Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Judas · 06-30-2009, 05:19 AM

Amazingly, brilliantly, fantastically shite. Megan Fox saved it.

Necro · 07-08-2009, 03:00 PM

Roger Ebert Schools The Transformers 2 Fans

Quote:

Roger Ebert was certainly not the only critic to trash Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but he might have been the most influential. So when readers responded to his hilariously negative review, they responded in full-force. And Ebert, never one to keep his opinion to himself, responded right back.

His piece, entitled "I'm a proud Brainiac", is absolutely worth reading in its entirety. In sticking up for brainiacs, intellectuals, the college-educated and, yes, critics, Ebert pretty much sums up the cry of frustration from every critic who sat back helplessly watching Transformers 2 earn untold amounts of money. He's especially hard on the readers who told him he just "didn't get" Michael Bay, summer movies, or the feeling of being a kid. "What disturbs me is when I'm specifically told that I know too much about movies, have "studied" them, go into them "too deep," am always looking for things the average person doesn't care about, am always mentioning things like editing or cinematography, and am forever comparing films to other films."

And he does what most critics are too afraid, or too generous to do: tell people who liked Transformers 2, who think it's a great movie, that they're flat wrong. "Those who think "Transformers" is a great or even a good film are, may I tactfully suggest, not sufficiently evolved. Film by film, I hope they climb a personal ladder into the realm of better films, until their standards improve. Those people contain multitudes. They deserve films that refresh the parts others do not reach. They don't need to spend a lifetime with the water only up to their toes."

Seriously, it's a great piece, even for those who may have found themselves defending Transformers 2. Articles like this are a strong reminder of why Ebert is the living godfather of our business, and why it pays to be as smart and experienced as he is. No one else could hope to school the Transformers defenders with so much class

Source: Cinemablend

Damn I got schooled by Robert Ebert!

Necro · 07-08-2009, 08:46 PM

$300 Million in 14 Days for Transformers Sequel
Source: Paramount Pictures
July 8, 2009

Quote:

After only 14 days in release, the worldwide hit Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen became the second-fastest film in movie history to earn $300 million in U.S. ticket sales, eclipsing the previous record-holder Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, by two days. From director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg, the Paramount Pictures release trails only The Dark Knight in this record-setting achievement.

"Moviegoers everywhere propelled the film to this great success, paving the way for a phenomenal run," said Paramount Pictures Vice Chairman Rob Moore.

2007's Transformers earned $319.2 million in its theatrical run, and more than $700 million worldwide. The sequel has already taken in over $600 million worldwide to date, conquering several records including:

* Biggest Wednesday-Sunday opening of all time.
* Biggest Wednesday opening of all time.
* Paramount's biggest international opening of all time.
* 3rd biggest worldwide opening weekend of all time.
* 4th biggest international opening of all time.

Just wow!

Brandon · 07-08-2009, 10:27 PM

Ebert can't stop the train..

Bigpapa42 · 07-08-2009, 11:39 PM

I can't disagree with a lot of the issues that Ebert has with the film. That said, it is still very possible to enjoy the film despite that. When you take a film for what it is and accept its intent, it still makes for a fun viewing experience. And that's really all watching a movie really comes down to - enjoyment.

Now, people trying to say that no, it was a really good film - I think they are deluded. But that there is nothing wrong for enjoyable a mediocre to bad film for what it does do well.

Brandon · 07-08-2009, 11:42 PM

what were the issues he had with the film?

Bigpapa42 · 07-08-2009, 11:52 PM

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Quote:

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. One of these involves a dog-like robot humping the leg of the heroine. Such are the meager joys. If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination. The plot is incomprehensible. The dialog of the Autobots®, Decepticons® and Otherbots® is meaningless word flap. Their accents are Brooklyese, British and hip-hop, as befits a race from the distant stars. Their appearance looks like junkyard throw-up. They are dumb as a rock. They share the film with human characters who are much more interesting, and that is very faint praise indeed.

The movie has been signed by
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. This is the same man who directed "
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" in 1996. Now he has made "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." Faust made a better deal. This isn't a film so much as a toy tie-in. Children holding a Transformer toy in their hand can invest it with wonder and magic, imagining it doing brave deeds and remaining always their friend. I knew a little boy once who lost his blue toy truck at the movies, and cried as if his heart would break. Such a child might regard "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" with fear and dismay.

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Megan Fox and Sam Witwicky outrun an explosion.

(
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)

The human actors are in a witless sitcom part of the time, and lot of the rest of their time is spent running in slo-mo away from explosions, although--hello!--you can't outrun an explosion. They also make speeches like this one by John Turturro: "Oh, no! The machine is buried in the pyramid! If they turn it on, it will destroy the sun! Not on my watch!" The humans, including lots of U.S. troops, shoot at the Transformers a lot, although never in the history of science fiction has an alien been harmed by gunfire.

There are many great-looking babes in the film, who are made up to a flawless perfection and look just like real women, if you are a junior fanboy whose experience of the gender is limited to lad magazines. The two most inexplicable characters are Ron and Judy Witwicky (
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and Julie White), who are the parents of
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, who Mephistopheles threw in to sweeten the deal. They take their son away to Princeton, apparently a party school, where Judy eats some pot and goes berserk. Later they swoop down out of the sky on Egypt, for reasons the movie doesn't make crystal clear, so they also can run in slo-mo from explosions.

The battle scenes are bewildering. A Bot makes no visual sense anyway, but two or three tangled up together create an incomprehensible confusion. I find it amusing that creatures that can unfold out of a Camaro and stand four stories high do most of their fighting with...fists. Like I say, dumber than a box of staples. They have tiny little heads, although Jetfire® must be made of older models, since he has an aluminum beard.

Aware that this movie opened in England seven hours before Chicago time and the morning papers would be on the streets, after writing the above I looked up the first reviews as a reality check. I was reassured: "Like watching paint dry while getting hit over the head with a frying pan!" (Bradshaw, Guardian); "Sums up everything that is most tedious, crass and despicable about modern Hollywood!" (Tookey, Daily Mail); "A giant, lumbering idiot of a movie!" (Edwards, Daily Mirror). The first American review, Todd Gilchrist of Cinematical, reported that Bay's "ambition runs a mile long and an inch deep," but, in a spirited defense, says "this must be the most movie I have ever experienced." He is bullish on the box office: it "feels destined to be the biggest movie of all time." It’s certainly the biggest something of all time.

A lot of the issues - maybe not all of them, but many - are relatively legit. but whether they bother you or not is a different matter. Its not that I thought the plot was awesome and without flaws, but simply that I accepted it as whatever it was and didn't really worry.

Brandon · 07-08-2009, 11:55 PM

I got what I wanted out of a film involving giant alien robots from outer space. Ebert is an elitist. I don't want to watch films about gay rights activists every fucking day.

Necro · 07-09-2009, 12:07 AM

Yeah when I went into watching Transformers I wasn't expecting an indepth story, or some masterpiece. Just some crazy ass action, and I so got that.

Brandon · 07-09-2009, 12:12 AM

Who does he think he is? He's saying that we are retarded for wasting our time on this shit.. but does he really believe it's not possible to enjoy this film and also enjoy Milk or A Beautiful Mind?

I like all types of movies. I don't want to subject myself to Oscar noms every night.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

This is a discussion on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) within the Released Movies forums, part of the Coming Attractions category; Amazingly, brilliantly, fantastically shite. Megan Fox saved it....