'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' is Not as Bad as I Thought it Would Be

Oct

‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ is Not as Bad as I Thought it Would Be

Posted by Monkey 1 in: All News, Movie Reviews, Movies

Megan Fox in 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'

Megan Fox adds to the visuals in 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the third highest grossing film of 2009 worldwide ($832M), and the top grossing film of 2009 at the domestic U.S.box office ($402M).

Paramount Home Entertainment released it on DVD and Blu-ray on October 20 and within a week it became the top selling release of the year (7.5M units sold).

Those are some pretty amazing statistics considering Rotten Tomatoes has it rated at 19% and more than 71,000 voters average it out at 6.2 on the IMDB.

Critics, reviewers and bloggers alike seem to be, for the most part, in agreement that the film sucks arse. For all of these reasons, and because I personally thought Transformers was a turd in disguise, I refused to head to the theater to see the film. I even thought I'd give it a miss on DVD until I contracted Swine Flu and in a moment of sick misery thought, "ah, what the hell, I'm in the mood for a shit film."

But the truth is, it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. In fact, I kind of enjoyed the overall experience of watching it.

Bumble Bee in 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'

The thing about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is it's not a great film, but then if you want a great film go watch The Shawshank Redemption or something. It was obvious to me from the word go that Fallen is a film for the younger at heart. It's not meant to deliver Oscar winning performances - it's meant to deliver big ass robots fighting and it does so in droves. Oh, and the occasional Megan Fox and Isabel Lucas eye candy scenes don't hurt either.

Yes, the film was way too long. But when you're sick and laid up, that's not such a bad thing.

Yes, the film was way too loud. But half of what I enjoyed most about the film were its awesome sound effects and the great score by Steve Jablonsky.

Yes, the film was lacking a human connection, but then I knew Shia LaBeouf and John Turturro were both in it from the outset so I was able to prepare myself for two of the world's most annoying actors before I pressed play. Even with the right script those two could never have injected a believable human drama to the film (or any film), so, you know, the more robots the better. Fortunately the film really was 80% robot. Each time the 20% with humans came around, well, I don't see why anyone would complain about the lack of human air time. Well, maybe I can see a little if that complaint includes the name Isabel Lucas or Megan Fox. But aside from those two.

Awesome visuals in 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'

Yes, the film was stupid. If Megatron can kill Optimus Prime then isn't he the most powerful Decepticon? Oh, there are many, many other stupid moments - but again I find myself considering the audience the film was directed at and I just can't see them caring. I really don't see this film as the kind of film to care about.

The way I see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is that it is a great film for critics to strip apart, an average film for adults to take something from, and a great blend of robot action and explosive visuals for those who really only want exploding, shape-shifting alien robot action from a Transformers film.

As for the robot testicles and the apparent racism slurs, I saw it, I get it, and I think it was all blown way out of proportion. If there's argument against saying it was blown way out of proportion, I really couldn't care less. It didn't bother me to the point of wanting to burst a blood vessel. Call it stupid humor. Enough said.

Trust me when I say I'm as surprised as the next person that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen isn't as bad as it's been made out to be. Sure, everything I've read about the film is pretty much accurate, but the thing is, the film doesn't take itself seriously, so why should anyone else?

It is true that I had extremely low expectations going in, but I'm also no fan of the first movie and so I did not expect to enjoy Revenge of the Fallen in the slightest. Yet I did, and to that I'll say it's hard not to enjoy this particular film if you suspend your criticism and just allow yourself to escape in it for a few hours. It's Transformers after all.

I give it eight monkeys:

There's some links below to grab it on DVD and Blu-ray, but above all else I recommend the score by Steve Jablonsky. In the end it is Jablonsky's score that will outlive everything else about the film, of that I am certain.