Opinions/ reviews

[Douger-1]

I really hate to say it. I really really do. But I have to agree with the critics on this movie. First off Im a huge fan of the 1st movie and have no problem suspending belief and just watching a fun popcorn movie. I thought the TF1 was one of the best movies of all time but this movie really let me down in far too many things.

Too many robots and no character developement. Case in point TF1 opens with Blackout destroying an entire airforce base. A several minute scene introduces you to this character and you begin to understand his level of destruction. Later in the movie when Megatron mobilizes the Decepticons and you see Blackout respond you think to yourself "oh sh!t". As the final battle in the streets rage on Blackout enters the fray and seems to begin to turn the tide. When the humans finally bring him down you feel a big sense of victory. This guy was one bad mother and he finally got taken down. Maybe there is hope for the good guys.

Ok now TF2. Sideways. You see him for 30 seconds. Does a cool transformation on the run and Sideswipe cuts him in half (which was pretty cool). So what is the point of Sideways? Just fodder I guess? Thats fine but see how it differs from above? Ok how about even Devastator. No development on the individuals contruction vehicles. You have no idea really how many there are or what they look like. Only see a couple in robot form and none have any speaking parts. All they do is combine (which is cool) only to be destroyed by a single cannon shot from a ship 100 miles away. LAME !!!! They could have done so much with devastator. How about Ironhide, Rachet, and Sideswipe teaming up on him for an epic battle? Nope single cannon shot. LAME.

Aside from that, the twins were stupid and the jokes are very lame. Too many parts that didnt need to be in there (the mom on pot, the roommates internet business, Alice, although cool why did Ravage steal the all spark shard? Did they ever use it?)

I think my biggest issue with this movie wasnt that it sucked by any means but more of it had so much potential and fell short. I feel 46 robots were just there to sell toys for Hasbro and I feel there was only about 1 hour of good movie, that should have been expanded upon, and the rest thrown out.

[soundwaveblaster]

I really hate to say it. I really really do. But I have to agree with the critics on this movie. First off Im a huge fan of the 1st movie and have no problem suspending belief and just watching a fun popcorn movie. I thought the TF1 was one of the best movies of all time but this movie really let me down in far too many things.

Too many robots and no character developement. Case in point TF1 opens with Blackout destroying an entire airforce base. A several minute scene introduces you to this character and you begin to understand his level of destruction. Later in the movie when Megatron mobilizes the Decepticons and you see Blackout respond you think to yourself "oh sh!t". As the final battle in the streets rage on Blackout enters the fray and seems to begin to turn the tide. When the humans finally bring him down you feel a big sense of victory. This guy was one bad mother and he finally got taken down. Maybe there is hope for the good guys.

Ok now TF2. Sideways. You see him for 30 seconds. Does a cool transformation on the run and Sideswipe cuts him in half (which was pretty cool). So what is the point of Sideways? Just fodder I guess? Thats fine but see how it differs from above? Ok how about even Devastator. No development on the individuals contruction vehicles. You have no idea really how many there are or what they look like. Only see a couple in robot form and none have any speaking parts. All they do is combine (which is cool) only to be destroyed by a single cannon shot from a ship 100 miles away. LAME !!!! They could have done so much with devastator. How about Ironhide, Rachet, and Sideswipe teaming up on him for an epic battle? Nope single cannon shot. LAME.

Aside from that, the twins were stupid and the jokes are very lame. Too many parts that didnt need to be in there (the mom on pot, the roommates internet business, Alice, although cool why did Ravage steal the all spark shard? Did they ever use it?)

I think my biggest issue with this movie wasnt that it sucked by any means but more of it had so much potential and fell short. I feel 46 robots were just there to sell toys for Hasbro and I feel there was only about 1 hour of good movie, that should have been expanded upon, and the rest thrown out.

