Bigger, louder, not necessarily better

Rating: 7/10 (27 June 2009)

Prior to Transformers (and, to a certain degree, The Island), Michael Bay seemed destined to be remembered as the director of a string of mindless, loud, critically lambasted blockbusters, plus Pearl Harbor (which was all of the above, only a lot more). Now, he's announced he won't direct the already announced Transformers 3, preferring to focus on smaller projects, and so he leaves the franchise with a sequel that looks scarily similar to his previous movies: dumb, excessive and (at least in the US) despised by critics. Sure, it is all of those things, but there's a big difference between Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and, say, Armageddon: this time, the good parts manage to largely outweigh the missteps.
Plot-wise, the Kurtzman-Orci duo (aided by Transformers expert Ehren Kruger) aims to set up a complex mythology, as is to be expected with action and sci-fi sequels nowadays: the Fallen mentioned in the title isn't just an adjective related to the defeated Decepticons, it's also the name of a god-like Transformer (voiced by Tony "Candyman" Todd) who's up to no good and has been around for a long time. At about the same time as he decides to make his move, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is about to start college and trying to keep his relationship with Mikaela (Megan Fox) alive, but realizes the war between Autobots and Decepticons isn't over as far as he's concerned when he starts having spooky visions that could be of interest for the Fallen and the newly resurrected Megatron (Hugo Weaving). And so it's time for Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), Bumblebee, Ironhide and the other 'bots to help save the world. Again.
The first Transformers succeeded because it displayed a foolproof mix of action and humor, barring the final battle which was a bit OTT. It was a silly movie that was perfectly aware of its own silliness and turned that characteristic into an asset. And for about 90 minutes, it seems like Bay and the writers got that balance right the second time as well: one moment Optimus and Megatron kick the mechanical crap out of each other, the next Sam is trying to make sure his parents don't embarrass him or goofing around with John Turturro's disgraced - and shamefully underused - CIA agent ("What you're about to see is classified. Do not tell my mother."). The laughs don't just come from the spot-on humans (Rainn Wilson's cameo is a blast), they come from the robots as well, as new entry Jetfire (Mark Ryan) eloquently (more or less) proves.
Then, all of a sudden, Bay drops the restraint in the third act: buildings blow up incessantly, slow-motion, smoke and dust are overused, the big Transformer battle goes on for ever and EVER, the mythology leaves room for every cliché in the manual and the silliness is blown way out of proportion (a close-up of a Decepticon's "privates"? Really?). One might also wonder why the director bothered casting the animated series' original voice cast for the new robots (Ravage, Devastator, etc) when said machines are hastily introduced and then swiftly disposed (speaking of which, why come up with a Decepticon that looks human and drop the subplot after five minutes?).
And yet... and yet Revenge of the Fallen is a pretty decent piece of entertainment. Yes, it's loud and dumb in all the wrong ways past the 90-minute mark, and yes, Bay is obviously pandering to a certain audience's expectations by inserting clearly gratuitous slow-mo shots of Megan Fox running in a quite revealing outfit, but what the hell, he does all that with much more gusto, energy and willingness to amuse than he did in Pearl Harbor. If this truly is his last big movie (for the time being, at least), it is, in its own, weird way, a triumph.