Transformers Revenge of the Fallen opens in cinemas this week and TheTransformers.Net had the pleasure of attending the press screening on Monday morning, just before the UK premiere.
The first thing we should say about Transformers 2 is that, unlike the first Transformers movie, the film delivers. ROTF is everything that the first Transformers film should have been. The action is solid and well filmed, the plot makes sense, the comedy is actually funny and kept to a minimum and Optimus Prime is actually the Optimus Prime we remember.
In the first movie Optimus came off as something of a bungling weakling. He couldn’t stand up to Megatron one on one and he dropped Sam and Michaela when he was monkeying around under the bridge. Prime would never drop humans.
In this movie we get the real Optimus Prime, as is shown in the film’s opening scene where Prime takes on a Decepticon at least five times his size in China. Prime battles Megatron one on one and dominates like he should, then he takes on everyone else that happens to be around.
For those who remember listening to Stan Bush’s ‘The Touch’ and cheering as Optimus decimated the ranks of the Decepticons in the original Transformers the Movie, that’s the Prime we get in Revenge of the Fallen.
We’ve read reviews that slate the film, saying it’s too long and doesn’t wow in the same way the first film does. Yes, Michael Bay knows how to shoot film that numbs your bum, but Transformers 2 doesn’t waste a second of screen time on worthless scenes or pointless dialogue, right down the potential romantic rival Megan Fox has for Shia LaBeouf… like anyone would really cheat on Megan!
Nothing in Transformers 2 is what it seems, from Transformers switching sides to things you would never expect to transform, actually transforming.
One of the moneyshots of the films comes in the climactic sequence in Egypt when the Constructicons make their bow and merge into Devastator. He is well worth waiting for.
So what makes Transformers Revenge of the Fallen the movie that the first Transformers should have been? Firstly, as stated, Optimus Prime doesn’t have his character watered down. He’s brave, he’s tough and he’s willing to take on the entire Decepticon army if need be. Secondly there are no stupid character inconsistencies used to further the plot, like in the first film when the US military took the All Spark to a populated city for extraction.
The relationship between Shia and Megan is well played and the two have genuine chemistry, even if some of Shia’s lines towards Megan wouldn’t work in the real world. I certainly won’t be taking relationship advice from him.
The editing on the Transformers is much slower, meaning you can see what’s going on during the action and not lose track of which bot is which. That was a problem in the first Transformers.
Michael Bay has probably produced his best work in Revenge of the Fallen, and assured Transformers fans that there will be a third movie, probably in 2011.
This video is part 2 of the Transformers Revenge of the Fallen press conference that took place on Monday afternoon this week at Claridges, London. In this section of the press conference Shia LaBeouf talks about his hand injury and how he was able to continue filming Transformers 2 despite his injury and Michael Bay talks about how he spoke with US President Barack Obama about Transformers, which convinced Bay to include the current US president in the film.