I agree 100% although i still rather T1's intro given to a real decepticon like Starscream, still i loved it. This one not only had no character development but they were mishmashed together especially at the end. There's no way to explain the ending, besides it just a bad job. If they would have done better on this aspect it would be easier to ignore the twins or other horrible comedy this movie forces down your throat. But ignoring and going half ass on the transformers themselves is travesty, well almost at least

[Drake]

I went again last night, by myself, and it was even better the second time around. I was a bit confused due to the intensity of IMAX, so seeing it on a normal screen really helped me see stuff I missed. What I thought was crazy was that I went on a Monday night, so to avoid the crowd, and the theater was still packed. And to counter most of the naysayers on this board, many of them were repeat viewers (I asked, hehehe).

I don't think Jolt was a good idea, and he was a last minute idea by the car company (dunno which one) to throw him in. Bad idea, Mr. Bay. Either write him fully or not at all. He looks like he was a "oh, let's toss in a bot with no explanation whatsoever."

Ravage was exceptionally well done, as was Soundwave. I liked his voice even more this time around. It IS the voice of Soundwave from G1, FYI, just without the vocoder.

Megatron needs to die, honestly. He seemed much weaker in this one, and even less in control than before. I think a coup d etat by Starscream and an introduced Shockwave is in order.

Bonecrusher's cameo was confusing and unnecessary. Why he was put in is beyond me, especially since ANY vehicle could have been put in there. If there's a reason, I wish it'd be explained.

Starscream seems neutered in this one. I recall his voice being deeper and more confident in the first. Maybe it was him just being subservient to Megatron and an act, but I no likey.

I wasn't amused by Jetfire's fart joke, but other than that, he was very well done. The surprise deathblow by Skorponok was superb.

I don't think the final fight was too short. It illustrated how powerful OP was at that point, and his speed of attack and violence of aggression was insane. The Fallen and Megs didn't stand a chance. At least Megs figured that out. The Fallen didn't.

I loved the Twins, btw. You want to say they are racist characters? Ok, then they also took on Devastator. So, if anything, whatever race you THINK they were behaving as was portrayed in a heroic and insanely brave light.

More Sideswipe, please. You can't have an intro like that and then send him to the background.

The Devastator conundrum (multiple Constructicons in multiple places) is easy to figure out. LET GO OF G1, PEOPLE. It was very obvious that Devs part are not individual bots. When hit by the railgun, only the toso was hit. If these WERE individual bots, then most of them would've survived and continued fighting. Instead, he fell apart. G1 rules do not apply to this particular TF universe, and looking back, MB's interpretation makes much more sense.

As for more robot screentime, remember, this movie is already being slammed for being too long. The hardest part about being a director, IMO, is time management. You have your baby, and unfortunately, your baby is 5 1/2 hours long. Something has to go.

Alice was completely relevant, and made me wonder "Geez.. is Sam ever going to be safe?" I agree that Barricade would've worked nicely here, but also consider that it was already done in the first movie. It'd be more of a rehash and considered stale.

There are goofs and errors... but show me a movie that has no mistakes. Even LOTR had a car in the background, and Batman Begins has a FRIGGIN COFFEE MUG ON THE ICE FIGHT SCENE.

I give this movie an 8/10, which is damn good considering my standards.

[warhawk]

Moms getting high and dogs humping was a mere glimpse of the movie... stop thinking of the one bad joke you saw and look at the rest of the movie.

there were way more than just one bad joke! if true fans of transformers wanted to watch "american pie" they would have rented it not went and spent money at the imax theatres to see it again. for anyone to say this movie was great does not no what transformers is really about. very poor job, hope real writers come in and do a better job if there is a third one.

[Mech_1000]

for anyone to say this movie was great does not no what transformers is really about. very poor job, hope real writers come in and do a better job if there is a third one.

Thanks for insinuating that I know nothing about transformers. But as your opinion can be yours, this movie definitely did everything and more that I had hoped it would for the series.

[Douger-1]

I agree 100% although i still rather T1's intro given to a real decepticon like Starscream, still i loved it. This one not only had no character development but they were mishmashed together especially at the end. There's no way to explain the ending, besides it just a bad job. If they would have done better on this aspect it would be easier to ignore the twins or other horrible comedy this movie forces down your throat. But ignoring and going half ass on the transformers themselves is travesty, well almost at least

Yeah I just think too many robots were introduced and it left too many holes. It seems the many people that defend the movie seem to use their own interpretation of events to rationalize the empty plots points, which is fine, but I think a better job by the writers would have made this a very tight movie. I think the center piece of this could/should have been Devastator and the constructicons. What was there was cool, but a missed opportunity in my mind.

