Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

SF: discuss futuristic sci-fi series, ideas, and crossovers.

Moderator: NecronLord

Post Reply
Murazor
Jedi Council Member
Posts: 2425
Joined: 2003-12-10 05:29am

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Murazor »

Raptor wrote:If you liked the first you'll like this.
I kind of liked the first and I don't like this one. Spoiler
Didn't mind Autobot moto-chicks. Liked the giant Decepticon that rampaged through Shangai. Fucking hated the idiot twins. Fucking hated the stupid Decepticon toy car. Fucking hated the Decepticon mad doctor crab-bot. Would like to know what the fuck the Fallen has been doing between the time of his fight against the Primes and his resurfacing in Titan (a bit more backstory about this guy would have definitely been a nice touch). Found the Decepticon presence in Earth prior to the events of TF1 to be puzzling. Hated Jetfire's walking stick. Found Devastator's perfomance a major letdown considering how fucking long his transformation sequence was.

Oh. And the Primes are the stupidest fuckers I've seen in a film in a loooong time.
User avatar
Stark
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 36169
Joined: 2002-07-03 09:56pm
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Stark »

Why is anyone suprised the story is stupid? Michael Bay himself openly admits he's just playing to the crowd, so everything that isn't tits and robots punching is just window dressing. He's not even wrong.
User avatar
LadyTevar
White Mage
White Mage
Posts: 23148
Joined: 2003-02-12 10:59pm

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by LadyTevar »

You guys can hate it, if you want. I liked it :mrgreen:
Image
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.

"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
User avatar
Jade Owl
Padawan Learner
Posts: 167
Joined: 2007-05-22 10:24pm

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Jade Owl »

LadyTevar wrote:You guys can hate it, if you want. I liked it :mrgreen:
So did I. I really don't get why so many people seem to be incapable of getting a grip on their expectations.

It's like people who watch pro wrestling and then complain about it not being real. Of course it's fake! and practically everybody who watches it knows it. It's part of its charm for them.

This movie is supposed to be entertainment, pure and simple. Not a great showcase of powerful acting by the actors, not an example of tight plot and moving dialogue... it supposed to be about giant robots blasting each other up, big explosions, cheap laughs and Megan Fox being extremely hot. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more, and it doesn’t even try. And that is perfectly fine by me.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Salvor Hardin, Isaac Asimov "Bridle and Saddle" (aka "The Mayors", in Foundation), 1942.
User avatar
Stark
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 36169
Joined: 2002-07-03 09:56pm
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Stark »

So if you have such low standards, what's the point about complaining about the conduct of people with higher standards? We get this every single time a dumb movie comes out; 'lol turn your brain off guyzz'. :)
User avatar
FSTargetDrone
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 7878
Joined: 2004-04-10 06:10pm
Location: Drone HQ, Pennsylvania, USA

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by FSTargetDrone »

I liked the first one enough to go see it three times in the theater (and I never see a movie three times in the theater) so if some of you say we'll like the second if we liked the first, that is good enough for me!

I'm also interested in seeing how the Pennsylvania filming locations used in the movie turned out.
Image
User avatar
Darth Servo
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 8805
Joined: 2002-10-10 06:12pm
Location: Satellite of Love

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Darth Servo »

One can like it but still point out the glaring flaws in the film. I had fun it but still could have been much better.

Subsequent thoughts.
Spoiler
What the hell was with the "baby" decepticons spawning but then dying due to lack of energon. It was established in the first film that it was the Allspark that gave life to transformers. What the hell is it with baby transformers in the first place?

And there were too many fricken Constructicons. How the hell did they get away with showing devastator on the pyramid and then showing his components like Longhaul and Rampage fighting elsewhere? Was that the justification for having separate toys for the individual parts and Devastator?
"everytime a person is born the Earth weighs just a little more."--DMJ on StarTrek.com
"You see now you are using your thinking and that is not a good thing!" DMJay on StarTrek.com

"Watching Sarli argue with Vympel, Stas, Schatten and the others is as bizarre as the idea of the 40-year-old Virgin telling Hugh Hefner that Hef knows nothing about pussy, and that he is the expert."--Elfdart
User avatar
SylasGaunt
Sith Acolyte
Posts: 5267
Joined: 2002-09-04 09:39pm
Location: GGG

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by SylasGaunt »

