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Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (2009)

Director: Michael Bay

Time Out rating

Average user rating

98 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

With this cash-cow sequel to his widely derided, hugely succesful original, Michael Bay comes closer than any director in history to boiling the blockbuster down to its most basic components: PG-violence, safe sex and special effects. And while it would be hard to make a case for ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ as ‘good’ in any normal sense of the word, it possesses such brute force that the viewer is left with two options: surrender, or suffer in silence.

The first hour is essentially ‘Maxim: the Movie’, a parade of sweaty denim, product placement and gadgets, punctuated with eardrum-rupturing action and increasingly tiresome gags. The story is largely absent, as Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky heads to college, only to find himself suffering spasmodic, brain-scrambling visions which seem to have some connection to the ongoing Transformer war.

Somehow, a total absence of narrative logic doesn’t feel like an insult to the viewers’ intelligence: it’s not that the writers believe their audience are too stupid to notice the gaping holes in the plot; it’s just that they know they don’t give a damn. And Bay’s direction offers sparks of genuine invention, including a stunning break-in involving a metallic cougar and a herd of smart ball bearings.

Then somewhere around the mid point, it begins to come together. A smash-and-plunder forest battle ups the action ante, and the return of John Turturro adds a lightness of tone which is totally lacking in LaBeouf and Megan Fox. Perhaps it’s just that the sheer volume and ferocity of the thing becomes impossible to resist, but by the climactic desert conflict, in which the entire Valley of the Kings is razed to the ground, the film has become so utterly lunatic, so breathtakingly, boneheadedly brazen, that it’s easier just to give in.

Author: Tom Huddleston 2009-06-16 12:09:28

Time Out London issue 2026, June 18 - 24, 2008

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User reviews of this film

burningeko said...

Posted on Jun 28 2009 07:04 this film was awful. the worst part is that it could have been so much more. Who was Bays audience in this film? it had too much swearing and overt sexual humor for the kids and was just boring for anyone over 15. he could have really developed some of the characters but instead just plonked down a bunch of new ones with nothing more than a voice over for characterization.
the humans that got screen time were bland and added nothing to the story, unfortunately that's mostly what the screen time was devoted to.
the only time i felt anything was when the mute bumblebee gave his sad look at the demise of another bot, now if more emotion can be felt through a mute robot rather than a talking human you know you are doing something wrong.
people who support this film tend to say "what were you expecting? well what i was expecting was a transformers movie, witty with a plot that made sense, robots with personalities that i liked that kicked each others asses for good plot reasons not an advert for the army
I rate the 80's cartoon film higher than this and frankly i think it will age better than this hunkajunk
this film was racist, sexist and stupid.
this is the first time that i have heard a president named in a film, which just shows how badly this will age (a contradiction was after the introduction it gives you a timeframe of present day, what happens when another president gets elected?).
bad script, carbon characters, boring

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etnpnys said...

Posted on Jun 28 2009 06:12 CM: I completely agree. I wouldn't want a 10 year old to see this movie; there was surprisingly a lot of cursing in it. Most of it was unnecessary even, but some of it was well-timed: "Not now! We're still on the plane you dumbass!"

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CM said...

Posted on Jun 28 2009 05:34 I enjoyed the movie, although I do think it could have done without the "goofy" looking twin bots and the dog humping. The CGI was awesome and having more of the transformer history explained by the movie was cool. My husband and I went to the movie to determine if our young son (who loves transformers) could come see it. The movie has too much cursing for us to let him watch it... too bad. It could have been a great movie without a few of the cude jokes, cursing, and dog humping.

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etnpnys said...

Posted on Jun 28 2009 05:29 This movie was amazing. Perhaps my expectations were low from hearing all the bad reviews... The plot was awesome - you can actually walk away from this movie understanding why ever single thing happened. Somebody said that the acting was bad - I can't think of a single actor that didn't nail the character perfectly. The special effects were obviously amazing - Michael Bay loves to make this kind of movie. The movie was hilarious as well - and those who say otherwise may not have ever seen any of the original CARTOONS. There was suspense, comedy, action, a plot that you can follow without a master's degree, and it was FUN. I would definitely see this again in the theater, and it's already on my list of DVD purchases to make.

