Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Alex O’Loughlin, Columbus Short, Shawn Doyle and Tom Skerritt

Directed by Dominic Sena
Screenplay by Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber

The summer movie season has come to a close. It’s now time to burn off the films that weren’t strong enough for spring or summer, which means it’s September once again. Unfortunately I didn’t want to see ‘Whiteout’ turned into a two-hour mediocre affair, but I did. ‘Whiteout’ by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber is a taught cat-and-mouse thriller set in the remote reaches of the Antarctic. Based on a solid read, it is one of my favorite graphic novels. For everything ‘Whiteout’ the graphic novel is, the film is not. Dominic Sena’s comic-to-film adaptation of ‘Whiteout’ is a painfully dull by-the-numbers thriller.

The first glaring indicator that the film adaptation of ‘Whiteout’ was in jeopardy was when it was pushed back over a year from its original release date. A film being pushed back doesn’t always mean the film will be bad, but it’s usually a telling sign. Some might say another sign ‘Whiteout’ would not be a decent film translation its choice of director: Dominic Sena, who previously directed‘Gone In 60 Seconds’ and ‘Swordfish’, both of which are not stunning films but solid action films.

For any fans of the source material, I will start by saying ‘Whiteout’ the film is not like ‘Whiteout’ the graphic novel. It shares some similarities but it’s not even close to a decent adaptation. The minimalist choices in the graphic novel- that could actually translate very well to film- are omitted. Instead ‘Whiteout’ has become a watered-down, generic murder mystery that feels more like an hour-long CBS crime drama.

The trailer for ‘Whiteout’ is misleading. Let’s just put the notion that there are aliens in this film to rest. The trailer wants audiences with no idea of the source material to think there is a crashed space ship or monsters in the arctic. That’s 100% false. The big reveal of what is hidden in the ice is revealed in the first five minutes of the film in one of many unnecessary flashback sequences. What is in the ice is the wreckage of a crashed WWII Russian cargo plane. What isn’t revealed in the opening sequence is the contents of the cargo plane. That’s part of the mystery.

After a needless opening flashback sequence, ‘Whiteout’ jumps to modern day where we are introduced to our protagonist, U.S. deputy marshal Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale), who is on assignment at a research station in the remote reaches of Antarctica. Beckinsale is a solid actress and a good casting choice for the role of Carrie Stetko, but you know what type of film it’s going to be when our first introduction of her involves an extended scene her undressing from her bulky arctic clothes down to her underwear, culminating in a full on ass shot before she gets into the shower. This scene doesn’t fit tough-as-nails Carrie Stetko, and felt out of place. Kate Beckinsale is a stunning woman, but when she strips down for no real reason (as appreciated as it was) it sets the tone of the film in the wrong way.

For some unknown reason this research station is jam-packed full of people, particularly college intern/ frat guy types that run around streaking in subzero temperatures and wear Hawaiian shirts while brag about drinking aged whisky over million year old ice. There’s no real explanation why Carrie Stetko is stationed there (besides to baby-sit rowdy students) but it’s alluded to that she needed to escape from where she was last stationed. The explanation of why she chose to get away is handled through another clunky use of flashbacks. I’m not opposed to the use of flashbacks as a general rule, but in ‘Whiteout’ they are forced and simply pad out the run time of the film.  Worst of all, they are just cheesy as hell.

When a body is discovered out in the ice and all signs point to it being murder, Carrie Stetko is on the case and has to discover who is behind committing “the first murder in Antarctica.”

There’s a few good plot elements in ‘Whiteout’ that never seem to congeal into a decent film. There’s the threat of the harsh environment, the quest to solve Antarctica’s first murder, the question of what is inside the crashed WW II Russian cargo plane, and the fact that those around Carrie Stetko seem to be harboring secrets (meaning anyone- friend or foe- could be the murderer). There’s lots of stuff for this film to work with, on top of the fact it’s based off of a very strong source material. ‘Whiteout’ sidesteps all of these and just aims to be the worst possible film it can be. It’s a film where characters utter serious dialogue that is actually laugh-out-loud funny to the audience, inconsistencies in the story run amuck, and, in general, is just an unpleasant way to spend two hours.  And I’m a Kate Beckinsale fan.

