Oh, how the mighty have fallen
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” the hugely-anticipated and highly-disappointing sequel to 2007’s original blockbuster, rolled into stores everywhere with its DVD release Oct. 20.
The film is the second installment in director Michael Bay’s planned trilogy of movies about the popular line of Hasbro action figures.
Set two years after its predecessor, “Revenge” again centers on human hero Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf).This time as he prepares to go off to college and leave his parents, girlfriend, and robotic car behind.
Unfortunately for Sam, normalcy is not so easily obtained.
While packing his belongings, he inadvertently comes into contact with a fragment of the All Spark, a powerful artifact that causes him to start seeing strange alien symbols.
The discovery prompts the evil Decepticons to return to Earth in hopes of kidnapping Sam and using his newly-acquired knowledge to ultimately destroy the planet. But as the heroic Autobots spring into action, they quickly realize they may have more to deal with than meets the eye.
Unfortunately, not even Optimus Prime could salvage this disgrace of a film.
“Revenge” succeeds only in turning a promising franchise into a laughingstock of mindless drivel punctuated by bad acting and potty humor.
The plot itself is easily lost amongst confusing action sequences, useless characters, and scene after scene of tasteless jokes and sexual innuendos.
The acting talent present in the first movie is no where to be found. Then again, it is hard for actors to shine when the material given to them is nothing more than dumb, profanity-laced blather.
Perhaps most disappointing of all, the titular robots share a pathetically small amount of screen time when compared to their human counterparts, and are noticeably weaker and dumber than their original versions.
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” isn’t worth renting, much less buying. The DVD itself is packed with a number of extras about as exciting as the lackluster movie itself.
Fans of the Transformers series should watch the original instead, and relive everything the sequel should have been.
It is simply inexcusable that such a fun, family-friendly franchise has fallen victim to the usual perversions of Hollywood.
Rating: F
—Whitney Knight
Staff Writer
