Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Analysis and Review

When the Hate started coming in... and Rightfully So

The hotly anticipated sequel to the 2007 unexpected (though not really if one were to think about) smash hit goes for bigger and broader in scope. And the expectations of many were so high for the cast and crew to improve on the very fixable mistakes that were made in the first one as well as enhance what was good in the first one. Does it do that? Well...

The Plot

When Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) triggers a map to a new source of power that gets embedded in his mind, he is once again thrusted into the war between the noble Autobots and evil Decepticons. With his girlfriend, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox), and his college roommate, Leo Spitz (Ramon Rodriguez), they must trek across the globe to not only find this source of power before the Decepticons do but also hope that it may save the life of Autobot leader: Optimus Prime.

Analysis

It is actually amazing how much watching a movie on the day of release with a massive audience can make one's perception of a movie very murky. I remember it very clearly that while my group of 14 friends and I showed up really early to our screening we still wound up being stuck in the front row. It got crowded really quick, to the point where some people were willing to sit on the steps. Of course that didn't fly well for the ushers, but some refused to move.

But back to my point. I remember having an incredibly fun movie going experience watching this movie. The crow was laughing and cheering and just full of this overwhelming excitement that was intoxicating. My friends and I were caught up in all this energy that it just made the experience a thousand times more enjoyable.

However when we walked out of the theater and had dinner at the sushi establishment across the street...we never talked about whether or not we liked the movie. Which was weird because that is something we always do after seeing a movie. 

It wasn't until I bought the movie on special edition DVD (damn you blu-ray for ruining my chances of having a complete special edition DVD set) that I discovered why we didn't talk about the movie.

But it does show a lot of just how powerful the theater going experience is. Watching this movie alone is not fun. Watching this movie during matinee would not be fun either. Watching it with a crowd of people who loves this movie no matter what? That is truly something magical. 

But now that the magic doesn't follow me to home viewing, lets talk about this piece of ****.

Review

There was a lot going on in this movie. And I do mean a lot. First there is LaBeouf's Sam having to deal with college and being away from his girlfriend. Then there's the horny conspiracy theory roommate who serves one purpose in the movie: being the conspiracy theorist. Then of course the villain from the first movie is brought back to life to kill the number one reason why people want to see this movie (Optimus Prime) so that it would really tie in to another plot of the movie. Then there's the globe trotting to get to the climax and the third act of the film. Okay that doesn't sound like a lot is going on, in fact it all goes together quite nicely on paper. The problem is a good idea on paper may not look good on screen.

As I mentioned the plot seems to be about bringing Optimus Prime back to life after getting killed by a revived Megatron. Oh, is that a spoiler? Well with all out honesty the plot of the film is marketed as an ancient Decepticon wants to harvest the sun's energy....because he wants to harvest the sun's energy. The title Revenge of the Fallen suggests that the titular Fallen (the ancient Decepticon voiced by Tony Todd) wants revenge on someone. Though as the opening prologue states: the ones he wants revenge on have been dead for thousands of years. So...there really is no revenge factor. If anyone should be getting revenge it should be Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving) because he was killed in the first movie. The title would've fit perfectly if that was the case because he has indeed fallen and come back to life. But no he does not seek to kill Optimus for revenge, he seeks to kill Optimus because his master The Fallen can only be killed by someone with Prime in their name. So in a sense the character who should get revenge doesn't actually get revenge on the character who would give cause for revenge but instead does things because he was told to do so. Makes sense?

Anyway this film could've gone a lot differently had it been marketed as what it is: we need to bring Optimus Prime back to life. That is the plot of the movie. But the problem is they had to make it so complex yet at the same time so convenient that a world ending device could also be the key to bringing Optimus back to life. So many moving parts for something that should really just be straight forward. Yet that plot gets mixed in with other plots that get dragged out unnecessarily. Especially with the nonexistent presence of this new villain because although he shows off that he is powerful he doesn't really do much to justify his place in the movie. Let alone justify why his name should be in the title.

