First reviews

[Xsubs]

The thing about profesional critics is that they're expecting too much in this movie. They're expecting this movie to be character based(character development), but obviously (we all know) that Bays films are all about the action and the fun we get out of it and shouldnt be taken as a 'masterpiece film'.

[Xsubs]

Yeah the Empire review made it sound like they didn't like it at all but then they still rated it good. Of course they also rated T4 great so what do they know.

As a terminator movie, it was decent enough to be a apart of the franchise. Terminator Salvation is not the type of movie for people who havent seen first 2 or who were never interested in terminator in the first place.

Anyways its just a review from an individual's opinion so dont take to0 hard

[MouseNo4]

Anyone care to notice that almost ALL the big blockbuster movies that reap in untold millions upon millions at the box office, sell incredibly well on dvd and have a long list of fanboys (like this forum) - always end up getting a very long list of bad reviews?

Ironic aint it?

[lebombe]

Hi everyone... it's been a few years since I last posted (just after The Island, I think). But as a long-standing Bay fan, I though it was worth throwing in my 2 cents, since I managed to luck my way into the press screening in London last Friday (where the Paramount rep assured us we were the first audience to see a finished print - pretty exciting).

Revenge of the Fallen is a MUCH bigger film than the original - an epic backstory, grander locations and better action - MB was not lying when he said most of the money-shots had been kept out of the trailers! The wide shots that were so sorely missing from the first film are there and at last you can follow things (on the whole).

I wasn't took keen on the opening (no details - don't want to spoil anything) until the first blast of Bayhem but it was really the comedy scenes with Sam/family/Bumblebee that got me engaged. Every time I see a Bay film, I'm always surprised by how funny they are - probably cos the trailers usuall show the epic stuff. Overall I think it's the comedy that worked best throughout the film - both human and the new robot characters (Jetfire was a pleasant surprise, skids & mudflap amusing, and wheelie/wheels(?) made me chuckle too).

The action is stunning at times, and the fight scene that so many critics have compared to King Kong was spine-tingling awesomeness - the kind of action high that is pretty much unique to Bay films. It's a shame that it's the best bit, so early in the film though. The last half hour or so really does start to suffer from action-overload and as things get utterly hectic on the CGI front, it becomes less and less engaging. The climax didn't quite do it for me - with all the build-up to a momentous heroic moment, it was over too quick. And then the epilogue... I'm starting to believe MB has got a real problem with endings - The Island is pretty weak (kind of redeemed with the epic Jablonsky music though), Transformers was a bit unsatisfying and this was worse - just feels like they couldn't be bothered to wrap things up properly so just rushed out a monolgue (like part 1) and cut to credits. After all the stuff that's happened in the previous 140 mins it feels like a letdown to finish so quickly.

But hey, while it's probably the least satisfying experience I've had overall with a Bay film... it's still a Michael Bay film and it's very, very good and certainly leagues ahead of every other summer blockbuster contender. The disappointment comes purely from having such extraordinarily high expectations... I think i'll probably enjoy it a lot more second time round at the Imax...

[TIMtationX]

The last half hour or so really does start to suffer from action-overload and as things get utterly hectic on the CGI front, it becomes less and less engaging.

Action overload?? Bay just cannot win can he? I keep hearing this, and everytime I hear it I still can't understand how somebody can say that there's TOO much action...I, I just don't get it!

[Inflataman]

I thought Transformers 1 had a good monologue. Optimus' speech actually hyped me up and everyone else for a sequel.

[lebombe]

The Action overload is a problem because you get explosion after explosion after explosion - there's no real difference and there's no forward motion of the story's action so it's not exciting any more. Action scenes always need a rhythm and MB is usually excellent at this... in the case of TF2 I just felt he lost his way a bit - I didn't get the adrenaline high i'd normally expect to get from watching such stuff. I know Bay can do better than this.

[lebombe]

I thought Transformers 1 had a good monologue. Optimus' speech actually hyped me up and everyone else for a sequel.

The speech was ok. Obviously it's a personal thing... probably the soundtrack's fault - ending with Linkin Park just grates for me - much prefer a film to end with score. But even compared to 1, the end speech of 2 seems very flat... Perhaps everything will change for me on second viewing.

[TIMtationX]

The Action overload is a problem because you get explosion after explosion after explosion - there's no real difference and there's no forward motion of the story's action so it's not exciting any more. Action scenes always need a rhythm and MB is usually excellent at this... in the case of TF2 I just felt he lost his way a bit - I didn't get the adrenaline high i'd normally expect to get from watching such stuff. I know Bay can do better than this.

.......You're forgetting that the same things were said about the final battle of the first movie. This is one of those things i'll have to see for myself, because I just don't get how a fan of Transformers, and action movies in general, would be dissapointed.

[Trailbreaker]

God, just when I thought I could avoid looking at reviews they end up appearing right in my face instead. It just happened to me in the "What movies have you seen lately?" thread.

[phoenixgirl]

Many of the reviews I have heard have been going on about the film's length and that it is over 2 hours of brain-numing action. These guys (below) understand the true meaning of entertainment.
http://www.thetransformers.net/trans...fallen-review/

[littleman794]

thanks pg!!

[The Last Autobot]

judging by the website address, a good review was probably a no brainer. Either way, that's awesome.

[UnclePetey]

Thanks, Phoenix! Those are the reviews I like to see!

[snipperoth]

Sounds good.

[XxSoundwavexX]

thanx phoenix good find.

[Trailbreaker]

OH god, thanks, I needed that.

But the first commenter on the bottom....watch out for that. The second commenter thinks the first commenter is working under Warner Bros.

[XxSoundwavexX]

wooow look at what he says witch i thought was great lol... The first thing we should say about Transformers 2 is that, unlike the first Transformers movie, the film delivers. ROTF is everything that the first Transformers film should have been.

