autaku

I have to admit, I was a little surprised at how much I liked the first Transformers movie. It wasn’t the source material that bothered me – quite the contrary – it was… well, it was Michael Bay. I’ll admit that Armageddon is a sort of guilty pleasure of mine, but I wasn’t exactly filled with confidence to see Bay at the helm of the adaptation. I was pleased, then, to find that Transformers harnessed the director’s strengths far more than it fell to his weaknesses. With the sequel - Revenge of the Fallen – I found myself with the same concerns. Could they pull it off again? Well, it’s here now and I have my answer… kind of.

Can you go wrong with explosions and transforming robots?

The problem is, I don’t quite know what to think of Revenge. There is a lot to like, perhaps even love about it. A few more robots in disguise are on board this time, including the Devastator and a perfectly-voiced Soundwave (who is, somewhat unfortunately, a satellite… but Ravage is awesome), and the plot draws heavily from the original cartoon series with a machine designed to sap energy from the sun, so there’s more here for the more old-school Transformers fan. This is a welcome step forward (or should that be backward?) for the franchise that fans will really enjoy, and the result is a film that feels more like Transformers than its predecessor.

It’s not all forward-moving, however. Michael Bay’s trademark over-emotional sappiness is more present here, and there are a few scenes with painfully over-expository dialogue. There was one in particular where it just felt like the character was speaking to the audience, not the other characters, and it detracted from the experience to the point where I just wanted the scene to end. The information coming across is fine – the film sets up an interesting history – but the presentation is irritating and almost patronising. Luckily, such dips in enjoyment are few and far between.

Soundwave may be a satellite now, but Ravage is awesome.

Shia LeBeouf is again quite likable as lead Sam Witwicky and the Transformers themselves are pretty much all you could ask for, but many other characters have been pushed the the extremes of their purpose from the first film. Mikaela (Megan Fox) is completely devoid of personality and the camera work goes to great lengths to make it clear that she’s only there to be looked at. John Turturro returns as Reggie Simmons to great comedic effect. Sam’s parents Ron and Judy (Kevin Dunn and Julie White) also return as comedic support, and while the jokes often work there are others that seem to go too far. For example, Judy accidentally eating hash brownies seemed a little out of place to me. I laughed at some of the hijinks that followed, but the initial gag had me wondering if I was watching Revenge of the Fallen or Revenge of the American Pie. That might seem like a good thing to some viewers but it was slightly off-putting for me, if just for a moment.

A more serious parental subplot involving their fears about losing their son (to college, to Decepticons… the usual mum and dad stuff) is a nice inclusion but largely glazed over. Michael Bay (and perhaps the writers, to place blame fairly) seem to have a knack of focussing on the cheap-and-easy emotional moments rather than the ones that could have some real substance. I’m completely aware that people aren’t going to see films like this for dramatic substance and I certainly enjoyed Revenge as is, but you can’t help but look at films like The Dark Knight or even Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and wish that all blockbusters could have similar depth of character and drama as well as the thrills and explosions.

Devastator tears through Shanghai.

Still, there’s a lot to like about explosions and even more to like about giant transforming robots beating each other up, and Revenge doesn’t disappoint. To borrow a saying coined for Gears of War 2, the action in Revenge is bigger, better and more badarse. Fight scenes are often more tactile and some Transformers literally get torn to pieces. Explosions are plentiful and collateral damage is massive: a lot of people must have died in the Demolishor chase through Shanghai and the property damage would have rolled into the millions… not to mention the partial destruction of the pyramids of Giza in Egypt during the film’s final act!

It’s at moments like these that you can excuse the less-enjoyable aspects of the film, and in the end it’s these moments that you’ll remember most vividly. There’s more cheap Hollywood emotion, shallow characters and some sub-par dialogue, but ultimately the strengths of Revenge of the Fallen are enough to carry its weaknesses. Running at two and a half hours of occasionally fluctuating enjoyment levels it might have benefitted from a little more editing, but it’s a fun ride that should please Transformers fans both new and old.