‘Whiteout’ is another comic-to-screen adaptation in an already oversaturated market of films based off of graphic novels. It’s clear that sometimes something should be left on the page no matter how strong the source material. I highly recommend people to check out ‘Whiteout’ the graphic novel, but I cannot say the same for ‘Whiteout’ the film. It’s a halfhearted attempt at a dark and serious film that comes across feeling more like a generic cable movie-of-the-week with a slightly better talent.

(via:Iheartmovies)

Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Written by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell

Starring - Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, Jason Cope, Sylvaine Strike and Christopher Johnson

The new film ‘District 9’ from filmmaker Neill Blomkamp is one of the most anticipated films of the year, and a film that’s true story has been hidden by a smokescreen of intense viral marketing. The trailers for ‘District 9’ only gave us a glimpse at the alternate reality that Blomkamp was setting up, but never delved into the actual true story. ‘District 9’ is one of the best films of 2009, and possibly one of the best science fiction films of all time. It’s shot in a pseudo-documentary style to set up the world. This is a political action film, but at the core of the narrative, it’s the story of one man’s journey to regain his humanity.

The fiction of ‘Disctrict 9’ is set up in a world where insect-like aliens are the most downtrodden minority race in Johannesburg and are forced to live in the slum-like conditions of the containment area District 9. The aliens known commonly as “The Prawn” arrived over 20 years ago when a massive spaceship entered the earth’s atmosphere and came to a halt over the South African city. The ship hovered there for months without movement or any form of communication from inside the ship. A United Nations group cut their way into the haul of the spaceship, only to find the remnants of a diseased, malnourished and disoriented alien society.

The aliens aboard the massive spaceship are shuttled down by helicopter and are fed and housed in what eventually becomes the alien quarantine zone, District 9. MNU (Multinational United) A multi-conglomerate takes over the supervision of MNU and polices and controls the growing population of District 9, which is located next to Johannesburg. We quickly learn that MNU is also the second largest weapons manufacturer in the world, and their investment in District 9 is a cover for their interest in learning how the alien weaponry work. The catch is the alien weapons won’t work with human biology, and the next stage in the world weapon’s race is cracking these secret of how humans can use these alien weapons.

Blomkamp doesn’t shy away from any analogies of big business being evil or having ulterior motives for helping the aliens. It’s not fully pushed onto the viewer, but themes like this are woven into the film stealthily, and makes for a deeper and far more interesting story than allowing the film to be a just a fake documentary film or even just an action film. MNU could easily represent any big business corporation, but it’s easy to assume it’s also analogous for The United States. Particularly since MNU hires private contractors, which is a far too real parody of the Black Water mercenaries that the United States has hired to help in Iraq.

Under the control of MNU, District 9 becomes nothing more than a heavily policed slum where the aliens are forced to live in squalor. Through the use of various news footage interviews and clips, we witness how the residents of Johannesburg feel having the alien society near their city and what impact it’s had on the residents of Johannesburg. They want the alien relocated away from the city- whatever the cost.

There are many stories to be told in the world of ‘District 9’, but the film focuses on one man, Wikus Van De Merwe. Played by first-time actor Sharlto Copley, who delivers an engaging and compelling performance, Wikus represents the every-man type of character. He’s an MNU office worker that is more ignorant than he is a bigot when it comes to the Prawn.

Wikus is complacent with the treatment of the Prawn being held in what is nothing but a concentration camp, but he draws the line at torture and excessive violence. Beyond that, Wikus is a likeable, be it clumsy and slightly aloof man. He’s a dedicated husband and eager to do his job at MNU to the best of his abilities. Early on in the film through various interviews with people that were close to Wikus, it’s revealed that during the day that he went out to help with the relocation project to move the Prawn to the new quarantine zone District 10, something went horribly wrong.

While out on assignment Wikus is exposed to an alien liquid that starts to change his biology, and eventually he will turn into one of the Prawn. This infection also allows Wikus the curse of being able to use the Prawn weaponry and that makes him the most valued business asset ever.