The acting was just over the top. I'm not going to name names specifically because lets face it everyone was acting over the top in this movie. Even in the emotional scenes it seemed too heightened for what it should be. The one who I was paying attention to was Isabel Lucas who plays the robot disguised as a human named Alice. The reason was mainly due to her being pointed as the next big thing, and a fine actress. Unfortunately the role she was given in this movie was not a really nice display of her acting range. Which is sad because I've seen her in The Pacific and she's great. 

And the action of seeing robots fight other robots is completely ruined by not knowing who is fighting who. A lot of new hero robots are introduced, including female robots, and a lot of new villain robots are introduced, but in the end unless one is really paying attention very very very carefully (like me) you would have no idea who is who or who is fighting what. This was a minor problem in the previous one but at least there were multiple times when the fights were clear. In this one the only fight that was clear and well done was the one with Optimus battling Megatron and two other Decepticons at the same time. Other than that one part, all the other action in the movie is terrible. And this is suppose to be coming from action auteur, Michael Bay.

I should probably talk about those two idiot robots in the movie but I'm not going to waste internet space for that.

Final Thoughts

I wish I can relive that movie theater experience of seeing this movie with a crowd of blind excited fans because the movie I remembered seeing on the big screen was not the same one I saw when I watched it at home alone. And after seeing the third one that's when it dawned on me that seeing a Transformers movie with a crowd of Transformer movie fans is the best way to see the movie. You will get lost in the energy and feel like it is the greatest movie ever! But sadly it is not.

SCORE: 4/10 - A movie to enjoy only at a midnight screening with hardcore fans of the series

For a review of the previous film, CLICK HERE
For a review of the next film, CLICK HERE

X-Men Days of Futures Past vs Watchmen

CLASH OF THE RETRO ALTERNATE TIMELINES!!!

**SPOILERS**

This article spoils a great deal of both films. If you do not wish to be spoiled please look elsewhere. If you have seen one and don't care for the other then I can't really stop you from reading this. So, let's begin!

All out honesty, if I'm going to compare Watchmen to another film it should be The Incredibles. If you have seen both films, just think about that for a moment. Yep. Same story. Different execution. Different ending. And if I'm going to compare Days of Future Past to another movie it should be Terminator 2. Again, if you've seen both, think about it. So why compare Watchmen, the faithful adaptation of the greatest superhero comic of all time, against Days of Future Past, the inaccurate adaptation of one of the greatest and shortest X-Men stories of all time? Well that's because both films are set in alternate time periods. Well, 1/3 of Days of Future Past takes place in the year 2023 but a dominant portion still lives in the retro world. Believe it or not there are things that they have a lot in common.

COMPARISONS BEGIN

The Death of a Hated Figure brings doom

Bolivar Trask and Edward Blake

Both of these films are triggered by the death of someone. In Days of Future Past, that death was Bolivar Trask. In Watchmen, that death was Edward Black aka The Comedian. Both occur at the beginning of the story and propels the narrative. However where they diverge is that Watchmen is about finding out who killed The Comedian and Days of Future Past is about stopping the murder from happening. But the consequences of this figure's death brings about something apocalyptic. In Days of Future Past that would be the unstoppable Sentinels of the future. In Watchmen it is the death of 15 million people around the world. In a sense they are both apocalyptic with massive scale consequences. Though it could be argued that had The Comedian not died in Watchmen the ending would still happen, but this is more about his death sends the characters on their journey the same way preventing Trask's death put the X-Men on theirs.

We're not doing so good

Charles Xavier and Daniel Dreiberg

In Days of Future Past a young Charles Xavier has fallen from grace after feeling like he is no longer needed. In Watchmen a large majority of the former superheroes still find difficulty adjusting to their lives. While the former Nite Owl II aka Daniel Dreiberg may suffer from a psychological case of erectile dysfunction; which is not as serious as Xavier's drug addiction to get rid of his powers and walk; they both do have that sense of losing a part of themselves without realizing it is who they really are that will save them. Daniel realizes he can't live without being Nite Owl and Xavier realizes he can't live without the wheelchair. It is clear that Xavier is in a more darker place than Daniel but both of them still had to confront the facts: they are who they are and they should not change that.

