Watching “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is like overdosing on steroids.
I wouldn’t know exactly how that feels, but I would imagine that in the effort to be bigger, badder and sexier than its predecessor, it had to inject itself with as much testosterone as possible.
In the end, a nonstop pool of adrenaline and masculinity can leave one a bit tired and brain-dead. Upon leaving the theater, there’s a feeling of fatigue and awe in watching a movie that is both visually stunning but altogether lacking in any sentiment or intelligence.
The sequel evolves from the first movie when a shard of the All Spark is used to awaken the villainous Megatron, who helps lead an army to destroy the Earth’s sun as the ultimate energy source needed to reinvigorate Cybertron and its ailing leader known only as “The Fallen.” Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) struggle to keep their relationship intact as Sam goes off to college, meets an ominous Decepticon sex fiend and forgets to video chat his girlfriend or say “I love you.”
Along with that, Sam is going through a major guilt trip as Megatron defeats Optimus Prime in a battle sequence that is inspiring only when it slows down. Honestly, it’s hard to tell what is happening on screen when pieces of metal are crushing other pieces of metal simultaneously. The benefit of a bigger budget (a reported $200 million) has allowed for a stunning and complex array of CGI transformations and battle sequences, but even this is overdone.
The story’s plot continues after Optimus Prime’s death. Sam must find an aging Transformer to decode an ancient language embedded in his brain in order to find a key that will revive Optimus Prime ““ or turn on a machine in Egypt that the Decepticons are using to drain the Earth’s sun.
Now that was just the icing on a far more detailed plotline filled with various subplots and characters that simply come and go to move the plot along.
It is unfortunate that Michael Bay directed this film. After such noteworthy action adventure movies as “Armageddon” and “Bad Boys,” “Transformers 2″ fails in its excess of explosions, story, characters and its need to be overtly masculine. Even Megan Fox’s character is problematic in that her sole role is simply to breathe heavily and emasculate Sam. Add that she is the only serious female character and one can see why the film’s addition of an upward shot of robot testicles is in itself a comment to the film’s need to size up other summer blockbusters.
Having a simpler story line and concentrating on a deeper, more emotional development of its characters ““ rather than the need to consistently move the story forward ““ would have made this a more enjoyable movie.
The film already had the physique and the anticipation to make it a surefire blockbuster; it did not need to overdo itself.
-Denise Guerra
E-mail Guerra at dguerra@media.ucla.edu.