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Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, 2009 - Movie Review

Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson
Running Time: 150 minutes
Score: 6.5 / 10

This review by Jinja. Spoilers ahead....

What's it about?

IMDB blurb: "Decepticon forces return to Earth on a mission to take Sam Witwicky prisoner, after the young hero learns the truth about the ancient origins of the Transformers. Joining the mission to protect humankind is Optimus Prime, who forms an alliance with international armies for a second epic battle."

Was it good / bad?

I probably didn't do myself any favours by watching the first one the night before seeing the sequel. But I did have my expectations very low due to a couple of friends mentioning their disappointment.

+ The CG again was phenomenal - but, I said this first time round, the transformations were overly complex.
+ The eye-candy in this movie was spectacular.
+ Giant transforming robots fighting!

- Unfortunately I think the CG is also what totally overpowered the flick.
- The story was overly ambitious and complex - not for the younger audience.
- There was unnecessary language, that again I wouldn't be overly comfortable with my 10 year old nephew hearing.
- Some gratuitous shots of Megan Fox and Isabel Lucas - now don't get me wrong I enjoy the sight of an attractive woman, but the bit with Megan Fox painting the bike at the beginning was ludicrous!
- Slow-mo overload!
- A robot that transforms into a human!?
- Way way to long.

Just another thought what happened to the characters played by Anthony Anderson and Rachael Taylor?

Coolest / worst scene?

Coolest scenes were Optimus going berserk (on a few occasions) on decepticons and BumbleBee kicking ass.

Worst, the ridiculous geography that goes on at the end. One minute they are at the pyramids in Cairo, then the adventure takes them to Petra in Jordan. Then from Petra they see the military parachute out and land near the pyramids...and within minutes they are driving to meet up with them (I know I've seriously paraphrased that). Now Cairo and Petra are around 251.1 miles (give or take) apart. Sorry no, that last part of the film all took place within the same 'evening' - I know this is a film about alien life-forms that transform from giant robots into vehicles but come on. There wasn't even a mention of the fact Israel even existed between Egypt and Jordan.

The Robots - What about the robots?

The twins were initially annoying, the half way through they were annoying and by the end you had enough of them as they were annoying and you hope the devastator kills them! A pair of street jive idiot punks, mildly ammusing but generally annoying - did I say that already?

The return of Megatron - acceptable, was expecting the whole cargo ship to transform rather than just the five overly suspiscious vehicles on-board. Unfortunately too many bad guys leaders, Megatron, StarScream and the Fallen, wanting screen time.

Soundwave - good idea as the satellite, but where was the voice!?

The Devastator - the biggest overly complex transform of the lot. Was just too big.

The Fallen - a lazy bugger who'd been hanging out on one of Jupiters moons for the past 17,000 years.

Did you laugh / cry / cover your eyes / walk out?

Laugh - yes, some very funny bits especially John Turturros paranoia and still some of the 'aliens out of place on earth' moments.

Cry - not even with laughter.

Cover my eyes - followed by a shaking head of disapproval at some of the continuity errors and pretty much the whole last half hour.

Walk-out - I didn't walk out of Vertical Limit (my current leader of absolute chod movies) so wouldn't walk out on this - worth staying for the visuals.

Anything we should watch out for?

You may miss it near the beginning, but the bit of an argument in China between the army and couple of Transformers. The governments manage to cover up the whole thing as a little earthquake or something...its complete and total destruction of downtown Shanghai!!! (BTW yes sarcasm set to very much high on that comment)

Why should we see / avoid it?

Big robots, lots of fighting, CG overload - your choice.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen did quite well at the box office

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen had an estimated take of $16 million from a 3,000 screen midnight run last night reports Variety.

That number is second only to The Dark Knight last Summer which took in $18.5 million from Thursday midnight runs last July. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" previously held the record for a Tuesday midnight run opening with $12 million in 2007.

By this Sunday, 'Fallen' is expected to have a first five-day haul not far off from the $203 million take that 'Knight' scored last Summer.

Reviews have been pretty bad all over

Rotten Tomatoes : The first film had a 57% approval rating and 5.8/10 average score. 'Fallen' however sits at 20% and 3.9/10.

Metacritic: The original scored 61/100, whereas 'Fallen' sits at 40/100.

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Megan Fox's part just a cameo in Jonah Hex?

Jonah Hex is the facially challenged Wild West bounty hunter who is being played by Josh Brolin (check out the photos of him as Hex in the live action version). Megan Fox plays a prostitute in the August 2010 film, and sequels are in the works. Plus the character is also starring in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

However it looks as if Fox's character is not going to be in it that much.

“It’s basically a cameo,” said Fox speaking to MTV. “She’s a twisted love-interest to Jonah’s character; my part’s pretty small.”

Jonah Hex lives in a deadly world filled with lies, lead and life-threatening encounters. Which is why Fox’s next statement made it seem even less likely that her character Leila would be returning for those sequels.

“I worked the first week, and then I was shot out of the movie,” she explained “My scenes with Josh were my favorite, because he really pushed me as an actor. He obviously knows what he’s doing.”

Although the film, directed by relative-newcomer Jimmy Hayward, is a no-nonsense genre flick, Fox was quick to point out that Josh Brolin approached it with the same acting chops as his recent Oscar-nominated work in “Milk.”

And although Megan may not get much screentime in “Jonah Hex,” she said that the film is some of her best acting yet – and Brolin’s work may be nothing short of iconic. “He is a sort of chemically-enhanced, nuclear John Wayne on steroids,” Fox said of Jonah.

I think it will be a little more than a cameo though as photos show she has at least two costumes and she previously mentioned that she'll be shooting someone. Looks like it will probably be a few scenes in the film.

