Such a let down...

Rating: 3/10 (1 July 2009)

OK here's my tuppence worth...
This is from a fan of the original cartoons so I apologise for those of you who are non-fans reading this and can't grasp my feelings towards this shocking film!
It had potential for being a really good film with a G1-esque (G1 being Generation 1 of the Transformers cartoons) story but there's just something missing? There was something about the first film that made it fun to watch, OK there wasn't enough of the robots in there but still it felt better. I watched this in IMAX London at the back and was not totally impressed. The editing of this film was all over the place. Scenes felt rushed and some just cut to the next abruptly. Things were taking place and stuff going on yet without explanation as to why or how. You just had to accept these thus making the whole experience dreary.
For me the...
PROS:
The banter between Megs and SS was spot on I think (from a G1 aspect).
The mythology of Transformers, wasn't as deep as I would of liked it but it was still there.
Scene on Cybertron.
The forest battle was probably my favourite scene in the whole film...Optimus VS Megatron, Starscream and Blackout/Grindor.
"You'll never stop at one....I'll take you all on!" Is probably my favourite line in the whole film.
Starscream loosing his arm was cool and then being beaten with it by Megatron was like classic Transformers.
CONS:
Megatron's and Starscream's voice were both slightly different. Starscreams even more. Megatron didn't have his menacing tone like he did in the first film.
The Fallen was underused, like Venom in Spiderman 3.
The Fallen is so powerful and only a Prime could kill him, they never really showed a great battle or why a Prime had certain abilities to kill the Fallen. The final fight felt like an anti climax, felt rushed..it was over in a matter of seconds.
Bay NEEDS to pull the camera back so we can see the whole action, not a section of it.
No voice synthesiser on Soundwave!!!!
The manner in which Devastator got taken out. Not by a Transformer but by a special canon on a battle ship..if the Autobots can't do it, the army can! erm...
It would of been nice to have seen Prime and the Autobots gang up on Devastator and take him down, like those drawings of Raptors taking down a T-Rex or some other huge dinosaur.
SAM DIES AND GOES TO TRANSFORMERS HEAVEN AND COMES BACK TO LIFE?!?!?!!? Come on! That scene belongs to Optimus Prime.......OPTIMUS PRIME IS THEIR DESCENDANT, not Sam!!! That would of been such a great scene.
It would of been better if Optimus Prime was the one looking for the Matrix with Sam and then he(Prime) dies in the battle field at the end, goes to TF heaven, gets revived and fights Devs and the Fallen....it sounds clichéd BUT IT would have been a hell of a better film...at least we would have seen more of Optimus.
The story dragged on in the middle too much. e.g. That Leo roommate was not needed...AT ALL!! He gave nothing to the film (apart from leading Sam to Simmons but I'm sure Sam could of found a way of finding him).
The Pretender Transformer (Isabel Lucas' character) was not needed. I didn't mind the college scenes too much, was expecting them but I felt there was one too many scenes. Not needed.
But my main gripe with the film is this....
The Autobots were sidelined again!!! OK the army was in control of NEST and knowing Optimus' character he would of allowed the Autobots to take command from humans cause this is their planet and they're the outsiders. BUT the film is called TRANSFORMERS!!! Where were they?!?! Hardly any Ironhide or Ratchet or Sideswipe! And Jolt!! Not one word from him!
When Optimus died in the forest, everyone dispersed and left him there. It's expected of the Decepticons to flee cause they just killed Prime, but why did Ironhide and Ratchet leave him? I was expecting them to go up to him, have an emotional scene like in the animation...I think that's what was lacking..there was no real emotion to Optimus dying, BAY did not show the reaction of the Autobots on Primes death. A wasted moment.
The Twins were OK. Not as annoying as Jar Jar thank God but they were in there for too long. They got annoying after a bit!
The film did have good elements in them, like the robots and the small moments. Bumblebee's animations when reacting to Sam are brilliantly done. Bumblebee's animation and reactions were really nicely done...but..BUT there wasn't enough of Bumblebee in this movie.
That's the main problem with this film.
Bay put more in, more Transformers, more action but left out the one thing that counts...character! OK he heard the fans reactions and pleased us, slightly, with the homages, the banter between Megatron and Starscream, Primes flip, etc...but although he put all this into the film, he pushed them to the back and brought forward annoying characters, unnecessary scenes (college, parents scenes were good but too long).
Overall...
3/10...a star for each of my favourite scenes -
1.The opening chase scenes 2.Cybertron scene 3.Forest fight
Would love to give it more but there is nothing else in there to justify it:(
It was just poorly scripted and poorly directed.
The ideas were there but the execution was weak in my opinion.
Keep the same movie-verse, bring on a new director for 3 and get rid of Bay AND Spielberg...Bay had his chance.
Sorry for the length and thanks for reading...that's if you have;)