I just saw the movie, and here are my thoughts

Rating: 8/10 (26 June 2009)

So, a friend of mine once told me that whenever you expect something, everything else you think will be based specifically on whether or not you got what you expected. I've found that to be strikingly true specifically about the movies I go to see, and Transformers:Revenge of the Fallen (Let's call it TRF for the time being) is one of those.
Michael Bay is once again at his earth shattering, apocalypse now-ish best. Known specifically for his ability to blow stuff up in new and exciting ways, he once again delivers.
It's been two years since the first movie, and Sam is getting ready or college and a whole new world for him. His girlfriend, Mikaela, now officially loves him. But that's not all. The Autobots are working with the government to track down the rest of the Decepticons. Turns out, the Decepticons manage to steal the last "big" piece of the Allspark and revive Megatron, and his master, known as 'The Fallen' sends him to get Sam, who has accidentally been given all the knowledge of the Allspark thanks to the last "small" fragment of the Allspark. From there on, everything is all about the fighting. And boy is there a lot of it.
So, the first thing I want to comment on is the acting, both voice and non-voice. All of the Transformers' voices were perfect, displaying personalities far beyond what we had previously seen. On key, however, is the issue with the twin autobots, and their alleged racist characters. While I could potentially see this as true, it's not and for good reason. Simply put, they are robots that have personalities. Other then that minor issue, everything was perfectly done.
Acting-wise, I would tend to disagree with some of the reviewers on this board. Most of the scenes in this movie are legitimetally acted, sometimes pushing me to the edge of awe. Specifically, the scene near the end with Sam and his dad bring me to near tears to see how deeply they care for each other. Also, the military roles are played believably, and Megan Fox is shown to clearly have become a better actress, adding raw emotion and frailty to a character who many considered a 'sexual addition' to the first movie.
Graphics, wise...I'm just going to compare this movie to the first Jurassic Park. Bay has very clearly stepped up from the previous film, where things were 'real' and 'practical', and embraced the possible. That being said, Bay certainly took some leaps of faith. Devastator, in specific, is incredible. The sheer scale of that Decepticon is just astounding. The fight scenes were bigger, the explosions were more impressive, and the fight scenes (for both the humans and the Transformers) was incredibly well done. Specifically, a woodland scene where Optimus takes on 3 other Decepticons left me with a feeling of awe at the sheer power and skill of Optimus.
The only other addition I can make to this review is that some of the scenes in this movie were truly powerful, and thought provoking. Not the thoughts of 'wow..I wonder if I agree with that or not' but 'wow...can people really care so much for each other that they'd be willing to give it all for someone?'
All in all, this is a movie to see. While certainly not the movie of the century, certainly a movie that will draw you in, make you laugh and make your jaw drop in awe, and totally blow you away!