FSTargetDrone wrote: I'm also interested in seeing how the Pennsylvania filming locations used in the movie turned out.
Most of them exploded. Spoiler
What the hell was with the "baby" decepticons spawning but then dying due to lack of energon. It was established in the first film that it was the Allspark that gave life to transformers. What the hell is it with baby transformers in the first place?
I believe they said the All-Spark created their species, and that megatron could use it to make an army out of Earth's machines, I don't think they ever said all transformers are made using the All-Spark.
User avatar
Fire Fly
Jedi Council Member
Posts: 1608
Joined: 2004-01-06 12:03am
Location: Grand old Badger State

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Fire Fly »

In short: a boring action movie, could have been shorter, weak plot, had its fun moments. T1 was fun, T2 was mind numbing. I saw T1 five times at the theater but I'm afraid one time is more than enough for T2.
Spoiler
There were a ton of unnecessary stuff which really made the film long. In the first film, I wanted it to be longer; in this movie, I wanted it to be shorter. This movie seems to have an identity crisis: it's not sure whether to be a science fiction movie, a teen movie, an archaeology adventure movie, or just a plain action movie. It combines so many different elements thus diluting the strengths that it has in certain areas. The college girl bedroom scene could have been edited out, the scenes with the NSA liaison could have been left out, the interrogation scene could have been made shorter, and a lot of the going-to-college/settling-into-college scenes could have been completely left out without significant detriment. I just didn't feel myself immersed as I did with the first movie; the first one felt fresh and new, this one felt old and unoriginal. The plot is just way too convoluted and left many unaddressed issues: What happened to the sliver of the Allspark that Makaila had? Why exactly does the Fallen hate humans so much? Of all the suns in the galaxy, why this particular sun?

The addition of the Fallen was completely unnecessary. Just as it was with the first film, this movie gives no significant movie time to develop the primary antagonist. Megatron should have been left as the villain. This would have fixed the problem that the first movie had by developing Megatron more, as it was implied in the first film that Megatron was the primary antagonist of the Autobots. And as it was with the first movie, the primary antagonist gets axed way too easily despite them being implied to be all powerful.

What happened to the Autobots from the first movie? They're given almost no screen time. I was expecting to see more development of them only to see that there's just a whole bunch of new Autobots, of whom we know almost nothing about. The Twins were completely annoying and added little to the film. Anyone else pick up on the subtle connection between the ghetto nature of the Twins and the black butcher later in the film?

What I did like was the removal of Bumblebee's voice, the banter between Megatron and Starscream, the Arcee bikes were nifty, and the less confusing fight scenes.

In addition to the aforementioned things that I didn't like, I also didn't like the essentially uselessness of Devastator, the conspiracy roommate, and the completely useless destruction of an aircraft carrier whose only purpose was to use up the remaining budget money (not to mention that all of those other ships weren't able to detect incoming meteor sized objects at all?).
User avatar
Guardsman Bass
Cowardly Codfish
Posts: 9281
Joined: 2002-07-07 12:01am
Location: Beneath the Deepest Sea

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Guardsman Bass »

I saw it, and I mostly liked it. The action sequences were cool, and although it's kind of sad to admit it, I loved seeing the railgun and JDAMs tear up the Decepticons.

There were three issues, though.
Spoiler
I loathed the Idiot Twin Autobots, and their banter - that damn near pulled the movie to a crawl most of the time.
Spoiler
Why was the human task force created for the purpose of bringing down Decepticons equipped with your standard garden-variety anti-personnel rifles? They didn't seem to do much in the way of damage.
Spoiler
I think the robots really run away with the scenes, and I mean that in more than simply the fact that their fights are eye-catching. The human characters are, by and large, much less interesting, particularly when we're dealing with LeBouf-and-Fox.
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”
-Jean-Luc Picard


"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them."
-Margaret Atwood
User avatar
SylasGaunt
Sith Acolyte
Posts: 5267
Joined: 2002-09-04 09:39pm
Location: GGG

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by SylasGaunt »

Guardsman Bass wrote: Spoiler
Why was the human task force created for the purpose of bringing down Decepticons equipped with your standard garden-variety anti-personnel rifles? They didn't seem to do much in the way of damage.
Spoiler
I noticed a few of them with M4s, but I also noticed a lot of them seemed to be carrying some doctored up firearms with a truly ludicrous bore size. Still it's a step up from that poor Sector 7 schmuck from the first one who didn't have anything bigger than an SMG.
User avatar
Bounty
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 10767
Joined: 2005-01-20 08:33am
Location: Belgium

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Bounty »