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Those pesky Transformers get everywhere

In the past couple of weeks, there's been a surge in sightings of mysterious robots in cities and famous landmarks around the world, including Tokyo, Berlin, Rome, and Barcelona. People from across the globe have been posting videos and photos of these sightings on sites.

Check out the Tokyo sighting:

Barcelona sighting:

Gorila o robot!!!! Qué es eso?
by RubiTruji

A number of more subtle sightings have been spotted in Sydney (above), Perth and even Machu Pichu (zoom into the right of the smaller peak in the middle) .

The most recent sightings have been in France and the UK. In France two model-airplane-enthusiasts watched their airplane crash land, and transform into a robot.

Premier Vol
by Vinnylemans

In the UK, there was a similar incident involving a scooter turning into a robot-type creature.

These robot sightings have so far been tracked by two conspiracy blogs run by Robo-Warrier and Leo Ponce de Leon Spitz.

I think this is a cracking viral campaign for the new Transformers film. Have you spotted any more?

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is out in the UK tomorrow and in the USA on the 24th.

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Shia talks Indiana Jones 5

While chatting to the BBC about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Shia LaBeouf mentioned news about a certain archaeologist.

"Steven [Spielberg] just said that he cracked a story on it before I left and I think they're gearing that up."

That is pretty much all he says apart from that fact that there are "definitely no special effects in that movie."

I think the last part is in reference to the fact that the Transformers film is chock full of CGI (rather like the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).

This is what you call early days, but it does look as if they are kicking around the idea of a 5th Indiana Jones film. It is sad that this news doesn't thrill me as much as it should do. The most recent film was such a disappointment.

If they do make another I hope the story is great, they cut out silly CGI and actually let Indy solve the mystery instead of some gibbering idiot.

How do you feel about the possibility of a new Indy film? What do you want in it and what don't you want in it?

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The Robots that didn't make the cut for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Paramount UK put these together to promote Michael Bay's new film. In each of the clips a household appliance or toy tries and fails to win a part.

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Megan Fox is hot because of CGI

The entire CGI budget of the film goes to digitally mastering Megan Fox's hotness. This is funny.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Megan gets close to Wheelie & Prime brings out the big guns

This clip with Megan Fox and a Decepticon called Wheelie (who I think transforms into an RC car) was out with a German dub but it is now out in English. Apparantly Wheelie is voiced by Spongebob himself, Tom Kenny, but I can't find definite confirmation on that.

This next TV spot has the Optimus Prime firing a rocket which looks really cool.

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Soundwave is spiky

This is the first proper look at Soundwave from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

No turning into a tape deck for this Decepticon. Instead he is going to be a satellite in Earth's orbit. I'm not sure if he will be in his robot form much and I read somewhere that he won't actually land on Earth. Unfortunately I cannot remember where I saw that.

How do you feel about Soundwave's new look?

Source: TLAMB

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Japan Premiere

Director: Michael Bay

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel

Released in the USA on 24th June and in the UK on 19th June
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Megan Fox and Isabel Lucas

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the ladies of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. No need to thank me.

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Megan Fox and some other people at Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Japan Premiere

Michael Bay posted these photos from the Japanese premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Not long now until some big screen Megan Fox action....sorry, I mean giant robot action.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will be bigger and longer on IMAX

Director Michael Bay made an announcement about his upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, including details surrounding finishing the film, the scale of the project, and what the IMAX version will offer. Here is what he had to say:

Hey everyone,

In Japan today. After a month and half seven days a week most days going till midnight me and my crew have just about finished Transformers. I have never seen such a level of dedication from every crew member in a movie before.

Even today after the press in Japan and right before the premiere tonight, I have to sneak out to a digital house to approve the last few effect shots.

It has been a long hard road, but really fun one to travel. What you will notice that is strikingly different than Transformers 1, is the level of animation detail. The robot characters (42 in all), you really can feel empathy for them. What is also very different is the sheer scale of the movie. We have been very tight holding back much of the best imagery in commercials and trailers.

The way to see this movie is on IMAX. Never before has there been 4k rendered character animation shot on full IMAX 70 mm film. This is a first and the results are stunning. You will see Optimus Prime in a few shots where he is actually perfectly to scale on the IMAX 50 foot tall screens.

For IMAX, I created a slightly longer cut with more robot fighting. Four scenes were shot on IMAX cameras so the screen will fill the full IMAX screen for these scenes.

Haters beware.

Michael

Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Isabel Lucas, Rainn Wilson, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens in theaters on 24th June.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Music Video - "New Divide" Behind the Scenes

A behind the scenes look at Linkin Park making the music video for "New Divide" on the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack.

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Great photo of Devastator from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Here is a photo showing the scale of Devastator in Michael Bay's sequel. In other words, Big.

The film is out on the 24th June.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - TV Spot - Destiny

Michael Bay's sequel is due out on 24th June. Not long now.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - MTV Movie Awards Clip

There are a whole heap of Decepticons in this clip from that was shown at the MTV Movie Awards. Insecticons, Starscream and it basically makes the Harvester attack scene in Terminator Salvation seem a little stale.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - First look at The Fallen in action

THe Fallen - For millennia, he has waited. Thousands of years have dragged by as he recruited proxies, one by one, to scour the cosmos for the artifact he required. Now he finds he must return to the primitive, flesh-slug infected planet on which his quest began. Nothing will stand in his way this time. If need be, he will scour the surface of this disgusting world clean in the fire of his rage, and search through the blasted rubble for that which he seeks.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - TV Spot - Join the Fight

Director: Michael Bay

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel

Released on June 24, 2009

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