Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Directed by Michael Bay
Sam Witwicky leaves the Autobots behind for a normal life. But when his mind is filled with cryptic symbols, the Decepticons target him and he is dragged back into the Transformers' war.
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What critics say influenced Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
It was reminiscent of the two black crows from Disney’s Dumbo (which was made back in 1941).
The villainous robots resurrect their leader, Megatron (Hugo Weaving), who now takes his orders from the title character, the Fallen (voiced by "Candyman" Tony Todd).
That distinction still resides with “Land of the Lost,” which has a surrealistic awfulness Bay’s movie can’t match (even though the self-referential poster of “Bad Boys II” is a particularly crass touch, as are the references to Barack Obama, given the contemptuous characterization of the presidential National Security head).
Anyway, both sides want "the Shard," so it's off to the races again, with obligatory nods to Steven Spielberg's oeuvre (from Gremlins to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ) and Bay himself (a Bad Boys II poster).
He accomplishes this in myriad ways, most explicitly by prominently placing a poster for Bad Boys II (2003) in Sam’s dorm room, and more subtly (but not really) by citing visuals from his previous films, including a shower of fiery objects taking out buildings in Paris and causing the collapse of a steeple that is taken virtually shot for shot from Armageddon (1998) and later the destruction of an aircraft carrier that is an obvious nod to Pearl Harbor (2001).
Bereft of a fresh idea that might artistically (rather than financially) justify this second installment, the director instead opts for a derivative plan B in which all of his favorite things are indulged to the utmost extreme: a computer-assisted 360-degree pan around a war zone shootout from Bad Boys II ; a cooing lovebird chat underneath the stars from The Rock ; another glimpse of overexposed hottie-du-jour Megan Fox erotically bending over an automobile from the first Transformers movie.
The best comparison for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is Bad Boys II.
In 2003, after years fattening himself on blockbuster box office returns and industry deification, Bay directed “Bad Boys II,” and it was a vast facial blast of overconfident overkill -- a joyless, humorless, bloated carcass of an event movie.
Just ask Jeremiah Chechik and Danny Cannon, the former big shots responsible for The Avengers and Judge Dredd respectively.)
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Fox is very attractive, of course, but she gets little opportunity to do anything but run around and look concerned, and the director’s use of close-ups of her and LaBeouf (especially one near the beginning where he has Ben Seresin’s camera whirling around them as though they were redoing a scene from “Judgment at Nuremberg”) is oppressive.
He accomplishes this in myriad ways, most explicitly by prominently placing a poster for Bad Boys II (2003) in Sam’s dorm room, and more subtly (but not really) by citing visuals from his previous films, including a shower of fiery objects taking out buildings in Paris and causing the collapse of a steeple that is taken virtually shot for shot from Armageddon (1998) and later the destruction of an aircraft carrier that is an obvious nod to Pearl Harbor (2001).
With the exception of the first 20 minutes of the attack sequence in Pearl Harbor, Bay has never understood the concept of spacing, geography, time, planning or execution when it comes to his set pieces.
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz This is hack filmmaker Michael Bay's ("Pearl Harbor"/"Armageddon"/"The Rock") overlong, too loud and absurd sequel to 2007's blockbuster commercial success "Transformers" (that abomination took in $700 million).
There's the prolonged, profoundly gratuitous sinking of an American aircraft carrier, which I can only assume Bay included in the film to punish the nation for declining to make his Pearl Harbor a bigger hit.
There’s even prolonged attention slathered on the sinking of an aircraft carrier, because apparently Pearl Harbor didn’t fully scratch that itch.
And maybe "Revenge of the Fallen" is no worse than any other Bay movie: You probably can't sink much lower after making a piece of pseudo-historical hokum like "Pearl Harbor."
By the time he reaches college, he's turned like Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind , twitching and babbling, writing notes all over the walls and drawing strange symbols.
In 1995, director Michael Bay, untested and hungry, helmed his first feature, the action comedy “Bad Boys.”
"Bad Boys." "The Rock." "Armageddon."
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The script, cobbled together by Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (along with Ehren Kruger), involves a lot of globe-hopping (New York, New Jersey, Washington, Shanghai, Paris, Egypt, Jordan, the Indian Ocean) in an ancient-treasure-hunt plot derived from Raiders of the Lost Ark .
He accomplishes this in myriad ways, most explicitly by prominently placing a poster for Bad Boys II (2003) in Sam’s dorm room, and more subtly (but not really) by citing visuals from his previous films, including a shower of fiery objects taking out buildings in Paris and causing the collapse of a steeple that is taken virtually shot for shot from Armageddon (1998) and later the destruction of an aircraft carrier that is an obvious nod to Pearl Harbor (2001).
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz This is hack filmmaker Michael Bay's ("Pearl Harbor"/"Armageddon"/"The Rock") overlong, too loud and absurd sequel to 2007's blockbuster commercial success "Transformers" (that abomination took in $700 million).
And don’t tell me this is always what he does, because The Rock, Armageddon and even the first Transformers are filled with fun.
"Bad Boys." "The Rock." "Armageddon."