Met my expectations, but did not succeed them like the 1st

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2009)

Before I saw the 1st Transformers film I was a doubter, Micheal Bay's reputation as a film director hasn't been "critic friendly" to say the least. But I respect him because even though critics give heat for his films, he has made some really good action/adventure films like Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon, The Island, and Transformers.
I'm not going into the plot 'cause I'm sure you've all looked it up or seen the movie. But I want to throw my opinion in because I feel people are either too positive or too negative on this movie, I going to start by giving my pros and cons on the movie:
Pros: 1. Amazing special effects and action sequences. 2. We get to see the history of when/why the Decepticons hate the humans and Autobots (although it isn't rocket science). 3. As in the 1st film, Optimus Prime gives us a reason why he wants to co-exist with humans in order for both species to evolve. 4. We see more Decepitcons/Autobots including one new breed of Decepticon that takes the form to say the least of a horny, sexy, college girl in order to seduce/capture Sam. 5. Megan Fox is hotter than ever (if that was possible). 6. John Turturro and Sam's Parents are back.
Cons: 1. Even though we see new additions to the robot roster we aren't properly introduced to most of them, so at times its hard to tell who's bad or good. 2. Shia Lebouf's charisma has gone down some. He's less nerdy, witty, charming, and a little less interesting, but he is still a good actor and still likable. 3. Tyrese and Josh are given even less lines this time which is a shame because they both are not bad actors. 4. Plot holes! the movie leaves us with more questions than answers. 5. Anthony Anderson isn't back and I sorely miss him. 6. Unlike the 1st which was still relatively okay for kids to watch, this has more innuendo, cursing, and a couple of male genitalia jokes thrown in, I don't mind so much but it certainly narrows the spectrum of the type of audience it aims for.
But this movie disappointed me on some level I can't quite put my finger on, and I'm not talking about the plot holes or the continuity errors, or even the occasion foul language or immature humor, because I don't mind those to a certain degree.
It's all subjective really. But I feel that this movie isn't as nearly as lovable as the 1st. I've seen both movies in the theater and I can tell you that the first one injected a positive excitement in me were I got goosebumps and I really got into the movie. Revenge of the Fallen lacks that certain excitement and heart, which saddens me because its not that bad of movie.
After looking at some of his movies, I came to the realization of where Michael Bay strays from course. Mr. Bay's direction tends to go astray when the budget of the movie is bloated or too high for story or subject matter (ex: Bad Boys II, Pearl Harbor, although the bombing sequence was exceptional, and Armageddon even though I like it) because I think that if the budget is plentiful, and the story is sparse, he tends to focus too much on explosions, quick editing, and kinetic action which is okay with me, but when the plot holes start to grow to astronomical portions I start to get worried, or even worse: bored.
For those of you who own the DVD of the 1st film, in the special features section and commentary Micheal Bay explained that even though T-1 cost roughly $151 million to make, it was relatively inexpensive considering all of the technical advances and attention to detail in the special effects department as well as location shooting, production design, pre/post production, as well as help from the military. Mr. Bay also stated that Steven Spielberg really pulled on the reigns when it came to using the cgi and the budget.
If that's the case, then Mr. Spielberg probably had little or no influence on limiting either the cgi or the money because I see a lot of both here, practically filling every frame of film.
I REALLY liked and still like the 1st one. I'm just hoping that 3rd (and there will be a 3rd folks) installment will redeem all of the mistaken steps this one made. I still have hope for Micheal Bay, I really believed with the 1st Transformers he had or was learning from all his past mistakes, and was starting to refine his storytelling skills.
I saw a lot promise from Micheal Bay in Transformers 1, there is less promise here in Revenge of the Fallen, but I still see promise and hope which makes it all the more frustrating and disappointing.
A+ for effort, B- for execution.