[Chad]

I just saw RoTF. There is no middle ground with this one, you will love it, or fucking hate it. It was epic beyond anything I could have imagined. They went balls out geek with it too. Some of the comedy is hard to watch. The battle scenes were better structured than the first one. There were tons of Transformers in it. The ending battle was like 45 minutes long and was just unreal. Megan Fox is hotter than ever and has a few parts where she actually acts, and does well doing it. Not crap. Coming from me though, that's not a surprise.

Biggest cons: Comedy is worse than the original. A lot worse. A LOT. Also I wish Soundwave had a bigger role. Michael Bay is sooo bad at developing storylines. Even on the most basic level. If you don't really know the back story or follow it through books or whatever, you can have a tough time keeping up.

Biggest pros: The action is so much smoother than in the first one. A little choppy in some parts, but it flows really well. More Transformers than you can hope for. It's super nerdy this time. You follow the Decepticons into space at one point, to their base of operations on a moon near Saturn I think. They have lots of dialogue and really expand the story. It's nerdiness is almost on par with Lord of The Rings. I didn't mind that though. I like how they went completely one way with it. It isn't a realistic film and shouldn't be handled like one.

[Deb]

Watched it. Loved it. Wanna see it again.

That fight scene in the desert was FUCKING AWESOME!!!

[Otto von Bizmark]

I wish they would have developed at least one character. And what happened to wratchet and ironhide?
The decepticon/autobot grandpa thing also pissed me off for some reason. I'll probably watch it again though.

Crap

[Bacony Goodness]

Didn't like it. The action scenes were good and we are lucky they were most of the movie. Megan Fox cannot act. Everybody's lines are atrocious. The plot is stupid.

[mango]

It's a movie about talking robots and hot tattoed chicks. I'm actually surprised there was a plot.

GI Joe on the otherhand, will be awesome. Yo Joe!

[Dave]

Finally saw it. I carefully avoided all spoilers, then after the film I realized why it was so easy. There are no spoilers. Transformers 2 was head and shoulders above the first film.

The action sequences were much, much better. I could see what was going on this time. I credit this to the magic of slow motion, a technique Michael Bay abuses (because he is talentless). Most importantly, this film fulfilled its mission in a way 2007's Transformers did not: I got to see big things fighting big things. It was Monster Island with robots. And when they ran out of robots to fight, they brought more in. Yes. I'm nodding my head in approval like a brain-dead chimp. Yes.

The dialog is terrible. Some of the worst ever. Let me paraphrase an early scene:

EXT. WITWICKY HOUSE -- DAY
Sam (Shia Lebouf) and his dad are packing the car for a trip.

SAM
I'm going to college!

DAD
You're going to college. I'm going to miss you because you'll be at college.

Sam's mom stands in the doorway to the house watching them and crying.

DAD
Your mother is crying because you're going to college. She will miss you.

MOM
(weeping uncontrollably)
I am crying because you're going to college and I will miss you.

SAM
I will miss her too. But she has to let me go. I's all grow'd up now, paw.

DAD
She's a stupid bitch for crying. It shows she is weak.

SAM
Ha! Good one! Mom is an idiot. You know what? I'll miss you too, dad.

That's it in a nutshell. All the dialog (that isn't one-liners) is on the nose. It's so on the nose it crushes it flat like botched rhinoplasty. No acting. No room to let the actors take a moment. No subtext. Everything's out there on a billboard. It's pretty awful. Now take this example scene and imagine it replayed over every situation in the movie.

The acting is phoned in. People cashed their checks. I'd be embarrassed for John Turturro if he didn't also cash a giant check for his 'work.' The robot voices are better acted. I'm serious.

The mythology is changed...again. I'm not too bothered by it. I was happy they included ANY mythological background that didn't involve the goddamned allspark.

Plot. You either go with the flow on this, or else you find huge gaping holes. For instance: "the matrix isn't a thing; it's earned" type magic. Okay fine. I'm not giving anything away when I say Optimus has earned it. Fine. But then it reverts to a physical object that an enemy can take? A Decepticon hasn't earned it. Whatever. I resolved this in my mind that the matrix is a physical object (with some kind of magic associated with it) and the "earned it" business is just bad poetry written by a robot while bored on Cybertron.

The humor is terrible. Everything is a third-grade sex joke. None of it is funny after 3rd grade.

The action scenes as action scenes are awesome. I really enjoyed them, especially the fight in the woods. It's the Godzilla-style action I've been dying for. And it's most of the movie. My only problem with it is there was no suspense at all. Look at Jurassic Park, Hellboy...even the old Godzilla movies. There's suspense. It punctuates the action. With Bay, it's all action. He tried to add some with Devastator, but again, since he's talentless, he failed.

So, I enjoyed it. I walked out hating the first movie, but I enjoyed this one. I'm going with crap, but in a good way. This is a MST3000 movie. You gotta watch it with friends so you can bust on the actors and dialog. It's that 'so bad it's good' kinda thing.

Oh, I guess maybe this is a spoiler...I'll try to speak neutrally about it...the, er, Terminator-style Transformer? No. Just no.

[Navarre]

Taking a big pass on this one, at least til its out on Netflix. I'm not interested in action-rama, terrible actors, with minimal story.

[Chad]

I'm not interested in action-rama, terrible actors, with minimal story.

You should probably continue on that pass when it's out on Netflix too then.

[Dave]

Chad, what did you think of
1. the Terminator Transformer
2. the Autobot leadership matrix change
3. the Fallen stuff
?

[Dave]

Chad, what did you think of
1. the Terminator Transformer
2. the Autobot leadership matrix change
3. the Fallen stuff
?

Also...
4. the fact that now any transformer can be resurrected
5. the Fallen can use the matrix even though he hasn't 'earned' it?

there was something else that was bothering me but i forgot

[Drax]

it was just worth it to see megan fox, straddling a bike while painting it shes such a perfect specimen!

[Anticelebrity]

It was good, with goosebump moments. Storyline was cobbled together from a few of the old school eps.

What the hell where the ice cream truck bots about?
And the whole, Disney-Sam-comes-back-to-life-with-a-kiss ending? A little lame.

[Dave]

Shia Labeouf on Transformers 2 just the other day:
"You lost a bit of the relationships. Unless you have those relationships, then the movie doesn't matter. Then it's just a bunch of robots fighting each other."

I need people to stop demanding that this franchise be about anything other than big robots fighting other big robots.

Dave, on 07 August 2009 - 07:11 PM, said:

Chad, what did you think of
1. the Terminator Transformer
2. the Autobot leadership matrix change
3. the Fallen stuff
Also...
4. the fact that now any transformer can be resurrected
5. the Fallen can use the matrix even though he hasn't 'earned' it?

there was something else that was bothering me but i forgot

You have still not gotten back to me on this! (Or maybe we IMed about it. I don't remember.)

[Chad]

I don't remember, but I haven't watched TF2 in a while. I think I may tonight once I get done watching my Netflix copy of Gi Joe then get back to you. For real this time.

[Deb]

Another promise bites the dust.