MNU doesn’t care that he was once a loyal worker, and to make matters worse Wikus’ father-in-law is the head of MNU and is willing to turn his son-in-law into a diced-up science experiment as long as MNU can profit from the alien weapons technology. Wikus becomes a man on the run who is slowly losing his human appearance and most take refuge in the last place anyone would look for him: District 9.

What ensues in the course of two hours is some of the most impressive action filmmaking to be seen all year. Neill Blomkamp, a Johannesburg native, has used the backdrop of Johannesburg to set ‘District 9’. The film is clearly analogues for the apartheid, but Blomkamp never gets to heavy-handed with those themes. Just when the film starts to heavily touch upon those themes, it wisely backs off because Blomkamp knows that ‘District 9’ at its core is still a summer action film.

‘District 9’ is book-ended and interlaced with documentary-style footage, but there are lengthy stretches where the film drops that and shifts into a standard cinematic experience. The documentary footage is used wisely. It helps expand the world of ‘District 9’ and allows the audience to see and experience things that would take far too much time to explore if the story was told in a standard and generic manner. It gives a privy look into the life of Wikus, and his friends and loved ones. These are people are wrought with emotion and the pain not knowing of why Wikus made such a drastic decision. With having no recognizable actors, I never once questioned these interviews with the people from Wikus’ life, or the man-on-the-street interviews with the people of Johannesburg and their sentiments towards the prawn.

Impressively, ‘District 9’ was produced on a budget of $30 million dollars, but looks like and feels like a film made with a $100 million dollar budget. The special effects (CGI and conventional) are stunning, but it never becomes a special effects extravaganza movie where the filmmakers are visually saying, “Look at what kind of crazy stuff we can do with millions of dollars”. From grainy home-video footage shots of the spaceship looming over Johannesburg to the culminating spectacular alien mech vs. mercenaries action set piece. The film’s special effects are impressive, but also understated, accompanying the action and the narrative of the film accordingly. For being an effects-ladened summer film, ‘District 9’ is the subtlest of anything to be released this summer but also the most striking.

The mech sequence was one of the exciting action set pieces I’ve seen in many years. When Wikus gets inside an alien mech suit and unleashes its full alien arsenal on the mercenaries and African warlords that have been perusing him for most of the film was beyond satisfying. Rarely do filmmakers give audiences exactly what they want and then some.

The creature designs of the Prawn are fully unique. The Prawn move fluidly make for some of the most convincing aliens I’ve ever seen on screen. They don’t suffer from the pitfalls that many CGI movie creatures do. These are not overly glossy and pretty creatures. There was also the choice to give the Prawn human-like eyes in order to convey various emotions on the aliens face. Without that it would have been much harder to relate and emphasize with characters like Christopher Johnson.

The alien designs have an extra layer of dirt and crime with an extra coating of ding that makes these slum-dwelling aliens believable and compelling to watch on screen. ‘District 9’ is a perfect example of seamless CGI integration. Films like ‘Transformers’ made us believe that cars and trucks could turn into giant robots, it’s films like ‘District 9’ that makes us believe aliens are real (on screen of course).

It might not end up as one of the highest grossing summer films of 2009. However, ‘District 9’ will be remembered as the most impressive action film of the summer and one of the best films of 2009. With ‘District 9’ Neill Blomkamp has taken his pet project ‘Alive in Joburg’ and turned a six-minute short film into an unforgettable cinematic experience. Blomkamp has shown Hollywood that you don’t need big name stars, big-budget special FX or even traditional film advertising to make an ambitious film. ‘District 9’ doesn’t break the rules of filmmaking, but has certainly raised the bar of filmmaking and will inspire countless other filmmakers to follow in his footsteps. Neill Blomkamp has created an instant classic with ‘District 9’; and in the following years ‘District 9’ will be talked by about with the likes of milestone science fiction films ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Aliens’ and ‘The Matrix’.

