Sorry about the lack of updates.
It's been a busy time of the year as a grade 12 student.

Anyway, after watching Transformers 2, I felt unsatisfied; it lived nowhere near the hyped up expectations it was given. My first sitting was in a way affected by personal things, however, watching it again made me realise further what it truly lacked.

Everyone loved the first Transformers live-action film; it was well developed and provided the audience with great visuals and audio. Character development occurred throughout and the plot was well defined and unravelled. It left most people with a good impression and the film lived up to what was shown in the trailers and above all, brought the franchise back into modern society.

Trailers of the second film brought about great hype; it was looking great with all the visual effects and promise of the increase in machine employment. We waited a good two years for much anticipated: Transformers 2 - Revenge of the Fallen. It provided very mixed reviews, ranging from the best to somewhere down there. I personally disliked the film more than I liked it, and I shall explain why.


What struck me the most included character development and the simplicity of the plot. No background information is given about the new Autobots who joined the crew (Like Sideswipe, Arcee "Twins" [There's three, not two... so why twins? Should be sisters], Jolt and the twins, Mudflap and Skidz. Furthermore, character development among these new additions is so little [excluding the two twins]. All we can assume is that: Sideswipe has a "cool" attitude, much like Jazz in the first film (opening scene and climatic battle); the "Sisters" appear obedient with a sense of duty (same as Sideswipe screen time); Jolt's character isn't constructed at all (He appears like once in humanoid form at the climax). The twins really don't have character, rather, they have inherited the stereotypical persona of "Gangsters" - as if little to no thought was placed in their creation.

As for the original crew, Optimus Prime seems to have gone cold - outright killing the disabled Decepticon at the beginning. He also appears to have grown much more powerful, where he fights three Decepticons in the forest while protecting Sam and winning. In the original film, he could barely keep up while fighting Megatron alone. Ratchet is more of an extra, mostly in the background providing support in the battles and uttering only few lines. Ironhide retains his tough manner and appears consistently. Lastly, Bumblebee has developed an adolescent-like trait (after being told off by Sam), however he remains loyal to his allies and acts as the guardian protecting Sam once again.

The only real character development arose in Jetfire. The old, rusting Transformer, Jetfire acts as the seer, pointing Sam and the crew in the right direction. He solely moved the plot along and explained what was happening. Jetfire struck the audience as an old timer, who was ignorant of his surroundings after reactivating and aided in the climatic battle. The choice of switching from the Decepticons to the Autobots revealed his morals and virtues as a knowledgeable being. His act of sacrifice during the climatic battle further reinforced his belief of honour, dignity and wisdom.

Wheelie, the recent Decepticon to Autobot chooser, also had some form of character development. There were however negativities I found in his personality. A Transformer is a Transformer correct? There were random notions where he commented upon human attributes (Like calling Mikaela "Hot but not too bright") and also where he went to hump her leg after he chose to become an Autobot. I mean, why would one do that? Also the humour associated with his actions aren't particularly entertaining.

As for the Decepticons, they all retain their previous personalities (Well of the surviving 3 [Megatron, Starscream and Scorponok). The Decepticon side of the war has been thoughtless in my opinion. The new additions had some interesting designs however, others were very unoriginal. For example, Grindor (The chopper) was so similar to Blackout in the first film that most would think otherwise. In the beginning scene, the two Decepticons, Demolisher and Sideways seemed interesting. Demolisher, the giant, caused havoc within Shanghai. Sideways however, drove around ignorantly as he was attacked by the sisters and Sideswipe. He transforms once to dive through a building and reverts back to a car to continue his escape. Eventually, Sideswipe catches up and severs him two. He puts up absolutely no fight whatsoever.

The most thought out Decepticon was possibly Soundwave, the satellite. He's large and very alien in appearance. His role as Decepticon support and communication makes him a key factor in the story. He can send Ravage (Panther) down to steal the All Spark shard with ease, deploy Decepticon troops in great numbers and hack into Earth's satellite systems array.

Devastator was added to the pack (The largest, multiple fused Decepticon). The downside of his creation was that, during the climatic battle he took part in, the Decepticons which he is made up of, make other appearances around the desert (Like Longhaul, the green construction truck). Most of the Decepticons in the final battle appear very bland - They all appear the same and carry no personality (Like mindless Zombies) just "walking" forward and firing.

Pretenders were added to the film (The human female Transformer). This was an alright addition, however there was only "one". You would think that if they wanted to hunt some human down, they'd have more. You would also assume that it would be easier to mimic someone close to the one being hunted (Sam in this case) like Mikaela, or his parents.

