Transformers 2: Not much more than meets the eye.

Rating: 3/10 (29 June 2009)

My Take: Bigger and louder, but not entirely better than the original.
I've been easy on Michael Bay many times, but he's not exactly the kind of guy I usually expect to deliver something new and refreshing. In a year where summer blockbusters can be a refreshing change of pace like STAR TREK, I may be expecting something more in TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN other than, well, more. More explosions, more action, more Autobots (and Decepticons), bustier babes, louder music. All that and possibly (sigh!) more are in this much-anticipated, most attended new sequel. But in a way, all this can't mask that the movie lacks the same bite of its predecessor. I enjoyed the original TRANSFORMERS for two things: First and most obviously, it absolutely rocked! Second, it gave me the thrill of being wrong. I initially suspected TRANSFORMERS to be a big and obnoxious CGI-fest with everything bad about Michael Bay in a nutshell. Obviously, it wasn't all bad. But unfortunately, I didn't feel that my entire initial impression on this sequel were wrong.
Perhaps I'm expecting too much. TRANSFORMERS 2 wasn't exactly made to have a strong story, convincing characters and even the slightest moments of subtlety. It's about explosions, action, special effects that outdo God and, of course, Bay's promise that it would be bigger and better than its successful predecessor. Well, to put it honestly, TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN is merely bigger and louder than its predecessor, but it lacks the amount of effective wit of its predecessor. The original is loaded with action, but it also had a lot of laughs a long the way, as well as a likable charm that touched our inner child. This new movie had the action, and it did have humor, but they feel more like Bay's kind of humor. I'm pretty sure he's laughing every time he gives us as scene where dogs are continuously humping each other (and later, a robot humping the Megan Fox' leg!). I, on the other hand, feel like he was pulling my leg. Not contended with that, he also throws in not one, but two jive-talking robots! One street-talking Jazz in the original I can handle, but two transformers (both voiced by Tom Kenny) talking in jive is one time too many. Thankfully, there are more effective jokes halfway around the movie, when John Turturro's (former) Agent Simmons reappears (sharing some noisy but admittedly hilarious banter with Ramon Rodriguez).
Almost all the characters (robot or human) reappear in this one, but sadly they don't come up with the same amount of charm they did in the original. Shia LaBeouf is back as Sam, and he's still in his usual quirky self, but Bay eventually abandons do develop him further once he plummets him to the action-laden story. His love story with Megan Fox (never appearing in the film without wearing really short shorts and shoulder-less shirts) doesn't exactly light up some city blocks, no matter how hot Bay wants it to be. And, a similar complaint in the original, the movie is just one hour too long (and if my information serves me right, even longer than the original!). Long movies are nothing to me, but what to fill in those hours is something to point out. The original TRANSFORMERS is too long, to be sure, but some of the excess hours are spent right. In this sequel, Bay just couldn't resist how neat his fight sequences are, so he merely repeats them, only bigger the second or third time around, again and again, until he wraps it up with the biggest he can pull off. The film could have been easily be trimmed for better effect.
Still, although I had a lot of nitpicking to do, it is what it is. Loaded with special effects and non-stop (whether I like it or not) action, TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN did make a lot in the box-office (which might guarantee another sequel sometime in the future). Suffice to say, if you liked the first, this will be your cup of tea.
Rating: ** out of 5.