Better Than The First!

Rating: 8/10 (29 June 2009)

I find it amusing that some people are saying this movie lacked plot and that the CGI was too blurry. Perhaps because I saw it in IMAX my opinion of the effects is nothing short of WOW!!! AS for the plot, it not only had a solid one, in my opinion, it tied in nicely overall with the first movie. I'm not going to give any spoilers. I don't need to, the movie can be recommended without any. First of all, I feel it made a logical step in what Earth would likely be like 2 years after the first movie. Familiar characters from the first movie were back in logical ways (versus, "Hey let's just throw THIS character in from the first movie for fun!"), it was explained quite effectively in the opening narration everything we needed to know to understand everything that was to follow. The story (or PLOT, as some seem to feel was missing) was actually layed out in THE FIRST THREE MINUTES OF THE MOVIE. If you simply watch and listen to the first few minutes, you'll see it all fall into place throughout the movie as more gets explained. The effects were spectacular! Some even had me catching myself with my mouth wide open (SERIOUSLY!) The personalities of the various Autobots, in my opinion, was refreshing. You had personalities ranging from goof-balls, to show-offs, to "military" serious, to playful-yet-hardcore. Which is actually what you would find in ANY U.S. Military Platoon filled with guys who've worked together for the last 2 years.
The main story, though not FULLY explained from A to Z, gave enough detail to keep things flowing without making your brain hurt from too many details. Yes, I did find a couple of scenes out of place (a couple of scenes are in "high octane" mode, yet cut away to a much calmer scene that is not connected in any way to the scene we just saw, only to cut back to the "high octane" scene" again) which is why I took away one of the stars. I removed another star because, as kick @ss as the climatic scene was, it should have lasted longer for all the build-up leading to it.
Oh, and personally, I actually grew to really like Bumblebee in this movie (was NOT a fan of his in the first movie!) He was as goofy as in the first movie, but in my opinion he showed he was a worthy dude to have on your side when some serious....um..."stuff" hits the fan.
The graphics rocked. The story flowed. And ultimately, I feel it surpassed the first movie. Again, I saw it in IMAX, so that might be the3 best way to truly experience this movie.
That's My Opinion, But You're Welcome To It.