them had in the evening. And the position of the Three Kings were inaccurate in astronomical terms as well, according to Stace. But how did the Matrix re-constructed itself, revives Optimus, yet gets stolen again? But I think a movie like Transformers was best with their first plot and not make another one which is a off-shoot of it. Though the plot is kind of interesting mainly due to the action sequence making one constantly ask: "What's going to happen now D:"
Action (9/10): Well, it had better get a high score. Mainly because this is what redeems the movie and makes it so awesome in the first place :D Put the scrappy plot aside, this makes up for everything. Guess this is one thing the ST reviewers overlooked.
Nothing can go wrong in epic clashes of giant robots verse other giant robots and humans firing in vain. It was really detailed, every part of the mechnoids as they beat one another up, especially in the fight scene with Optimus VS 3 other Decepticons. But sometimes they get so complicated that it just looks like metal rolling about.
And everywhere they went, destruction followed. Sure, it was cool in the Shanghai scene were buildings collaspsed and everything had either been blasted apart or filled with holes, but after awhile it gets kind of....numbing. It's like too much of a good thing. But the special effects were awesome, undeniably. Can you imagine what will happen if Transformers goes 3D? :D
Another Angle (5/10): Well, this is sort of a...double-edged sword. The movie injects comedy into many of the scenes which didn't involve clashing. It was good many a times, with great quotes such as:
Agent Simmons: What you are about to see is top secret. Do not tell my mother.
annnnd:
[arriving at Sam's college]
Judy Witwicky: Look at this place! I feel smarter already! Can you smell that?
Ron Witwicky: Yeah, it's the smell of $40,000 a year...
and my favorite was:
Jetfire: My father was a wheel! The first wheel! And do you know what he transformed into? Nothing! But he did it with honor!
Yes Jetfire is awesome and I liked the little addition of him in the movie. It's interesting to watch defects, and him supporting the Autobots instead (and the awesome merging on the final battle). Such witty lines injected laughter here and there.
But speaking of jokes, there were many dirty jokes here and there as well. And it was slightly irritating that they kept playing on them. Like how Simmons said he was directly under the robot's scrotum D:
Dirty jokes and sexual references aside (which surprisingly were subtle enough to keep the movie at PG), I feel that many of the Autobots from the original team did not have enough screentime. Optimus had quite alot, Bumblebee dorminated (which is awesome because B.Bee is so likable :D) and the twins had quite alot of screen time, but what about the rest of the team? They only had about a few lines, and are mainly sighted only in clashes. Besides, the addition of the three female motorbikes had hardly any lines and were only seen for 3 seconds in a couple of scenes. Sad D:
But overall, it's a good movie to follow up from the first because you watch it mainly for the action and awesome transformation and battle graphics, right? Lest why would you even bother yourself with Transformers in the first place :O
I guess the ST reviewers were expecting a whole lot more and are already numb to action, even though the special effects are top-notch.
I'm attending the school's aesthetic concert tonight!
Balthus
Mash. Mash. Mash.Labels: in the thick of the action