[wingzero]

The action is stunning at times, and the fight scene that so many critics have compared to King Kong was spine-tingling awesomeness - the kind of action high that is pretty much unique to Bay films. It's a shame that it's the best bit, so early in the film though. The last half hour or so really does start to suffer from action-overload and as things get utterly hectic on the CGI front, it becomes less and less engaging. The climax didn't quite do it for me - with all the build-up to a momentous heroic moment, it was over too quick. And then the epilogue... I'm starting to believe MB has got a real problem with endings - The Island is pretty weak (kind of redeemed with the epic Jablonsky music though), Transformers was a bit unsatisfying and this was worse - just feels like they couldn't be bothered to wrap things up properly so just rushed out a monolgue (like part 1) and cut to credits. After all the stuff that's happened in the previous 140 mins it feels like a letdown to finish so quickly.

But hey, while it's probably the least satisfying experience I've had overall with a Bay film... it's still a Michael Bay film and it's very, very good and certainly leagues ahead of every other summer blockbuster contender. The disappointment comes purely from having such extraordinarily high expectations... I think i'll probably enjoy it a lot more second time round at the Imax...

Action overload and too quick ending .. like others said it's same kind of nonsense bashing that was said against the first Transformers movie.
So, if it's a Vietnam war movie or a WW2 war movie it's ok to have 120minutes+ of action war and it's called epic and realistic and critics are pleased (although they bashed Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor at the time anyway..go figure) but if it's a sci-fi action movie with alien creatures attacking Earth then the action scenes would be too long and not interesting anymore? Oh, please.. no, really.
The 40minutes approx fighting ending scene on the first Transformers movie was just not long enough, it could have lasted three times as much and it wouldn't have felt too long at all. The ending with the death of Megatron was quick yes... disappointing? Not really because it was obvious that unless the movie bombed or flopped at the box office a second chapter would have been in the works immediately after... and here it goes, here we are with the second chapter.
The ending looks too quick and disappointing to you just like on the first movie? Then it's perfect because Transformers3 is going to be released in a 3 years from now... and semigod Unicron is the most obvious main character/element of the next movie after this one focused on his slave fallen angel The Fallen.
If the general public won't listen to critics and won't think "it's too long, it's overloaded" and so on but just stay focused and enjoy the action I am pretty sure Transformers2 is going to win the box office war once again and then the next movie will appear in a 3 years time.

If the ending was an absolute final ending then it would mean that the franchise would have been terminated. Maybe a less quick ending will be on Transformers3 because at that point Michael Bay should decide to quit and not do another trilogy cycle but we will see what will happen when the time comes.

[XxSoundwavexX]

uhmmm very interesting..............

[scottrichardson]

LOL I have to say... after reading reviews... the things being complained about are things I a: Will like, or b: Really don't care about.

Some of these critics are going into this movie with the expectation of it being the deepest most well written cinematic masterpiece.... sorry but that's really not the point of transformers. Im going into the movie with the expectation of it being kick ass action, awesome special effects, robots fighting, big sound, cool characters etc... thats what we want!!!

[XxSoundwavexX]

LOL I have to say... after reading reviews... the things being complained about are things I a: Will like, or b: Really don't care about.

Some of these critics are going into this movie with the expectation of it being the deepest most well written cinematic masterpiece.... sorry but that's really not the point of transformers. Im going into the movie with the expectation of it being kick ass action, awesome special effects, robots fighting, big sound, cool characters etc... thats what we want!!!

yep that's what i say, the LOUDER THE BETTER

[Trailbreaker]

This is why I don't like reading reviews (yet I just can't help but read when they are in front of my face). Apparently there is this "The movie was AWESOME and better than the first but I am going to go ahead and criticize every little detail of it anyway and make that 80% of my review" trend going on with this film. It's driving me nuts.

Here is how I am going to review the movie after I see it, if it's awesome then I will write this:

"OMFG HOLY SHIT! Epic Badassitude! Michael Bay, thank you for this amazingly epic, badass super amazing movie! Way better than the first! YEEEAHHHHOOOOOO!!!!!!!" and randomly run around and scream in fanboy rave until I pass out on the floor and wake up in a hospital.

And if it sucks...well ummm, no, cuz it won't suck.

[westy]

The best part on that review- "In this movie we get the real Optimus Prime" awesome!! i wasdissapointed with him in the last film as he came over a wekk(except the bone crusher scene) this time it looks like he's the daddy as we know him!

[mrmac33]

The Action overload is a problem because you get explosion after explosion after explosion - there's no real difference and there's no forward motion of the story's action so it's not exciting any more. Action scenes always need a rhythm and MB is usually excellent at this... in the case of TF2 I just felt he lost his way a bit - I didn't get the adrenaline high i'd normally expect to get from watching such stuff. I know Bay can do better than this.

EXACTLY! It's like when parents or teachers continually yell at kids. Eventually they tune it out and there's no bigger place to go. The way Bay is going, TF3 will have to have a nuclear explosion to up the ante.

Someone mentioned war movies with lots of explosions that the critics always like. The thing about them (Apocalypse Now, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, All Quiet on the Western Front, etc) is that between battles, there is a lot of time spent on character development, relationships, etc. They usually explore how a character deals with what they confront in war or why war is even necessary in the first place.

No TF will ever be a "war" movie. No Bay film will likely ever explore any topic with much depth. The Island could be an exception, but as stated earlier, the ending undermined a lot of what was built. Pearl Harbor stunk because the acting was atrocious and the love triangle plot laughable.

My only hope for TF2 is that it avoids ridiculous plot holes like the first one had. If it ups the action without shaky cam and provides at least a modicum of logic in its story, I'll be pumped.