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rene said...

Posted on Jun 28 2009 04:54 i don't know what y'all are talking about. this movie was as good if not better than the first. i liked the story line and the two "black" robots. you guys that are saying it has gaps and it isn't good becouase of some stupid thing are to stingy to be going to the movies. i would love for y'all to write, direct, produce, or act in a movie that is tearing up the box office. i was very pleased with this movie. are half of y'all movie critics? proffesional ones i mean? i don't think so. lay off!

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robert said...

Posted on Jun 27 2009 18:59 I can not understand what half the people are saying about tis film.This film is amzing! Good story line funny at times and of corse megan fox!! just as good or possibly better than first one

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Mike said...

Posted on Jun 27 2009 17:58 Okay, i can't be the only one whose experience was ruined because of the dumb humour in the movie. I came to the theatre to see an epic action movie and what i got was almost an attempt at comedy. All the robots were cracking jokes whilst they fought, the two "black" robots had comically dumb looking faces, there were multiple dog-humping jokes, other crude sex jokes, and many other attempts at making it funny that i just that FAILED HORRIBLY. In addition to this, as the movie is coming to its climax, one of the main characters makes a joke about the bad transformer's testicles. It really ruined the movie for me. Their attempts to create an action/comedy were terrible as i came to the theatre to see one of the most epic films of all time.
Such a disappointment.
On a lighter note, the special effects were amazing. That's the only thing that made the movie good.

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phil said...

Posted on Jun 27 2009 15:47 I had mixed feelings about this film. Firstly the cinema i went to was pretty much full and the air con wasnt turned on or it was broken so i found it hard at times to get into the film.
There was times when i was wishing it would hurry up and get on with more of the amazing cgi and other times i was wishing that megan fox would be on the screen more. Is it better than the fist one, hmmmm i would say no. The fight scenes are awsome but i feel that they should have done more of this as basically everyone wants rto see robots fighting and transforming. Who cares about story give me guns and explosions. I know all films need a story but whats wrong with the decepticons trying to kill humnas and the auto bots. Also i dont remeber any transformers taking the form of a human. Is this terminator???? All in all its a good film but wasnt what i would have called the sequal to beat the first!

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Milo said...

Posted on Jun 27 2009 10:08 Absolutely rubish, theres no way round it.

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jeff said...

Posted on Jun 27 2009 09:26 The best thing about this movie was Megan Fox running in slow-motion and the college girls, the rest, well, there was no rest, just a over-hyped big action movie that had horrible acting, weak dialogue, stereotypical scenarios, obvious automotive advertisements, and a plot that a 15 year old high school kid could write up in english class.
2 stars for trying Really hard to make this a good movie

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jeff said...

Posted on Jun 27 2009 09:26 The best thing about this movie was Megan Fox running in slow-motion and the college girls, the rest, well, there was no rest, just a over-hyped big action movie that had horrible acting, weak dialogue, stereotypical scenarios, obvious automotive advertisements, and a plot that a 15 year old high school kid could write up in english class.
2 stars for trying Really hard to make this a good movie

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hunter said...

Posted on Jun 27 2009 01:41 i loved this movie, it has great special effects, acting was great, storyline was brilliant, but there are bad parts, like you don't want to watch parts. but still a awesome movie. 4.5 out of 5

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kae said...

Posted on Jun 26 2009 18:57 i thought the movie was really good. but the other people wanted it to be too serious and if you want to watch a serious movie, go watch the passion of the christ or some history channel, because this movie had sense of humor and it was good for it

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Bisonravi said...

Posted on Jun 26 2009 15:48 Witless and charmless, the dogs humping and then the transformers humping was just embarrasing and pointless, the plot was ridiculous, and amazingly for such a loud film I dropped off about 7 hours in,

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D said...

Posted on Jun 26 2009 14:55 Without a doubt the best movie I have ever seen . Went to see it with my oldest son , superb mixture of action , effects , feeling , and humor .. I have never seen a finer movie ...

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