Far, Far, Far from perfect, but not complete crap

Rating: 4/10 (24 June 2009)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a strange movie. Not strange as in the sense of say, "Clockwork Orange", but in the sense that it's a combination of awesome sci-fi epic and total mess. The action, the special effects, the cgi, are without a doubt top notch (more on that in a bit), but something just didn't feel right.....and i can tell you what.
This go around, in what will probably become an endless franchise, we get brand new characters.....possibly TOO many new characters. A good 20% of them go nameless. Even one who has a couple of lines and some great battle sequences isn't named until 10 minutes before the end. I jump to the end for a reason; in true Micheal Bay fashion, he has no idea how to end a movie. Everything we see in the forty plus minute final battle is without question unforgettable, but seriously Mr. Bay, please get to the point..... Another main problem is the humor. I feel that since the first movie ended up being funnier than expected, they felt the need to make us laugh, and sadly went mostly juvenile. This isn't to say there are not any laughs, in fact there is a great number of them, but also a large share of groans too. The plot is much darker than the first, so there really wasn't much room for the laughs, and this should have been the series' "Empire Strikes Back".
I have now brought us to the plot. Seeing as how Transformers in general doesn't need much of a plot to begin with, and the first movie was close to sans plot, this one is much more fleshed out (if you will). However, going into detail of the plot would kill a lot of the story's development. I will say that it's clear the production staff listened to die-hard fans and incorporated all that they could, even involving fan-favorite characters and the much missed "Matrix of Leadership".
The writing left something to be desired, unfortunately. It almost feels like for the last third of the film that the script was abandoned, or the writers were fired half-way through and the cast and director just made it up as they went along. Again, like i mentioned about the humor, this does NOT mean it is a total bust.
By now I'm sure you think I'm saying skip this movie, I am not. I only wanted to get the faults out of the way. Overall, "Revenge" will stay in your thoughts for quite some time and will not be forgotten easily. I can't say it's on par with it's predecessor, but is chock-full of so many mind-blowing eye-carnage that it would a waste be a of your time to blink. If The Transformer universe is just not your cup of tea, or your not to caring of amazing FX, skip this movie. However, if you wish to see some of the best action sequences to be rendered in quite some time, while still being entertained, go give this one a look.
three out of four --That's my opinion, I'm Chris Peed