Maybe I need to see it again. I see I was wrong in my earlier comment that the stolen all spark shard by Ravage was to bring back Megatron.

I think it would have been better if the movie showed Starscream returning to Cybertron after Megatrons defeat, to try to figure out what to do. He finds 7 neutral robots attempting to rebuild Cybertron after the wars on Cybertron and convinces them to come to earth to rebuild the fallen decepticons, but not Megatron, and to BUILD the sun harvester machine because it will provide energon to help rebuild Cybertron. But Starscream has other plans to keep the Energon for himself but when the other Decepticons get wind of Starscreams plans they recover the body of Megatron and brutally force the neutral and innocent contructicons into rebuilding Megatron. Meagtron obviously takes issue with Starscream but finds his idea for the sun harvester a good idea.
After this the contructicons realize the evil intent of the Decepticons and they decide to leave earth but Megatron liking the idea of the sun harvester prevents the contructicons from leaving and turns them into decepticons (G1 reference) and adds the special feature we all so dearly love. Autobots would get wind of the sun harvester and Devastaor would be realized at the end as they are now activated by Megatron. Devastator would have been the one to kill Prime which enrages the autobots. An all out slug fest would ensue with Ironhide Rachet, Sideswipe, Bumblebee and whoever else, utterly destroying Devestator in a bout of drunken rage and driving off Megatron and the others. With Devastator and the sun harvester destroyed the autobots take little comfort in their victory as their fallen leader lay dead on the battlefield.

Before I get flamed I just thought of this off the top of my head and its not complete by any means. But to me it touches on the contructicons origins, what they do and how they got manipulated by the Decepticons. It touches on the competition between Megatron and Starscream. It results in an epic battle with Devastator containing the characters we love from the first movie and the new ones introduced, instead of a single rail gun shot. And it leaves the intro into TF3 with something more than Megatron saying "This isnt over".

I love transofrmers and want nothing more than the series to be the best ever. I guess my expectations were not on the same level and that is my problem I suppose. Spare me the flames Ive read them all before.

[aussiedarth]

I've seen ROTF twice now and have thoroughly enjoyed it on both occassions. OK so it doesn't usurp the first movie, but it's a great follow-on, and leaves it wide open for a third. I had read some of the reviews and quite frankly some of the critics are anal. They seem to forget that it's a sci-fi action movie and think that it's supposed to be some kind of documentary. Chill out!! Just sit back and enjoy the ride and stop being so anal-ytical!!!
I will admit there were a couple of errors in the movie: such as when the car which Sam, Mikaela and Leo are dropped in by the Blackout look-alike, they would have needed more than airbags to protect them. They would have been seriously injured. But hey, that's movie magic. The only other error was when the Decepticons are coming to earth and strike the aircraft carrier. Great scene, but it's referred to as the Theodore Roosevelt, with the number on the island shown as 74. The Roosevelt is 71. When the ship is sinking the number on the bow of the ship changes between 71 and 74. Something they might be able to fix prior to the release of the DVD. They got the carrier right near the end of the film as it has the island number 74 which is the John C Stennis.
Anyway, apart from that, I really liked it. The fights with Optimus are fantastic, the Twins are amusing and Sam's mother deserves an Oscar!!
I've read that some people thought there was no plot, storyline or character development. I think character development was done enough on the first movie. If you put more character development in the second, then the movie probably would have gone on for another hour or so (not that I would complain about that!!).
You take other movies like Star Wars for example - there are a lot of characters that are not introduced, but you get to know them when the toys come out usually.
Oh well, that's my wrap. I say welcome done Michael Bay on producing a sequel which is just as good as it's predecessor. Look forward to the third one, but understand if it will take until 2012 or 2013 to come out.

[The Last Autobot]

Great review.

Im gonna watch it again.

[RichieRich]

I'm in agreement with Douger-1. All good points.

The other point I'd make is the lack of character development, both that of the humans and the Autobots/Decepticons.

