Thursday, June 25, 2009 2:39 AM
*Warning: While I don’t give away spoilers, I do mention aspects of the movie that may give away certain aspects of the plot…but its nothing you couldn’t gleam from either the trailers or by reading Robert Ebert’s review. Just sayin’…
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I have just come from two and a half hours of visual adrenaline being thrust into my brain through my eyes, and yes the experience *was* as sexy as I just made it sound!
I went in to Transformers 2 with very low expectations. For one, I wasn’t a huge fan of the first one. I understand that movies need to sometimes do a retelling, but I felt that certain aspects of the first broke with cannon…like how the Cybertronians just scan a vehicle and can transform into it, instead of the original story of the Arc designing them specifically for a certain mechanism. Like, seriously, how do you bring in the Dinobots in this retelling? Did they just *scan* a Triceretops?
Ok…I’m getting off topic here…let me bring it back to my point: low expectations. Especially after reading Roger Ebert’s scathing review of the movie. I read his review and thought “Oh no, this is going to be a gong show.” Luckily, its just that Roger Ebert is OLD and NOT THE TARGET AUDIENCE for this movie. Roger Ebert should never, EVER review a movie like this again. After seeing the movie, I’ve decided his review is the equivalent of an old man yelling at the kids to get off his lawn.
So let’s talk about the movie. This is absolutely a 4/5 show. The action sequences are fantastic…and there really isn’t a lot of screen time that *isn’t* an action sequence. Yes, some of the scenes are a bit weird but you have to remember that this is a movie franchise that doesn’t take itself too seriously. So in addition to the big transforming robot aliens, Shia LaBeouf’s mom *may* end up eating pot-laced brownies; GO WITH IT!
You also need to look past the humanesque aspects of some of the robot characters. Yes, it doesn’t make sense that the “twins” talk like two members of the Weyans family…and yes, the “doctor” robot acting like the doctor is a little silly…and yes the toy truck robot that eventually humps Meagan Fox’s leg like a dog is a whole lotta WTF…but for whatever reason it all worked, mainly (again) because this isn’t *meant* to be a serious movie…although at the same time, its not a parody either.
There was some interesting borrowings from other movies, like Total Recall, Terminator 3, and Baywatch (Meagan Fox running in the desert in slow motion…get my drift?). Whether intentional as a tip of the hat or just borrowed ideas, nothing really felt all that out of place here.
Now, I did only give this 4/5, so what about that missing star? Well, for me there were two things that made me roll my eyes and also made me feel like the roller coaster ride ended too soon (even after 2.5 hours).
Many will comment on this being an extended advertisement for auto manufacturers. Oh no, not at all. This was an extended advertisement for THE US ARMY/NAVY/AIRFORCE! I get it…this is an American movie, but COME ON! Decepticons attack all over the world, and each time its the American military that swoops in to save the day? Did they come up with some new agreement with China to allow this to happen? And seriously, the Transformers should be pissed that there was almost as much face time for the USA forces as there was for the robots themselves. Throw in a military element, but more robo-transforming, less camos and machine guns.
The second item was the ending. While I won’t give away the ending, I felt it was a little anticlimactic. I wanted a big fight at the end, but what we got was meh…not bad, but just not spectacular. See the movie, tell me if you feel the same way.
So go and enjoy…unless you’re old like Roger Ebert…then DON’T go to this movie, its not for you.
D