A well-paced action romp

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2009)

Transformers 2 succeeds in what every sequel should strive to achieve. The film is just as silly and entertaining as its predecessor. Sadly, it also falls victim to the obvious problem of sequels that follow their predecessors exactly, it doesn't manage to exceed or stand apart from its predecessor enough to be considered the better movie.
The film has a good structure and manages to pace action, (over) dramatic story-telling and comedy incredibly well. This is evidenced by the fact that while the movie is considerably longer than the first it doesn't feel like the movie is dragging on. The moments of levity and humorous voice-acting from the Transformers cast are what keep the film from becoming too monotonous to bare.
The film has its weaknesses though. Sometimes the comedy crosses the line between being appropriate and being just too much the focus of a scene. The action-scenes are still preposterously huge and difficult to follow. While we get to see new Autobots they are mostly kept to the sidelines and don't have a chance to show a lot of personality. The Decepticons are all gray in colour except the most humongous of them, and mainly they seem animal shaped for no apparent reason.
The biggest problem with the film is that it doesn't bring anything new to the mix. The cast is almost entirely the same. The novelty of the first film is now replaced with the story of the Decepticons arriving in Earth long before the two films' events. And despite all the fan outcry we still don't hear the Transformers Theme Song.
But in every area the film succeeds in mirroring its predecessor and is by all accounts a good movie if not a stand-out film.