Prison Break? That's illegal you know

This is more of a plot coincidence than an actual thematic similarity. But both movies do feature a scene where the heroes have to break out arguably the badass of their stories in order to progress the plot. Days of Future Past has the gang plus a newly recruited Quicksilver breaking Magneto out of the Pentagon. Watchmen had a sexed up adrenaline rushed couple break out Rorschach from prison. And yes, one looked cooler than the other. I'm not going to deny that. And you already know which one is cooler. Its just funny how they both have a prison break though, right?

The Badass never compromises

Rorschach and Magneto

You know who I'm talking about. No, not Wolverine. Young Magneto and Watchmen's Rorschach are the uncompromising "badass" characters in their respective films. Both of them have almost a black and white world view. Magneto does blur the black and white with shades of gray, but he still maintains the view that mutants are superior to humans. Rorschach on the other hand only and literally sees the world in black and white. His view is that evil must be punished, even if that means going to the extreme. Both of these characters are incapable of seeing anything different. When everyone else has fallen, they kept going with their causes. But that doesn't mean they're incapable of having friends.

Why can't we be friends?

I had to. Both films have a dynamic between a pair of characters with completely opposing views yet have a strange mutual respect towards each other. Daniel and Xavier can be viewed as fallen White Knights that have to pick themselves up again. And as I've stated before Magneto and Rorschach are the badass uncompromising Dark Knights that stay active in their cause no matter what. Yet both pairs need each other. Daniel and Rorschach both want justice but see different ways of going about it. Xavier and Magneto both want to ensure the future of mutant kind but have completely different methods of how to do so. Despite this, both pairs find a way to still remain friends. Though Daniel and Rorschach are not on opposing sides, the two of them are the only ones who can tolerate and understand each other. And even though Xavier and Magneto are on literal opposing sides, they do care about one another. But granted, if Rorshach and Magneto had to kill Daniel and Xavier, I strongly believe they would.

The "Villain" wants World Peace

Bolivar Trask and Adrian Veidt

Trask has similarities to The Comedian's intellectual rival: Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias. Both of these characters want world peace. Trask wants peace for humanity by focusing all their hatred towards mutants rather than each other. Ozymandias wants to achieve world peace by faking an alien invasion framing the all powerful Dr. Manhattan with the deaths of 15 million people. Their methodologies of redirecting everyone's hatred and fear towards another party are very similar yet very logical. They're not evil, but they're not above creating an evil for the world to turn against. In a sense they acknowledge that good and evil are only concepts but concepts that everyone believes in. So if the way to unite people is to turn someone into the source of all evil, then of course people will unite for a cause.

It all works out in the end (?)

Both films have happy endings....ish. Days of Future Past ends with the dark future being averted and everyone who died in the original timeline comes back to life. But the change in the timeline may have awakened Apocalypse. While Watchmen ends with the United States and Soviet Union calling off their Cold War to preach world peace. But Rorschach's journal being found by a newspaper intern may trigger an unraveling of the conspiracy to save the world. In other words, both protagonists seemed to have temporarily averted disaster. But as we all know, peace never lasts forever.

Final Thoughts

If you've been following me you'll notice that this versus is completely different from my Godzilla versus and Prehistoric versus. Here I don't really delve into who did it better (except the prison break sequence) but more about what they have in common. I can easily make an argument how Days of Future Past is better than Watchmen. Just look at Rottentomatoes. But then I could've easily made an argument why Watchmen is a far superior film to Days of Future Past. At least they stayed true to the comics. But unlike the American Godzilla films that have similar goals and similar plots, these two films may have similar elements but completely different plots. One is about hope, the other is about reality. I just found it interesting how they match up in so many places and thought I'd point that out. Apologies if you thought this was going to be a complete bashing of one film over the other.

Because we clearly know who the winner is (> . >) X-Men Days of Future Past