Major Lennox and Epps seemed to be afterthoughts in this movie. Why not make Lennox the leader of Nest instead of the general from the first movie? He defeated the badass Blackout from the first film, make him the expert on taking out Decepticons.

Bumblebee... I thought he was able to talk, albeit very little, by the end of the first movie. Let's just forget about all that in the second movie why don't we... he did get the screentime which I liked.

Ironhide and Ratchet... hardly any screen time whatsoever. I understand the motivation on focusing on the other autobots to sell more toys so why not give Ironhide or Ratchet upgrades? Develop them a bit.

The Twins... I don't mind them. They need something for the kids in the audience.

There were other autobots but I didn't really care about them since they didn't get any lines or anything substantial to do in the movie.

The Decpticons.... my biggest beef. In any great action movie the antagonist is always over the top and almost a scene stealer to the good guy. In this movie, aside from Megatron, the bad guys were just cannon fodder... no personalities. Truly a waste. So disappointing...

In addition to all this, the multiple continuity errors with characters such as multiple green decpticon trucks and Bonecrusher showing up??? What?!?! All done to save money on effects and very VERY lazy.

This movie was supposed to improve on the first one. It fell far short.

[chatterbox]

I've seen ROTF twice now and have thoroughly enjoyed it on both occassions. OK so it doesn't usurp the first movie, but it's a great follow-on, and leaves it wide open for a third. I had read some of the reviews and quite frankly some of the critics are anal. They seem to forget that it's a sci-fi action movie and think that it's supposed to be some kind of documentary. Chill out!! Just sit back and enjoy the ride and stop being so anal-ytical!!!
I will admit there were a couple of errors in the movie: such as when the car which Sam, Mikaela and Leo are dropped in by the Blackout look-alike, they would have needed more than airbags to protect them. They would have been seriously injured. But hey, that's movie magic. The only other error was when the Decepticons are coming to earth and strike the aircraft carrier. Great scene, but it's referred to as the Theodore Roosevelt, with the number on the island shown as 74. The Roosevelt is 71. When the ship is sinking the number on the bow of the ship changes between 71 and 74. Something they might be able to fix prior to the release of the DVD. They got the carrier right near the end of the film as it has the island number 74 which is the John C Stennis.
Anyway, apart from that, I really liked it. The fights with Optimus are fantastic, the Twins are amusing and Sam's mother deserves an Oscar!!
I've read that some people thought there was no plot, storyline or character development. I think character development was done enough on the first movie. If you put more character development in the second, then the movie probably would have gone on for another hour or so (not that I would complain about that!!).
You take other movies like Star Wars for example - there are a lot of characters that are not introduced, but you get to know them when the toys come out usually.
Oh well, that's my wrap. I say welcome done Michael Bay on producing a sequel which is just as good as it's predecessor. Look forward to the third one, but understand if it will take until 2012 or 2013 to come out.

two ships went down? 71 and 74?

[Optimus124]

Here's My take on this movie.

My Issues: The humor in the movie can be pretty low-brow, but it entertains the overall crowd. The film felt looooooooooong. The military buildup for the final act and the matrix quest was overdone ridiculously. Snap off 30 min and would have been paced correctly. The Fallen was a pretty "weak" villain, especially if he is to act his "Revenge". The film's executive staff stated 40 transformers at once, however, they were honestly rehashes of other characters. Granted, us die-hards know that Hasbro makes repaints of the figures to hell, but that wasn't even done here properly in the final scene. Another is that if your name wasn't Optimus Prime, you were barely seen. Kinda like Beyonce to Destiny's Child. The tone of the film, at times, especially in the beginning, it was very low-brow humor and then switched to grandus epicus. Megan Fox was worthless. She hurt the movie more than anything else. Lastly, the script didn't do much for me as it seems rushed. Granted, the writers strike affected it, but don't let your ego get in the way of creating a great product.

