Film Reviews

~ Tranformers: ROTF ~

As Autobots join forces with the US military to form an elite unit called N.E.S.T, Megatron rises from the depths of his oceanic prison. His resurrection kicks off a chain of events, fulfilling an ancient prophecy which could lead to the destruction of our planet at the hands of the mysterious "Fallen".

The film begins in 17,000BC with brief prologue, setting up the story with a history lesson on the origins of the original Primes. Powerful robots who once scoured the cosmos in search of energy sources from unpopulated planets, choosing never to destroy a planet found with life. After discovering Earth it's not long before we get our first look at the "Fallen", a power crazed megalomaniac hell bent on destroying the planet no matter what the cost. As the other Prime brothers become aware of his plans they manage to overpower him, sacrificing themselves to seal away the key to the technology capable of our world's destruction.

Skipping forward a few thousand years to the present day, we rejoin the Witwiki family as Sam (Shia Le Beouf) as he begins moving out of the family home to start college. As Sam packs up a few last minute items he finds a undiscovered second fragment of the All Spark and in a blinding flash his brain becomes imprinted with various symbol's which may hold the answer to the resting place of the ancient technology; much like his grandfathers spectacles from the first film. The life giving shard of alien tech treating us to a humorous Gremlinesque rampage as kitchen appliances come to life running riot around the house! At the same time in deep space communications satellites are being taken over by Decepticons as they finally locate the last remaining piece of the powerful All Spark. Growing in number and strength, additional scout and hunter robots are sent to Earth to retrieve the missing piece. With plans to reawaken Megatron, allowing him to reclaim his place as leader of the Decepticon army and killing Octomus Prime, in turn rejuvenating the ageing Fallen. With Octomus dead, his safe passage to Earth and the continuation of his original plans secured. It's easy to spot where the story is headed keeping it much the same as the original, but deep emotional and intellectual stimulation is not why we get excited by a Michael Bay film.

Bay returns to what he does best, let's face it, he likes to blow stuff up, so intercut with some light hearted humor we get reintroduced to the Autobots with some impressive actions sequences. The familiar sounds as the robots transform amid explosive and destructive special effects was initially quite exciting but all too quickly becomes overused and tiresome. Along with director, all of the original cast return; Shia LeBeouf, Megan Fox, John Turturro and Josh Duhamel reprising their respected roles as well as the voice talents behind the CGI actors. Shia seems to divide public opinion, you either love or loath him and I must admit I usually find him very charming and very charismatic but here he brings no more than what you would expect from the role of Sam with his usual geeky charm offering an amiable but ultimately forgettable leading man. The stunningly gorgeous Megan Fox is back to tease adolescent males to breaking point with an array of pouting calendar poses and slow motion hair tossing. This time returning with a meatier role over the first film, getting more screen time as the dynamics between her character Mikala and Sam develops; Miss Fox is definitely one to watch out for in the future! John Turturro brings back his obsessed and secretive military man with moments of gross out humor - the unusual choices of underwear are back in force, but nothing can prepare you for what's to come!

Enjoying the original film has become a bit of a guilty pleasure but I'd still set my expectations high for the sequel, with a 12a rating hinting at a more adult friendly tone to appeal to an older audience. Sadly I found myself hugely disappointed, having to think long and hard to write a balanced review with very few positive areas to draw from. I wasn't expecting anything complex and emotionally deep, all I was looking forward to was a no brainer action flick with moments of humor and plenty of explosions.

Unfortunately no amount of pyrotechnics could cover the simplistic and misplaced humor of the script. Maybe the decision to give the Transformers more dialogue wouldn't have been so bad had it not been for the poor choices to what I can only think was an attempt to appeal to the kids. Delivering exaggerated lines of hip hop slang and silly one liners which felt out of date and at times ridiculous, the worst coming from a pair of irritating gold toothed (yes that's right) gangster twin robots which eventually for me, just became laughable. Each computer character becoming overly cartoony and almost caricature. What I expected to be a spanner in the works for a possible love triangle turned into a Terminator/Species mash up as a fully formed human avatar turns out to be a hunter killer working for the Decepticons with fully extendable whip like tongue! I would have to say the lowest point for me though was being subjected to the horror of two crane wrecking balls form the giant testicles of 7 vehicle super-transformer Devastator.

The rating is there for the times the film dips into more sustained violence and from a few choice swear words which confused me as to who they were really aiming this film at. The further into the film you get though the more obvious it is that this is clearly aimed at a younger crowd, anyone under the age of 14 being the ones getting the most from the humor. For such a straight forward plot the film runs at a protracted 2.5hrs and considering the build up the end just doesn't pay off the time invested.

To end on something positive, the film does deliver on special effects and holds plenty of novelty value. As the moto-men transform every minute sprocket is perfectly rendered. And I still believe this film will be a huge box office success, drawing in huge crowds off the back of its predecessor. For the first time in months I actually had to cue to get a ticket and not an empty seat was left in the cinema. Although my face retained its confused look throughout, raising the odd eyebrow in disbelief, most of the crowd laughed in the right places. My theory proved as most of the people I was sat near were aged 11-15.

Star Trek still leads the summer blockbuster race but this is a supersized no brainer that brings back all the good and bad things from the first film, if not losing some of its lunatic charm.

**