This movie is supposed to be entertainment, pure and simple.
Thatb it evidently fails to entertain would be quite a strike against it then, no?
TheLostVikings
Padawan Learner
Posts: 332
Joined: 2008-11-25 08:33am

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by TheLostVikings »

Spoiler
I noticed a few of them with M4s, but I also noticed a lot of them seemed to be carrying some doctored up firearms with a truly ludicrous bore size. Still it's a step up from that poor Sector 7 schmuck from the first one who didn't have anything bigger than an SMG.
[/quote]

I think that was supposed to be that new replacement for the AR15, although I can't remember the actual name of it atm. The one that was supposed to fire small intelligent air-bursting mini-grenades, and ended up canceled in the real world.
User avatar
Darth Tanner
Jedi Master
Posts: 1445
Joined: 2006-03-29 04:07pm
Location: Birmingham, UK

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Darth Tanner »

What happened to the sliver of the Allspark that Makaila had?
It was used to turn Jetfire on. Apparently it was used up in the process. How the Americans let someone just walk off with a radioactive shard tucked in a pocket is beyond me considering the lengsth they would have to go to to conceal a street fight between giant robots in the middle of a major city!

What happened to the Decepticon shard? Wiki says they used it to turn Megatron back on but then why did they need to kill one of their own to rip his spark out?
but where the hell was that gun for the rest of the movie?
Why was the ex agent required to instruct them to fire! Why did he have to climb the pyramid to get them to fire. They could see the giant robot climbing the pyramid, shoot at it! Why that Carrier battle group wasn't offering any support to the infantry is another question.

Why could only a 'prime' (although not the original Primes who would rather run away and bury themselves) kill the fallen? That rail gun should have wiped him out while he was hanging around the top of the pyramid so those tanks and missile launchers that surrounded the pyramid before being gravity gunned should have been also able to blast him to bits if they had fired their guns instead of zooming to the foot of the pyramid.

I enjoyed the film, but seriously, did they get a moron to write the plot? The first film had a solid enough story, Megatron wants the cube, Autobots want to stop this, hilarity ensues. Second film not so much, most of the film is completely without a coherent plot.
and although it's kind of sad to admit it, I loved seeing the railgun and JDAMs tear up the Decepticons.
The Decepticons got their asses handed to them throughout the entire film. If it wasn't for their plot device star killer they wouldn't be a threat to anyone, their only kills after all are where they smash into a carrier from orbit and smack a few transport helicopters around. This is going to be a major problem for the next film seeing as they have been completely neutered as a valid threat to the Autobots, let alone the Earth military. I was hoping either the Jordanian or Egyptian army would come rolling in with a huge tank force and the Decepticons would rip them apart.
Get busy living or get busy dying... unless there’s cake.
User avatar
Lost Soal
Sith Devotee
Posts: 2614
Joined: 2002-10-22 06:25am
Location: Back in Newcastle.

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Lost Soal »

Darth Tanner wrote: What happened to the Decepticon shard? Wiki says they used it to turn Megatron back on but then why did they need to kill one of their own to rip his spark out?
They killed it for his parts. The spark brought him back to life but didn't fix his injuries, just like Prime and the Matrix
"May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places where you must walk." - Ancient Egyptian Blessing

Ivanova is always right.
I will listen to Ivanova.
I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God.
AND, if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out! - Babylon 5 Mantra

There is no "I" in TEAM. There is a ME however.
TheLostVikings
Padawan Learner
Posts: 332
Joined: 2008-11-25 08:33am

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by TheLostVikings »

Darth Tanner wrote: The Decepticons got their asses handed to them throughout the entire film. If it wasn't for their plot device star killer they wouldn't be a threat to anyone, their only kills after all are where they smash into a carrier from orbit and smack a few transport helicopters around. This is going to be a major problem for the next film seeing as they have been completely neutered as a valid threat to the Autobots, let alone the Earth military. I was hoping either the Jordanian or Egyptian army would come rolling in with a huge tank force and the Decepticons would rip them apart.
The origin of "The Fallen" character, and the whole "13 Primes" thing, is all part of the lore surrounding Unicron, and there have been quite a few rumors that they are interested in using him in the 3rd film if they can pull it off. And let's face it, if the writers can't make an ominous threat out of a robot which eats planets for breakfast, they need to consider a different line of work.
User avatar
VF5SS
Sith Devotee
Posts: 3281
Joined: 2002-07-04 07:14pm
Location: Neither here nor there...
Contact:

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by VF5SS »