My Praise:

The action sequences were mind-blowing. Kudos to Bay for finally learning how to integrate the shaky cam into those scenes. I didn't have a tough of a time trying to figure out who was fighting who. The CG was impressive and amazed with what was pulled off for 200 million. The traditional relationships to the characters were more towards the original series counterparts, especially Starscream and Megatron. The vocals for the Cons were a lot better. Megatron didn't sound completely muffled and you can recognize the Agent Smith within him. The lines the bots did deliver were true to character

My Favorite Lines from Non-Primes

Ironhide - Punk ass Decepticon
Sideswipe - Damn, I'm Good

The movie pushed the PG-13 rating to the brink, especially in the language and violence area. Some of the carnage was brutal (See forest fight ), however visually impressive. Surprising to most, I actually liked the twins and Jetfire. I thought this movie was better written in a character relationship standpoint (story was pretty basic IMO). Shia's thing that he does is likeable, and didn't seem as forced. The Forest Fight, the proclaimed greatest scene, is almost worth the price of admission. You almst look at it and wonder where was this Optimus Prime 2 years ago.

The movie excels at being a popcorn flick, as action speaks louder than words. Comparisons to other robot drama isn't fair, as the marketing base is completely different. I feel that Bay and Co. did listen to see what the hate was from the first movie was and appealed to that aspect. They did create new problems, especially on the cutting room floor. It was a fun ride and had a little bit for everyone, well maybe not the little ones . I'd give Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 4 out of 5.

[Grazer]

OK......let's just get the negatives out the way.

Little un-necessary humor - dogs shagging, mum getting high on brownies; funny but not really needed at the time
Romance a little cliched and cheesy as was some things involving Sam
Devastator killed a little too easily
Seemed to lose momentum after the forest sequence
Story makes little sense & characters not overly fleshed out
Too many robots to keep track of all them

Now that's out the way. None of it gets in the way of this movie being insanely enjoyable. It is awesome. From minute one the stakes are set. More Decepticons on the loose and as one particularly large beast is taken down in style by Prime, the warning is delivered. This sets up a ride filled with humor, action and totally awesome CGI. The story of The Fallen wanting to destroy the Sun to make Energon is easy enough to follow and is set up quite nicely as the movie goes on. The side issue of Sam & Mikaela struggling with their long distance relationship is, as I said, a little cliched but it helps add motivation for their character. I thought Shia was excellent again as Sam, Turturro has reigned himself in whilst Duhamel and Gibson did a solid job as portraying the various aspects of their character. Overall acting was solid. All the moments were handled pretty well, good amount of suspense. The twins were quite funny and didn't get in the way and stepped up when they needed to. Sams relationship with Bumblebee was a nice touch aswell.

The real strong points of is the action and CGI. It is typical Bay in the action stakes. Large, OTT, frenetic and just awesome. The action was easier to follow but still retained the immediacy. The forest sequence was just epic, the best sequence of the movie. Prime vs 3 very powerful Decepticons, dual sword weilding and the manner of his death was just what it should be - going down fighting protecting Sam, going down as the hero. All the other action sequences were brilliant but I felt the ending just lacked the punch when compared to the forest sequence. Seeing Prime rise, combine with Jetfire then take on The Fallen was immense. The CGI was up to the expected standard, ILM and Digital Domain raising the bar again.

Overall, this was just a great fun movie. It has flaws but like the first movie, they are far outweighed by the positives. Easily as good as the first, maybe marginally better. This is not deserving of all the critisism it's getting. 8.5/10

[supras989]

hahahha, funny stuff right there

[Art_of_Horror]

I'm going to have to agree with critics, I liked it on a pure blind fun level. But with fun aside, I wasn't so happy with it. Check out the attachment to this post, it basically sums up what I thought of it. Also, I get uncomfortable with stereotypical characters(i.e Muddflap and Skidz). The text in the attachment file is long, but makes a great point.

Also, I did not write the Transformers 2 Q&A.

[martinwellbourne]

Check out the attachment to this post, it basically sums up what I thought of it. Also, I get uncomfortable with stereotypical characters(i.e Muddflap and Skidz). The text in the attachment file is long, but makes a great point.

STANDING OVATION

An articulate, funny and sensible look at all the problems with ROTF.

Man I hope Bay reads that. I'd love to hear his response(s).

[nelson]

I'm going to have to agree with critics, I liked it on a pure blind fun level. But with fun aside, I wasn't so happy with it. Check out the attachment to this post, it basically sums up what I thought of it. Also, I get uncomfortable with stereotypical characters(i.e Muddflap and Skidz). The text in the attachment file is long, but makes a great point.