(via:iheartmovies)

Directed by Stephen Sommers
Written by Stuart Beattie & David Elliot

Starring: Sienna Miller, Marlon Wayans, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ray Park, Rachel Nichols, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Byung-hun Lee, Karolina Kurkova, Saïd Taghmaoui, Arnold Vosloo and Dennis Quaid

The simple truth of the matter is that I should have known better than to watch this film. I have no one but myself to blame. My morbid curiosity of seeing how a big-screen adaptation of ‘GI.Joe’ would turn out got the best of me. Now I know, and knowing isn’t half the battle; it just deadens you inside. ‘GI.Joe’ is one of the few franchises from my childhood that I hold near-and-dear to my heart as do many others and ‘GI.Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ does fans no favors. After seeing the results of a live-action ‘GI.Joe’ film, I want to go back to happier times. Simpler times. Times when this film was nothing but a rumor talked about in the backrooms of comic conventions and on Internet forums. ‘GI.Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ is a painfully uninspired live-action adaptation of the classic 80’s property that completely ignores the source material and bores audiences with two hours of dull action and cardboard characters.

‘GI.Joe’ was such an amazing and memorable 80’s property because it was set in a rich and flushed-out world. One filled with intriguing characters that you came to care about, admire and occasionally hate. ‘GI.Joe’ was first and foremost about characters, and second about military action with a little bit of ridiculousness thrown into the mix. It had surprisingly intellectual stories that didn’t talk down to kids. It might have been nothing more than a vehicle to sell toys to the children of the 80’s, but it was stealthfully disguised as a Cobra Ninja in the night.

Everything about this film looked bad from the start of its production. ‘GI.Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ was not going to be one of the biggest budgeted summer blockbusters of 2009. It was also being given into the directorial hands of ‘The Mummy’ and ‘Van Helsing’ director, Stephen Sommers.‘GI.Joe’ and ‘Transformers’ were two of the most iconic 80’s properties. ‘Transformers’ was put into the hands of Michael Bay, someone fully skilled to do a big-budget action film with explosions and transforming robots. Say what you will about Michael Bay, but he was someone who wanted to do the ‘Transformers’ film. ‘GI.Joe’ was placed into the hands of Stephen Sommers, someone who has helmed some of the most disposable action films of the last decade. ‘GI.Joe’ should be a memorable film, and this directorial choice was a foreshadowing of how this property was going to be handled.

‘GI.Joe’ would no longer be “The Real American Hero”, but instead an international strike team. Instead of individual and identifiable costumes, the Joes would be outfitted with bland, tight, black body armor, which was unoriginal, and an unenthusiastic creative choice. The casting of the film was budget casting at best. Dennis Quaid, Sienna Miller and Marlon Wayans are the most notable talent attached to this film. When it became clear that the ‘GI.Joe’ film that fans had been eagerly awaiting for years was going to happen, it also became clear that it was going to be put together haphazardly with a blatant lack of attention to the source material. After watching the film, I can honestly say that ‘GI.Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ is one of the most superfluous films of the year, and a slap in the face to fans of the original 80’s series.

Beyond the character names, there is hardly anything in ‘GI.Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ that makes this recognizable as a GI.Joe film. There are a few specific vehicle names and a few minor character names that are tossed out. As with ‘Transformers’ there were a few halfhearted attempts to nod-and-wink to hardcore fans, referencing the original series and characters. In ‘Transformers’, the filmmakers did this appropriately and, say what you will, they created a decent modern adaptation of the 80’s property.

‘GI.Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ does the opposite. They subvert everything the original series was attempting to do and dumb it down; stripping any originality out of it. Visually there are more elements from the ‘Star Wars’ prequels in this film than anything that visually resembles anything familiar to ‘GI.Joe’. If you’re going into this film knowing it’s going to be bad, but still hoping there might be a shred of what made ‘GI.Joe’ fun and cool in the past, you will be sadly disappointed.

