Boom

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
USA | 2009 | Dir. Michael Bay
Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox

It is with great pride that I pin the only “One Star” of the year on Transformers 2 – a film that, even in the company of a good friend, a pile of beer, and the desire to be mindlessly entertained, could not pass muster.  Of course it is sad that this horrible dud of a film was one of the top grossing films of the year, but I will ignore what that says about the American population and their film going taste for now.  Transformers 2 fell victim to the writers strike and the huge action sequences were left without material to bridge them.  After watching it, I was convinced that there was also a editor, continuity editor, and director strike going on as well.  The obviously glaring errors such as the Aspen forest contiguous to the UPenn campus and the scene in which a cast mysteriously appears on Shia’s arm aside, the real fault of this film is a shocking lack of plot and characterization.  The first Transformers, while in no way a great movie, took the time to provide each of the robots and humans with motivation, back-story, and personality.  I am not sure what quality of writer was kept from Hollywood in the strike, but I had hope that even without their professional services someone with a pen out there would have been able to fill the 150 minutes with something other than gratuitous explosions and racist jokes.  I was so wrong.