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| Released: |
2009 |
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| Genre: |
ACTION
COMIC STRIP
ADVENTURE
SCIENCE FICTION
SEQUEL
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| Origin: |
US |
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| Colour: |
C |
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| Length: |
149 |
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MIXED Reviews
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| A nonstop whirl of flying, battling and crashing machinery. Characters and comedy are in short supply in a plot that's basically an Indiana Jones-style search for a buried treasure, in this case a 1,000-year-old matrix that will give life back to Optimus Prime, one of the alien robots who is on the side of humans in their fight against the evil Decepticons who are out to destroy them. With Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox back as the leads and massive battles involving ships, planes, tanks, rockets and industrial level shape-changing machines, the film will make another huge dent in the global boxoffice. With its intelligence at the level of the simple-minded, however, the film is not likely to attract moviegoers who seek something more than a screen filled with kaleidoscopes of colored metal. Fan boys will no doubt love it, but for the uninitiated it's loud, tedious and, at 147 minutes, way too long... LaBeouf gets little chance to show what charm he might have. Meanwhile, Fox has little to do except look great in a tank top and tight jeans while running in slow motion through flying sand. |
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| (Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter) |
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| Michael Bay takes care of his core market in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, a sprawling, frenetic, blasting, bloated tentpole release which should match the 2007 original’s $700m-plus worldwide gross, even if it doesn’t expand the audience for Bay’s giant Hasbro spin-off any further... Performance-wise, the machines do tend to upstage the humans. While Megan Fox now looks like she dropped off the cover of Loaded, Shia LaBoeuf is still a little short-changed in the charisma department and has yet to make a convincing case for leading male status. A rough teleporter ride explains away the bandage on his hand, incurred in a famous accident during shooting. John Turturro returns amusingly for another run as Agent Simmons, although the rear shot of him in a posing pouch is definitely one the kids could live without. |
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| (Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International) |
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| Revenge Of The Fallen shares its predecessor’s tin ear for the spoken word. Dialogue, as if it even matters, is delivered at breakneck speed and is barely audible amongst the cacophony of metal on metal. What can be heard isn’t much worth listening to – it doesn’t feel much like a script, rather a transcription of Action Man’s greatest pull-string catchphrases. In Michael Bay’s universe, soldiers really do say “Bring the rain!” and villains really do snarl “This isn’t over!” But come on. Like you even care. |
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| (The Shiznit) |
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| In terms of explosions, firepower and sheer shrill, all-action, popcorn entertainment, it is hard to see how this big'n'bold sequel can be topped this year. Star Trek might have had more spaceships and aliens and Terminator: Salvation more grim-faced robots, but this Michael Bay summer blockbuster is pure mindless adventure mayhem that sticks firm and hard to its winning formula. In truth, it is a film for teen boys - and a bloomin' long one at that - but is also a guaranteed multiplex crowd pleaser. Saying that, for the most part it is also a complex lumbering mess of a movie that is long on turgid backstory and short on tension, laughs and subtle acting. Despite their predicaments, lovely Megan manages to change tight jeans a couple of times (blue for the US and white for the desert) and keep her make-up intact. The noisy, noisy, noisy climax is sheer Michael Bay. Utilising seemingly every branch of the US military, there is one almighty battle in the desert (during which pesky ancient Egyptian monuments are casually destroyed) as Sam has to try and save the world (again!). There are moments of sheer beauty as only Bay seems able to conjure up. But the Transformers get increasingly irritating - and once you've seen one giant robot battle you have pretty much seen them all. It is a sprawlingly noisy adventure epic that entertains at times, but never really manages to engage. Still, the kids will love it! |
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| (Mark Adams, Sunday Mirror) |
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| A super-sized second helping, but the novelty factor and some of the charm’s gone. Hey, at least there’s more Megatron / Starscream squabbling this time round. |
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| (Nick De Semlyen, Empire) |
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| The biggest movie of the summer is finally here, but that's the problem with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - it's just too bloody big. Epic, spectacular but unfortunately far, far too long; the film proves that when it comes to Michael Bay blockbuster movies, you can have too much of a good thing. |
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| (Orlando Parfitt, IGN UK) |
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| Say what you like about Michael Bay, his ability to cow his audience into submission remains second to none. |
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| (Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph |
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