Robot Wars.

Rating: 8/10 (30 June 2011)

After being very entertained by the first Transformers film,that I had somehow not heard about,until a friend kindly borrowed me the DVD of the movie.I felt that due to enjoying the first film a lot,I decided that for the second one,I would make sure to watch it at the cinema,and though the film did feature some impressive fight scenes,which were a stunning blend of real locations,and eye-catching special effects, (the great "forest" battle,being a fantastic centrepiece for the film)the movies plot sadly seemed to run out of steam at around the first hour mark,which left the rest of the film feeling very drawn out and too slow paced.With having been left a bit disappointed by the second one,I was happy to see from the trailers to the third film,that director Michael Bay may have gotten his grove back with the franchise.
The plot:
The 1960's/1970's:
With their only chance of winning the war to save their planet from being completely destroyed,being lost,due to a ship which contains their main leader and a very powerful secret weapon being shot down,and left to gather dust on the moon.The Autobots (now being led by new leader Optimus Prime)have to make an extremely painful decision to leave their planet, (which is now being over run by the Decepticons)and try to live in secrecy on a planet far away called Earth. Meanwhile on Earth,the US and Russia are going head-to-head in a fight to be the first superpower to send a team to the Moon,to try and discover what is inside a strange looking ship,which seems to have crashed.With the US astronauts winning the race,and being the first ever people to land on the moon,the astronauts are told that their main mission (which they have to swear under-oath to never tell anyone about)is to gather everything that is contained in the ship,and take it back with them,for extensive inspection on Earth.Opening the ship,everyone that is on the Moon and watching the encrypted video feed,suddenly have a strong shiver go up their spines,when along with five small metal pillars,the ship also seems to contain a huge (thankfully) shut-down robot!
The present:
Having helped the Autobots to beat the Decepticons, (and also stopping the world from being destroyed)Sam Witwicky is now struggling to make his parents and his new girlfriend (Carly) proud,by getting hold of a job.Suddenly,Sam gets the opportunity to work at a place where,he gave an intensionally bad job interview.Whilst doing his boring work duties,Sam is confronted by a man who claims to be an ex-N.A.S.A scientist. ,that worked on a top-secret project for the government.As Sam is just about to bin some very extensive hand written notes,that the ex-scientist passed him. (due to Sam thinking that the guys a conspiracy nut)The former N.A.S.A. scientist is found dead,after having "jumped" from his office window.Reserching with Carly,Sam discovers that most of the people that the man used to work with,have almost all died over the last few weeks from very sudden deaths and suicides.Suspecting that the Decepticons are up something,Sam goes to the Autobots to tell them what he has discovered.After telling the Autobots what he has found,Sam and the Autobots are stunned to learn that the US government has been keeping quiet about some "artifacts" that they discovered during the first moon landing,When the "artifacts" are at last brought down,the Autobots shockingly realise that these "artifacts"- are in fact five pillars,which can be used to make a "bridge" to a planet,that would cause the whole solar system to be completely destroyed!,and an Autobot called Sentinel Prime,who used to be their leader.Fearing that the Decepticons are trying to gather up all the pillars,The Autobots tell Sam and the US government,that the only way they can beat the Decepticons,is to re-power Sentinel Prime. Although neither the humans or the Autobots begins to suspect, that bringing Sentinel Prime back to life might lead them to fall in to a very nasty trap...
View on the film:
Whilst I was waiting in the queue,to get hold of a ticket to the film,I noticed a huge poster for the movie at the front of the box office.Looking down the list of credits on the poster,I began to get very nervous when,I noticed that the writer for this film ,(Ehren Kruger) was also the person that had written the screenplay for the terrible Scream 3.Thankfully,Kruger shows with this film a huge improvement,by giving the slightly injured franchise a strong,gripping back-to-basics feel,by mostly getting rid of the very ill-fitting juvenile humour,and instead replacing it with an unexpectedly thrilling conspiracy storyline,which helps to give the film a strong foundation,and also gives the stunning action scenes a sense that they are connected with the films plot and not just a separate entity.With having gotten a huge amount of attention due to replacing Megan Fox,Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is sadly given a disappointing role as Carly.Who due to coming from a militarily family,should really have been allowed to join in on the battles scenes of the film,instead of being a character that is pushed to the sidelines,mostly spending her time waiting to be rescued.For the fantastic 3D in the film,director Michael Bay cleverly uses it to give the Transformers and the destroyed locations a strong sense of depth,with only one scene in the film, (where a character gets a gun pointed to their face)having the 3D effect "jump out" to the audience,which helps show the feeling of terror that the character is experiencing.As the film starts to open up the plans of the Decepticons,Michael Bay really starts to open up some truly astonishing action scenes,with the last hour of the film moving at an amazing speed,which includes a mix of jaw dropping stunts (an excellent,almost James Bond style sky diving sequence) and incredible computer generated effects (the transformations of all the Autobots/Decepticons from vehicles to their real selves being given an incredible amount of detail.)