'Transformers': 'Fallen Forgettable Fare
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2.5 stars
Directed by Michael Bay
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro
By Mina Hochberg
amNewYork movie critic
The experience of watching “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is akin to the experience kids might have when playing with the Hasbro toys on which the movie is based: It provides momentary thrills, but soon it’ll be tossed into a mental trash bin filled with all the other manufactured movies that have been seen, fleetingly enjoyed and forgotten.
This sequel to the 2007 blockbuster delves into the mythology of the Transformers, who existed on Earth thousands of years ago and even had their own civil war, which ultimately established the Autobots (the good robots) and the Decepticons (the bad ones).
Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam Witwicky, the confident nerd and human ally of the Autobots, and Megan Fox is back as his ridiculously hot girlfriend, whose opening shot has her straddling a motorcycle in barely existent cutoffs. (For a girl who’s constantly on the run, she makes the worst wardrobe decisions. Her shirts have zero support, which I know is the point, but for crying out loud.)
Sam, who’s trying to lead a normal life as a college freshman, unwittingly gets thrown into the robot fray again.
The slapdash mythology makes a minor impression, but it’s just enough to provide a framework for what is basically an excuse to blow and rip things up in the most visually spectacular ways possible. Addicts of war and car porn, consider this a utopia.
