First I have to say that whilst I didn’t hate the first Transformers, I wasn’t particularly thrilled by it either.  I hated the hip-hop jive talking robots and their lame attempt at jokes, the transformations were far too “busy” for my liking, and the fight sequences between the Autobots and Decepticons were difficult to keep track of because of the quick cuts and motion.

Thankfully these complaints have been addressed in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.  The jive talk has been reduced, although not eliminated, the transformations are still too “busy” but the amount of time spent actually seeing them has been lessened, and for the most part the fights between the Autobots and Decepticons have been reduced in complexity.

The comedy elements in Revenge are also greater in number and seem to work better, plus they’re definitely funnier than the original, perhaps because they come from the human characters rather than the robots.  Of particular note is Sam’s new roommate (Ramon Rodriguez) and his mother (Julie White) who has some awesome lines and delivers them in often hilarious ways.

As for the cast, the hot tech girl and her black mate from the first film don’t return, and I’m pretty damn happy about that.  Obviously Megan Fox is back, but she seems to have more screen-time and more to do within the actual story.  Plus I don’t think there’s a more perfect women in Hollywood right now, she’s just about as perfect as you can get.  Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson are also back and with more to do, and so is the fabulous John Turturro.  As for Shia LaBeouf, I know there are people who hate him, probably because of the shithouse Indy 4, but I really like him.  He’s his usual hyper manic self, screaming and yelling and stammering out lines.  He does it often, but he does it well.  Besides, if Michael Cera can play the same guy in every movie he does, why can’t Shia LaBeouf.  He’s certainly developing into the next big thing and I think it suits him, I just hope he comes to his senses and decides to do Y: The Last Man because I think he’d be great as Yorick.

Another thing which I thought was great was the introduction of the Primes and the revelation that they’d been on Earth for centuries.  It was really cool when they went to the Smithsonian and used the All-Spark slither to reanimate the old plane.  He was an impressive character who I thought served the story well, and it added an interested bit of background and history to the Transformers.  I would have liked it if they had tracked down some of the other ones who appeared in the top secret photos, but you can’t have everything.

Ultimately I went in expecting to be disappointed because I was let down by the first one, but it didn’t take long for me to realise that Revenge was much better than the original.  It’s hard to pinpoint why exactly it’s better but it is.  Maybe it’s just a combination of all the elements fitting together as a nice cohesive whole, coupled with a few minor adjustments.  I’d say a third film in the franchise is a given, and you can count on me being there to see it on opening day.

Pros:

• The special effects are amazing
• The vastly improved comedic elements
• Megan Fox’s awesome hotness
• The wiseguy remote control car Decepticon
• The Devastator

Cons:

• The racist twin hatchbacks
• The lack of screen-time for The Fallen
• Megatron getting his ass kicked so easily
• The hot chick who makes out with Sam
• The almost endless circling around Sam and Mikaela when he leaves for college

Final Grade: B-

Way better than the first one, but still nothing really noteworthy. Just good blockbuster popcorn material. It’ll look awesome on Blu-ray too.