Stark wrote:So if you have such low standards, what's the point about complaining about the conduct of people with higher standards? We get this every single time a dumb movie comes out; 'lol turn your brain off guyzz'. :)
I'm honestly stunned just how bad this movie turned out to be. You could put anything in between the robot fighting so why was the first thing they wanted to do stuff like dogs humping and Sam's mom going fuck all crazy on pot brownies? The first film had some tiny semblance of charm while the second actively sought out to destroy any kind of charm it might have had. In the end all I wanted out or Transformers was something like Iron Man or Star Wars. In retrospect that's exactly what the original Transformers: The Movie is. Just some Star Wars wrapped around Transformers and butt rock. In this movie we get Shia LaBeouf (whom nobody knows why he's an A-list actor) and some robots doing nothing more impressive that what I can find in God of War.

And why the fuck can't Bumblebee talk?
プロジェクトゾハルとは何ですか?
ロボットが好き。
JLTucker
BANNED
Posts: 3043
Joined: 2006-02-26 01:58am

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by JLTucker »

VF5SS wrote:And why the fuck can't Bumblebee talk?
Wasn't he damaged during one of the fights in the first film? I recall Optimus saying something like that when Sam met the Autobots.
User avatar
Vympel
Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz
Posts: 29299
Joined: 2002-07-19 01:08am
Location: Sydney Australia

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Vympel »

Man that movie was fucking AWESOME.

If you didn't see it at IMAX, you fucking should- I don't know what extra Robot-on-Robot kickass action I missed out on in the regular version, but I'm glad I didn't miss anything.

Man this movie kicked so much fucking ass.

Optimus' "I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON!" and numerous other supreme bad-ass moments were just fanfuckingtastic, and Megatron was as suitably awesome (just like in the first) as Starscream was his usual cowardly, obsequious, yet still dangerous self.

The Twins didn't bother me or my three friends at all, and none of them felt it was too long at all - they wanted more by the time it was over, and so did I.

The humour was great and the cinema was laughing hard, it was just all round awesome.

Fuck, my arm was in the same position on the arm rest for so long that when I got up when the movie ended the lactic acid build-up killed me. It still hurts.

What a kickass film.

As for the comments re: people not liking Ebert's review of the film because of the film he's reviewing rather than the merits of the movie, sorry, now that I've seen it, his review was simply lazy as hell. Fair enough, he hated it, whatever, that probably explains why nothing of what he says has any relationship to what happened on screen, but it's still a poor-ass review.
Like Legend of Galactic Heroes? Please contribute to http://gineipaedia.com/
User avatar
Vympel
Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz
Posts: 29299
Joined: 2002-07-19 01:08am
Location: Sydney Australia

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Vympel »

Despite the bad reviews, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen first day in theatres opened to a massive $55 million take for the best Wednesday opening day release for a movie domestically, as least based on early estimates. The total includes the $16 million from the midnight screenings of the film.

This easily surpasses previous record holder Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ($44.2 million). According to Empire, if that number is any indication, that means that Transformers 2 could surpass Spider-Man 2's $152.4 million 5-day opening.
Well that's not surprising in the least. Smashed Harry Potter to bits. Could beat Spiderman 2. Holy Shit.
Like Legend of Galactic Heroes? Please contribute to http://gineipaedia.com/
User avatar
FSTargetDrone
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 7878
Joined: 2004-04-10 06:10pm
Location: Drone HQ, Pennsylvania, USA

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by FSTargetDrone »

JLTucker wrote:
VF5SS wrote:And why the fuck can't Bumblebee talk?
Wasn't he damaged during one of the fights in the first film? I recall Optimus saying something like that when Sam met the Autobots.
He was repaired and spoke at the end of the first, telling Prime he wanted to stay with Sam.
Image
JLTucker
BANNED
Posts: 3043
Joined: 2006-02-26 01:58am

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by JLTucker »

Rahvin wrote:
They have tiny little heads, except for Starscream®, who is so ancient he has an aluminum beard.
Doesn't he mean Jetfire?
No worries. He edited the review to remove the mistake.
User avatar
Spanky The Dolphin
Mammy Two-Shoes
Posts: 30776
Joined: 2002-07-05 05:45pm
Location: Reykjavík, Iceland (not really)

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Spanky The Dolphin »

This is probably the dumbest movie I've ever really enjoyed.

Everything that was good in the first movie was better, but everything that was bad was also worse. So in the end its polar qualities kind of cancel each other out and end up neutralizing the whole thing.

