Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Following up the success of “Transformers” was not easy task, and thankfully Director Michael Bay and the amazing wizards at Industrial Light and Magic are up to the challenge as “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is the rare sequel that outdoes the original in almost every way.

The film once again stars Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky who is still dating the lovely Mikaela (Megan Fox), as he prepares to head east for college.

Mikaela is unable to head east with Sam as she must stay behind to help her recently paroled father. Sam and his parents head off to his college campus and leave his transforming Camero Bumblebee at home.

At the same time, Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), and the rest of the heroic Autobots have joined forces with the government in an effort to locate and remove any remaining Decepticon threat. The special unit has worked well for two years as they have not only managed to contain the threat, but have kept their existence on Earth a secret until a mission in Shanghai escalates and has giant robots racing through the streets creating a path of destruction.

The aftermath of the mission causes some in authority to question the need for the Autobots and despite concerns that a major offensive is in the planning, the movements of the team are curtailed.

Sam and Mikaela are soon reunited when a shard from the All Spark is stolen. Sam also starts to have visions of mysterious alien symbols making him the prime target of the recently resurrected Megatron (Hugo Weaving), and his minions.

It is learned that the life essences of the Autobots and Decepticons may have a supply located on Earth and that Megatron will stop at nothing to locate it even if it means destroying the sun and all life on earth in the process.

What follows is a spectacular and extended series of battles which range from the city, to the countryside and deserts and pyramids of Egypt.

The new film has a surprisingly good amount of humor in it, which is needed as the film has a run time of over 2.5 hours and does take its time getting started in the first 40 minutes.

While the plot may be fairly basic and a bit convoluted, the real stars of the film are the action sequences, and Michael Bay ups the ante on explosions, destruction, and robot mayhem. It is clear that a lot of money was spent on the film and it is all up there on the screen. Lavish battles between the robotic forces and the military unfold often and the finale is an extended battle sequences that is amongst the most ambitious and lavish in action film history.

LaBeouf and Fox do the best with their parts even though they are not given much to do except run, jump, and look attractive when they are not interacting with their CGI Co stars.

That being said, the film knows what its audience is as does not try to reinvent what worked so well in the previous film. Instead its focus is on giving you more of what the audience loved and in that we get much more of the robots in combat and more of Megan Fox is skimpy tops and shorts.

The lavish and amazing visuals and action carry the film and establish Transformers as a heavyweight franchise for summers to come.

3.5 stars out of 5