Earning almost US $90 million in its first two days of release, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has had people swarming cinemas for a serving of giant-monsters-kicking-ass and a side of Megan Fox. Its popularity speaks for itself: this writer had to book her tickets two days in advance.

Giant Ass-kicking Robots: What You Need To Know

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the sequel to the 2007 box office hit, Transformers. Set a certain amount of time after the whole Megatron incident, Optimus Prime and the other autobots are helping protect the human race from the increasing number of decepticon attacks. Meanwhile, the Fallen, who was once defeated by the Primes, is revealed to have machinations for world domination.


Credits as watermarked.

How We Feel…

Let us warn you now, if you’re looking for plot, emotional depth, or anything besides cool action sequences and gratuitous boob-bouncing, walk away. Don’t forget that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen features alien robots, and unlike its true-to-the-books predecessor, this movie is based off a franchise catered to kids (and the kids-at-heart).

With that in mind, this movie is a thrilling ride filled with more explosions, more robots, more cool visual effects, more catchy one-liners, more sex appeal, more… everything. It doesn’t quite make up for the lack of a plot, or the farcical plot twists and the somewhat insulting, repeated use of deus ex machina, but it’s entertaining, and at the very least you’ll leave the movie theatre feeling oddly satisfied.

The Good

As far as movie sequels, go, this is a pretty good one.

Michael Bay stepped up and made the movie more marketable to the common denominator. While this has drawn some negative comments from fanboys, it has become something everyone can appreciate.

The scenes involving autobot and decepticon battles were less dizzying this time round, delivering more boom and pow. The highlight, of course, would be the final showdown between the Fallen and Optimus Prime. Watch out for the cool transformations too– this time, there’re more vehicles than the repetitive black GMs that appeared in Transformers.

There were also more funny moments in this movie, a few one-liners and several PG-13 jokes that sent the audience laughing. The main source, surprisingly, were Major Lennox and Master Sergeant Epps (played by Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson respectively). Yes, some of the jokes involved balls, sacs and scrotums, and may come across as ‘crude’, but let me remind you again that this is a movie for kids about alien robots, pardon the scriptwriters if they didn’t include subtextual repartee.

The Bad

I’ve mentioned that this is a movie for kids, and to not expect much in way of plot, but still, kids are kids, not imbeciles.

The plot devices pile up right from the beginning. Essentially, the movie starts because Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) doesn’t do his laundry, and ends with a mystic matrix that brings not one, but both the main protagonists back to life.

…To wrap it all up, the movie script probably reads like fanfiction.

The… Notable

One thing that didn’t cease to amaze me throughout the movie is the sheer single purposed-ness of Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox). Be it running across the desert in an inter-continental adventure in a low-cut tanktop that never reveals more than it should and white pants (freaking white pants) that never get dirty, or lying across a motorcycle’s saddle in what must be the most awkward (and possibly painful) position for the most advantageous cleavage view.

I realise that this paragraph probably doesn’t contribute much in terms of a review, but let it be said that if you’re a Megan Fox fan, you cannot miss this movie.

In Conclusion…

This movie will satisfy any urge to see something explode, or fight or go boom, but nothing else.

Rating: 5/10
Release Date: 24 June
Rating: PG
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Sci-Fi
Running Time:
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro
Director: Michael Bay