I think two of the film's biggest overall faults is that while it has a definite plot it almost totally lacks an actual story and any real characters besides a handful of the main staring roles. In the end, why bother introducing new characters like Leo and Alice or more Transformers (BTW, did Wheelie even get named in the movie?) if there's no actual story that allows you to develop or really do anything with them?

So while I did like it overall, that's ultimately what bothers me the most about the movie (besides the terrible humor).
Image
I believe in a sign of Zeta.

[BOTM|WG|JL|Mecha Maniacs|Pax Cybertronia|Veteran of the Psychic Wars|Eva Expert]

"And besides, who cares if a monster destroys Australia?"
User avatar
Guardsman Bass
Cowardly Codfish
Posts: 9281
Joined: 2002-07-07 12:01am
Location: Beneath the Deepest Sea

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Guardsman Bass »

Vympel wrote:
Despite the bad reviews, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen first day in theatres opened to a massive $55 million take for the best Wednesday opening day release for a movie domestically, as least based on early estimates. The total includes the $16 million from the midnight screenings of the film.

This easily surpasses previous record holder Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ($44.2 million). According to Empire, if that number is any indication, that means that Transformers 2 could surpass Spider-Man 2's $152.4 million 5-day opening.
Well that's not surprising in the least. Smashed Harry Potter to bits. Could beat Spiderman 2. Holy Shit.
With the international gross added in, the movie brought in 40.6 million from midnight "first" showings alone.
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”
-Jean-Luc Picard


"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them."
-Margaret Atwood
User avatar
Anguirus
Sith Marauder
Posts: 3702
Joined: 2005-09-11 02:36pm
Contact:

Re: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Spoiler ahoy!)

Post by Anguirus »

First movie great fun. This movie mediocre fun.

I agree with a lot of the complaints and compliments. I must say, however, that I think the biggest, most important thing that was missing was the Spielberg-esque sense of wonder that permeated the proceedings in TF1. That is completely non-existent here, replaced with militarism and a veritable parade of unfunny stereotypes. Bumblebee is treated as annoying and useless except when he's saving Sam's life (I realize this was supposed to be part of Sam's arc but it's buried in all the other shit that's going on). The Autobots sit around and do nothing without Prime, even during a full-scale Decepticon war on humanity. Ratchet, of all characters, does nothing except shoot at enemies but for a three-second scene of helping repair Prime.

Conversely, I was pleased that the Decepticons got more to do this time around and more dialogue but they overall did not come across as either threatening or capable. Neither 'con in Shanghai puts up a fight or does anything interesting, and then Devastator only gets to fight the (excruciating) Twins before getting smashed by railgun. Why didn't Megatron simply have Devastator charge the enemy position? Then we could have seen how the Autobots might attempt to fight such an overwhelming threat, and add more tension to the readying of the railgun to shoot it. Really, though, I was most confused and displeased by the movie's failure to explore the repercussions of AN ALIEN ROBOT DECLARING WAR ON HUMANITY. Megs, Screamer, and Mixmaster then show up in cities and look menacing, but somehow the only fallout from all this is Sam making the FBI's Most Wanted. Give me one fucking montage of humanity freaking out over this, or even of Decepticons smashing tanks somewhere. Instead, Sam and Friends drive into New York and everyone's at the fucking deli.

Also, I was downright insulted by the use of unneeded stock footage, uncreative use of "repaint" cannon fodder Decepticons, and the apparent inability to remember which Constructicons make up Devastator. (In fact, it almost seemed as if movie-Devastator is like toy-Devastator: it is created from construction vehicles without robot-modes of their own. That doesn't explain why its components look identical to the alt modes of Mixmaster, Rampage, Demolishor,etc. Mixmaster at the very least is definitely getting killed by Jetfire before Devastator is shot, and that green dump-truck Decepticon, while cool-looking, seemed to show up EVERYWHERE.)

But in the plus corner, Soundwave and Ravage absolutely stole the show...not bad considering it's such a cluttered movie. Megs and Screamer were also much more fun to watch this time around, and Optimus got one of the best fights I've ever seen.
"I spit on metaphysics, sir."

"I pity the woman you marry." -Liberty

This is the guy they want to use to win over "young people?" Are they completely daft? I'd rather vote for a pile of shit than a Jesus freak social regressive.
Here's hoping that his political career goes down in flames and, hopefully, a hilarious gay sex scandal.
-Tanasinn
You can't expect sodomy to ruin every conservative politician in this country. -Battlehymn Republic
My blog, please check out and comment! http://decepticylon.blogspot.com
Post Reply