Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) Review

Autobots (pros)

1. The overall VFX are great. The artists did some fine work on Devastator and Reedman! I remember watching an interview and Michael Bay said that the guys worked for hours upon hours getting Reedman’s transformation right. It is truly amazing work and these artists involved deserve so much credit.
2. The forest fight. The best scene in this movie that is accepted among fans as the worst one. The Fallen-Megatron-Optimus fight is also up there. I love how they wrote him taking their faces off. I thought it was beautiful, amazing, distinguishable, (explanation in Transformers 4) and showed seriousness to an extent.
3. I think Skids, Mudflap, and Bee worked well together. I have always liked Bee’s groups, and I look forward to seeing more Autobots work alongside him.

Decepticons (cons)

1. The sex jokes in almost every scene make this movie terrible. I would give it a little bit of a higher rating if they reduced them drastically. They were poorly executed and came out flat.
2. The Fallen could have been much better. He only had   minutes of screen time so I will give him some credit. This is all on the writers.
3. The story was alright, but needed some work.
4. Nothing major, but what was noticeable was the human props and the road to find the Tomb of the Primes had bad production execution. It is easy to see that Sam’s stunt double took over and fake humans in the front seat once the car was dropped.

Favorite quotes:

1. “Fate rarely calls upon us at the moment of our choosing” – Prime/Cullen
2. “It’s a choice. It’s an intensely personal decision. So much negativity…Who wants to live a life filled with hate?” – Jetfire/Mark Ryan
3. “We’ve witnessed your human capacity for war. It would absolutely bring more harm than good” – Optimus/Cullen on showing Autobot tech and weaponry
4. “Not to call you a coward master, but sometimes cowards do survive.” – Starscream/Charlie Adler
5. “You’ll never stop at one. I’ll take you all on!” – Prime/Cullen

Ratings

6.5/10, C, 2/5 GM

Synopsis

It has been two years since the Mission City battle and the Autobots have joined a classified Decepticon hunting unit with Major Lennox, Chief Master Sergeant Epps, and the U.S. military called Non-biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty (NEST). They are currently in Shanghai and come across Demolisher and Sideways with a few new Autobot refugees, Mudflap (Reno Wilson), Skids (Tom Kenny, Spongebob Squarepants), Sideswipe (André Sogliuzzo), Arcee (Grey DeLisle), and Jolt who is criminally underused and only there to join Jetfire (Mark Ryan) and Prime. This new team will later be dismantled because of the Fallen’s message.

Galloway (John Benjamin Hickey) comes to the Autobot hangar angry and upset about the recent attack in which he demands Optimus and others to leave this planet because the Decepticons are now only hunting them. Galloway speaks his mind and tells the locations of Megatron and the shard from his chest to Soundwave (Frank Welker), unknowningly, who shoots out Ravage to retrieve the shard. Reedman (Frank Welker) is spat out with hundreds of tiny Decepticons making this razor-thin formation. Ravage, Scalpel (John Di Crosta), and several construction Decepticons resurrect Megatron from the Laurentian Abyss.

Sam is going off to college to be more of a normal kid. He is packing his stuff when he notices a sliver of the All Spark has been hidden in the sleeve of the sweatshirt he wore in Transformers. Since he picked it up, Cybertronian language has been transmitted into his mind like that of his late grandpa, Captain Archibald Witwicky, saw when he discovered Megatron. This causes him to have these “seizures” in class. Once he gets to his dorm room, his weird roommate, Leo Spitz (Ramon Rodriguez), explains to Sam about how the media has been lying about the coverups so he has created his own site that is dedicated to revealing the truth.

Mikaela has been contemplating on breaking up with Sam because he is going across the country and does not want to hold Sam back. Sam calls her about his vision problem and gets on the next flight to Philadelphia with a minicon, Wheelie (Tom Kenny). Alice (Isabel Lucas), an undercover Decepticon, has been spying on Sam since he moved in and destroys most of the campus later. The Autobots sense that something bad is going to happen and head out of Pennsylvania and New York while Megatron, Starscream, Scalpel, and Grinder (Frank Welker) have captured Sam, Mikaela, and Leo. This leads to the best fight scene and overall scene in the movie.

Optimus lies dead on the forest floor and taken back to the NEST base. Bee, Skids, Mudflap, Wheelie, Sam, Mikaela, and Leo are now hiding from the world because the Fallen (Tony Todd) has released information saying that they will destroy every city unless the government hands Sam over. Leo has suggested that they talk to Robo Warrior, another website competitor with the Transformers. He is revealed to be Agent Simmons who has been studying the history and searching for the Transformers his entire adult life. They head to the Smithsonian with the shard from the sweatshirt and revive Jetfire, a Decepticon who turns over to the Autobot side. He is outdated, rusted, and dying, but he still helps them out and tells them that the energon harvester is located inside of the Egyptian pyramids. He teleports them to Egypt and tells the story of the Primes and their sacrifice to save the Earth’s sun and lifeforms. The Matrix of Leadership is the only thing that can start the machine and save Prime and the planets.

The GIGANTIC desert battle begins. So far I believe this has the biggest explosions in the franchise, and I am reminded of the Tropic Thunder scene when they blow up that strip of trees and lens cap was still on the camera. I think that in Tropic Thunder they said that explosion was close to a billion dollars so I was thinking what if that actually happened to the Transformers crew? Sam’s team has retrieved the Matrix and are on their way to meet Lennox and Optimus Prime, but Soundwave and Starscream slow them down since the Egyptian government agents called the CIA when they saw Sam’s face via security checkpoint camera. Megatron yells for the Decepticons and Devastator (Frank Welker).

 

He destroys the top of one of the pyramids and is destroyed by a rail gun that Simmons called in for. Sam and Mikaela have made it to Lennox and he has been shot at by Megatron who has “killed” him. The Primes have told Sam that his destiny was and is to have always been a part of this war. The Primes reassemble the Matrix and Sam is able to resurrect Optimus who is now very weak. As he tries to get up, the Fallen steals the Matrix and robs more power from Optimus. Jetfire was partially destroyed by Scorponok so he removes his spark or soul and Optimus is given an awesome new look. This gives him the strength to take on Fallen and Megatron. Optimus Prime defeats the Fallen by ripping his face off then pushes his fist through the Fallen’s chest. Megatron and Starscream retreat to survive.