The Verdict: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

So after waiting and following all of its production for almost an entire year, I finally saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen this morning at 12:01 AM! This movie is the perfect summer film and an awesome follow up to the 2007 Transformers blockbuster. If you didn't already know this movie is two hours and thirty minutes long and they have managed to pack a lot in this time frame. There are explosions, special effects, more robots, beautiful girls (yes there is temporarily someone other than Megan Fox), sleek looking cars including the new supercharged Camaro and concept Stingray Corvette, and there's a decent story as well. This time around we begin two years after the events of the last film and Sam Witwicky aka Shia LaBeouf is going to college. He decides he is ready to live a normal life and decides not to bring his Autobot guardian Bumblee to college. He is also forced to leave behind his girlfriend Mikaela aka Megan Fox who once again is the eye candy for movie. Without giving too much of the story away Sam goes to college and soon becomes wrapped up in a conflict involving the Autobots, Decepticons, and the Earth. He has something in him which ultimately makes him the main focus of the movie. I liked the story a lot, it was a good continuation from the last movie. Being a long movie though the story does tend to drag during the middle of the movie and things don't flow consistently. I would say the first hour is awesome and has a great pace, then the second hour or so is when things begin to drag. There are a lot of plot developments which carry on for too long, you begin to lose interest for a bit but then the last thirty minutes kick in and it's a race to the finish. Surprisingly the movie was actually pretty funny, many new characters contributed in a big way. Whether it was Sam's mom getting high at college, Sam's college roommate Leo Spitz aka Ramon Rodriguez screaming in fear, or the two new Autobot twins Mudflap and Skid speaking gangster slang, the movie has a lot of laughs. Speaking of new characters there a lot of new additions, both human and machine. A disappointing point in the movie though was there were a slew of new characters but you barely get to see them throughout the movie. The special effects are superb the best I think in any movie. The action in this film is amazing, easily ten times better than what was shown in the last film. Another disappointment though was some of the battle scene were a little too short and anti climatic, some robots should have put up more of a fight than they did, even the final battle was rushed. All these minor problems aside, go see this movie, it'll be one the best times you've had at the theaters all year. I plan on seeing it again in Imax in the next couple of weeks, my brother saw it and said it was awesome. I give Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 5 out of 5 *'s. <('.'<)