Here’s hoping the third film won’t require shots of tequila afterwards to numb the pain.

Movie Grade: C–

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Review By: Ryan Hamelin
RyanHamelin@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: B

This is one of the harder reviews I’ve ever tried to write. It’s difficult because of how completely conflicted I am about this film. I thought after a few days I’d be able to wrap my brain around what I had seen and come to some sort of conclusion. No luck. I ended up seeing the film for a second time with a friend, an effort to get her up to speed with the ongoing conversation/argument that had been raging since opening night, and hoped once again for some sort of epiphany. No luck. The problem, I’m convinced, is that the movie is simultaneously everything you would hope for in a Michael Bay action film, while being a complete waste of narrative space. It has all the explosions, all of the set pieces, all of the incredible CGI thrills and harrowing moments you’d expect it to have… but they just sort of exist. Having also had the chance to re-watch the first film again during this same space of time, it is apparent that the new movie suffers from an excess of ambition piled on top of a storyline foundation which is, at its best, a first draft attempt. The whole crumbles under the weight of its parts, but each element is worth some level of appreciation. There is a war going on between the adolescent heart and the adult brain, with the swings between the two so jarring as to give the viewer sensory overload. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is an exhausting movie, and not always for the reasons you’d expect.

Firstly, I’d like to address an issue I have with a lot of reviews that are floating around out there right now. The general consensus is that the plot of the film is unintelligible. Even Roger Ebert thinks, “The plot of the film is incomprehensible.” Guys, it’s not that complicated. In fact, some of the slowest parts of the movie are sections of pure exposition, the kind that would make a screenwriting teacher squirm with discomfort, where the entire plot of the movie, a plot you should have no problems keeping up with if you paid the least bit of attention, are reiterated for the hundredth time. What that says to me, is that the majority of those reviewers were so completely disenchanted and put off by the film that they zoned out. That’s really the only excuse they could possibly have. No one should ...