Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

06.11.2009

Film Trailer

Sam, Mikaela and the Autobots have to save the Earth once again when the evil Decepticons return. This is an entertaining action adventure, but the movie contains many violent scenes and is not suitable for children under twelve.

Plot
Two years ago Sam Witwicky was the hero who saved the universe from being taken over by Megatron and his Decepticon-robots. Now life is more or less back to normal, and Sam is about to start college. Neither his girlfriend Mikaela, his Autobot buddy Bumblebee or his parents are especially happy for Sam to move away from home. Even so they all come to wish him luck when the big day arrives.

But Sam hasn't even gotten his things out of his parents' house before strange things start to happen. A little piece of the magical AllSpark, which gives life to mechanical things, falls out of his jumper and Sam touches it. After this he experiences a string of visions, where strange symbols flash before his eyes. Sam gets super-clever and has several strange episodes where he scribbles these symbols everywhere.

At the same time Optimus Prime and the other Autobots have become a part of the new secret military organisation NEST, led by Major Lennox. Their mission is to eradicate the Decepticons still present on Earth, and to be available should a new attack from outer space come. But National Security Advisor Galloway sees no danger of this happening, and threatens to disband the whole organisation and send the friendly robots away from Earth.

This turns out to be a bad idea, as the whole Decepticon army is about to get organised. They steal another piece of the AllSpark, and revive their leader Megatron. And so a new war commences, and again it's Sam's fate to save the Earth. Only by deciphering the mysterious symbols can he find the answer to how the Decepticons can be defeated and the Earth saved from destruction.

Quality and Theme
The second Transformers movie is a large and expensive production that gives the audience exactly what it promises. From the first second we are served action, battle scenes and fantastic effects, and apart from a few necessary quieter scenes the film consists of almost two and a half hours of intense robot warfare. This is maybe a tad long, and the story isn't exactly polished. Many of the scenes don't have an ounce of realism, whilst the characters present a lot of "cool" comments that just fall flat. But realism and good dialogue isn't really the point in this movie, which must be said to have a reasonable mixture of action, excitement and romance.

There isn't really a meaningful message in this movie, apart from Sam living up to the Witwicky family's motto - no sacrifice, no victory. The lack of morals can be viewed as a weakness, but this is a pure entertainment movie, whose only aim is to amuse its audience. This it succeeds in, and so it falls nicely into the group of movies that are fun to see with friends without necessarily learning something.

Suitability
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" has a PG rating. The movie has a number of very intense scenes with violent content and dramatic effects. It's mostly the robots that are beaten up, but there are incidents where people are being hurt and killed in ways that can affect children in a negative way. For this reason this reviewer thinks the age limit is too low, and recommend that children under twelve shouldn't be allowed to see this movie.

Conclusion
For children over this age, this is an exciting action adventure that will probably amuse a big audience, and have the Transformers fans shouting for joy.

Facts
Director: Michael Bay Genre: Action/Science Fiction Actors: Shia LeBoeuf, Megan Fox, Rainn Wilson, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and more Language: English Nationality: USA Production Company: DreamWorks SKG/Paramount Pictures Length: 2 hours 27 mins Production Year: 2009 Age Limit: PG Suitability: Young people BBFC's Consumer Advice: Contains mild fantasy action violence.