The main antagonist, The Fallen, has the typical, evil mastermind persona. He is seen to have the ability to teleport short distances. That's alright I suppose - the setting is one of fantasy, however, one would assume he would use the ability for combat uses. In the final battle, he never uses the ability against Optimus; it's as if he wants to be defeated. Also he's meant to only be able to be defeated by a Prime, yet he puts up a pathetic fight in the end (Like the last 10 minutes of the film included the fight scene so perhaps it was rushed). Also, when he's standing atop the pyramid/machine, he "lifts" things up in the air like telekinesis. I understand it's fantasy and all, but the films were made to be realistic. I mean it would be ok if he raised only metal (So like a form of magnetism) but he raised both the tanks and rocks. That appears way too "magical" for a film like Transformers.


A positive for the film is that it has included more action than the previous film. This is good and all but some of it went a bit overboard, and unrealistic. As stated earlier, the forest fight showed Optimus handling all three Decepticons and winning. The thing about this battle was that Optimus literally injures and weakens all three (Megatron at first, beating him up every which way then seemingly wounding his leg, then Starscream, hitting his face, throwing him around and kicking him square in the face, in the air, and Grindor, getting cut up and beaten around). He also manages to do all of this while keeping them all away from Sam. They then magically overpower him after he had seemingly taken care of all three, and then he goes out on a rampage once again, stabbing and kicking Megatron, tearing Starscream's arm off and hitting him with it, and killing Grindor by hooking his face apart. As if he had forgotten about the other two completely, he looks for Sam and gets back stabbed by the rejuvenated Megatron who manages to sneak up behind him. Megatron kills Prime and only after that happens, do the rest of the Autobot team show up, as if by coincidence. Then later, there isn't a scene where he is fully mourned (as if they didn't care after the incident).

As mentioned earlier again, the opening Shanghai scene involving Sideways wasn't well developed. Also how the climatic battle involved double ups of Decepticons and zombified Decepticons. The last fight, with Optimus, Megatron and The Fallen was ultimately squeezed into the ending, and lasted barely two minutes. The Fallen posed little threat and Megatron was disabled almost instantly.

The visual effects of the movie were well done, as it was praised in the first film. In the second film, there was more incorporation of physical qualities added to the Transformers (Like spitting some liquid, coughing out parts etc). The visuals were overall, well done.

Audio for the second film was similar to the first; there were the robotic/alien sounds, Transformation sounds, explosions etc. The music tuned in well with the scenes, and popular songs were chosen to be incorporated (Such as New Divide by Linkin Park and 21 Guns by Green Day).

The plot element of 'Revenge of the Fallen' was very simplistic. The overall story was about The Fallen attempting to destroy the sun for his own power. You would expect with the great increase in Transformer population, that the plot would be more significant. So the Decepticons revive Megatron with a shard of the All Spark and spare parts from dismantling a fellow Decepticon (In this scene, also worth noting is that water pressure appeared to do absolutely no harm to the Decepticons). Anyway, the Decepticons interrogate Sam for the information in his mind, obtained from the All Spark shard, in order to pinpoint the location of both the Matrix of Leadership and the machine. Afterwards, Optimus is killed and The Fallen comes to Earth. It should be noted that The Fallen had been active since the Primes hid the Matrix - What's stopping him from searching Earth for it in the first place? So he only arrives after Optimus dies (Even though he can just teleport around the globe). Anyway, Sam and the crew go on their quest to search for the Matrix in hopes of reviving Optimus and stop The Fallen. I don't know. There are so many details left unanswered and unpolished. Soundwave has an entire arsenal of Decepticons at his disposal. Why not just bombard and destroy the Autobots, then look for the Matrix? It also took two years for the Decepticons to decide to initiate their campaign. Energon was never really explained/defined in the film and we aren't told how Transformers are made (in the case of the Decepticons, they appear to be growing extinct without an energon source). Where did they get it all in the first place for them to populate through the years? Why don't they just search for another star to destroy in order to increase energy supplies?

What also bugs me is how the second movie ties on to the first; the only connections are with the All Spark. They introduced The Fallen into the films when in the first film, it was clearly Megatron leading everything and wanting the All Spark for himself. Wouldn't The Fallen want it for himself, rather than his disciple Megatron? Wouldn't The Fallen have travelled to Earth in search of the All Spark rather than Megatron?

It really just seems as if the film was made for the hype and the popularity, made to grant modern society praised visuals. More time was spent on filming and CGI rather than developing every character and perfecting the storyline. Some characters appeared throughout the film while others were shown for a matter of seconds. The Transformers films were meant to appear as realistic as possible, despite the sci-fi/fantasy aspect of it. Bits and pieces did not flow well, and some of the action scenes were not thought out to the best. The climatic battle droned on for over half an hour and it was hard to follow.

The only real similarity between the films were elements of the action. Other than that, you could separate them quite a lot. Honestly, the first film fairs much better than the second. I would give 'Revenge of the Fallen' a 4.5/10 honestly. In comparison, Transformers 1 would receive a rating of 8/10 for me.