Also, I did not write the Transformers 2 Q&A.

If you get picky enough, this could be done with any movie.

[martinwellbourne]

If you get picky enough, this could be done with any movie.

Yeah, that's the same.

This is classic :

How is Sam Witwicky dragged back into the fight?

Well, he finds a fragment of the Allspark shard. You know, the Allspark that he spent all last movie being told he shouldn't give to Megatron, but when he gave it to Megatron, it killed Megatron. That one. Anyways, the shard makes the Beef see symbols and act like more of an spaz than usual.

So the Decepticons want the shard? Why?

Uh... to bring Megatron back to life?

What?

That's what they said.

But the Allspark killed Megatron in the first movie.

Yes.

...and now it can also bring him back to life.

It's very powerful, this Allspark.

Uh-huh. So what's their plan to get it?

They send a small R/C car who talks like Joe Pesci in Casino to get it.

Shouldn't they have sent Starscream or somebody?

Look, there's another Allspark shard and get that one anyways, so it doesn't matter.

Well, then why do they give a **** about Sam?

The symbols. In his head. That the shard of the Allspark gave him.

They weren't in the other shard?

Apparently not.

So how do the Decepticons plan to get the symbols, I guess?

Well, the Decepticons have very cunningly created a hot chick robot who they enrolled in the same college and put in the same astronomy class as Sam. And they made her a huge slut.

Wait.

Waiting.

There's a slutty Decepticon?

Yeah, she's a real ho. The Decepticons apparently have an incredibly powerful slut-making program, because she has it down, man. Anyways--

Didn't Sam touch the shard and get the symbols stuck in his head on his first day of college?

Yes.

So the Decepticons made a slutty robot to attend his college and enrolled her in classes and put her in on-campus housing just in case Sam ended up being important at some point in the future?

Apparently. It was an elaborate plan, but it sure paid off.

[Optimash Prime]

This is a joke right?

[nelson]

This is a joke right?

Obviously, can you imagine anyone taking a movie so seriously?

[Optimash Prime]

Obviously, can you imagine anyone taking a movie so seriously?

God I hope their kidding .... Like I said before; there are things I dont like that I just avoid. I dont have time to obsess about how much I dont like something??? :wtf

I'm convinced some of you haters write this shit just knowing your boiling peoples blood.

[alexsm]

5) deceptagons - the girl deceptagon ? the fallen ? the old timers ? ughhh , you have got to be kidding me ! Devastator was "ok", megatron and starscream great, soundwave petty awesome, but why can you do his real voice. If family guy can do his voice , i'm sure a 200 million dollar transformer movie can too. At the end, who were those deceptagons anyways, just like a bunch of robots thrown in. Part one at least developed each deceptagon a bit, this one didn't develop anything.

This makes me think about The Pentagon being a decepticon...



Imagine it transforming and standing up with all the people over him, some fallin' and shaking off them as if they where ants or something...

[martinwellbourne]

I'm convinced some of you haters write this shit just knowing your boiling peoples blood.

That's ludicrous!!! Why should it "boil your blood" to know that people don't like something that you do?

I don't think it's too much for audiences to ask that the movies they pay for make coherent sense (in terms of story and character). If people don't like something they should say so.

[Optimash Prime]

That's ludicrous!!! Why should it "boil your blood" to know that people don't like something that you do?

I don't think it's too much for audiences to ask that the movies they pay for make coherent sense (in terms of story and character). If people don't like something they should say so.

Well I loved the film .... and some of the audience loved the film. So it boils my blood because I cant feel you on your argument. I'm trying to understand but its starting to show that your just complaining to complain. Like I told you yesterday stop trying to look for trouble and just talk about what you would like to see in the third film. Try to be productive instead of an instigator.

[Optimash Prime]

Oh and if you didn't like it enough were you don't want a third film then you probably should not be on this site cause I know you don't like bay. Why you here?

[nelson]

BTW,

carlpickard = martinwellbourne = spencey7

Spency7 is a loser form the UK who ls isn't satisfied with going after Bay at AICN and has to come here and start shit over meaningless shit.