Don’t even bother staying through the credits, because there’s nothing bad a terribly remixed version of The Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow.” There could have easily been an updated ‘GI.Joe’ theme put into the credits, or a PSA to play off of that nostalgia of the campy but lovable 80’s ‘GI.Joe’ PSAs. I’d like to know what went behind the creative decision making process that allowed them to force a Black-Eyed Peas song into the credits- it’s almost offensive. A generic song forced into the credits of a generic film. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

There is absolutely nothing in this film for fans of GI.Joe. Every character’s origin story is distorted, and warped into something incoherent and just plain dumb and overly simplistic.

The story in ‘GI.Joe: Rise of Cobra’ is what you would expect. There’s an elite military strike team, but they are not so elite and secretive that the evil organization M.A.R.S doesn’t know the location of their super-secret base. This is a script that is all about getting from one action set piece to the next. This is a film that is also heavily padded out with flashbacks. Way too many flashbacks. If you love pointless flashbacks that heavy-handedly give you a look into the origins of characters, than this film is for you.

The casting of the film feels as unimaginative as the empty character development that the script tries to pull off. The main character, Duke, is played by Channing Tatum; he is once again forced down our throats in Hollywood’s attempt to tell us that we should like this line-mumbling “from-the-streets” actor. Duke’s romantic back-story with The Baroness (Sienna Miller) is forced and nonsensical. I will say that Sienna Miller, while lacking The Baroness’ iconic Russian accent, is one of the best things about this film. She’s not just stunning to look at, but seems to embrace the role, especially the character’s more despicable moments.

Also worth mentioning is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who goes over-the-top with his portrayal of The Doctor/ Cobra Commander. The character’s background is muddled, but at least Joseph Gordon-Levitt runs with the paper-thin material he’s given. The Doctor/ Cobra Commander’s origin is laughable, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives his best Bond-Villain interpretation of the character. It should also be noted that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is not even referred to once in the film as Cobra Commander and is even credited as playing The Doctor. Technically Cobra Commander doesn’t exist in this film.

The rest of the ‘GI.Joe’ team is portrayed adequately, but never rises beyond simply names without interesting back-stories. Snake Eyes (Ray Park) briefly gives us glimpses at what could have been. Snake Eyes is one of the most iconic ‘GI.Joe’ characters created. His rivalry with Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) should be legendary to see unfold on screen, but it feels trite and anticlimactic when we are shown flashback after flashback of how these two ninjas came to be rivals. There is also the very bizarre creative choice to give Snake Eyes rubber lips on his mask. I did a double take before I realized that those lips were molded rubber. It looks silly. Aesthetically it looks like something borrowed from The Power Rangers.

Rachel Nichols pads out the casts required quota of eye-candy as expert marksman, Shana ‘Scarlett’ O’Hara, who also has an obligatory romantic interest in Ripcord (Marlon Wayans). Expectedly, Marlon Wayans panders to the lowest audience common dominator. Ripcord isn’t an interesting character and seems to be only in the film to fill out the “black friend” role

The most seasoned actor of the film is, without question, Dennis Quaid who plays General Hawk. Quaid seems to have forgotten that he’s actually Dennis Quaid, since he resorts to scowling the entire time, and proceeds to shout all of his lines at the camera; like an old man who’s angry at people walking on his lawn. Quaid looks directly into the camera more than once, almost to try and silently signal to the audience “Get me out of here, now.”

There was also the much rumored about cameo of Brendon Fraser in the film. Early reports listed Fraser as playing the classic GI.Joe character Gung-Ho, but sadly those reports were false. Fraser plays Sgt. Stone, technically a classic GI.Joe character, but not one anybody was dying to see on screen. Yet another example of a missed perfect opportunity to give fans of the original series something. Frasier’s cameo was unneeded and altogether pointless. Stephen Sommers should have just given Brendan Fraser ten more minutes of screen-time, so at least they could bill him on the poster.

I have no problem with the characters that were picked to be the GI.Joe team roster. It just would have been much appreciated fan service if the filmmakers found a way to thrown in any cameos of any other recognizable GI.Joe characters, even if it’s something as simplistic as Shipwreck hanging out in the break room yelling at his parrot.

Obviously this is an action film, and I really hate to sound like a disapproving parent, but I was shocked at how gruesome and actually gory this film was. Considering the tone, the level of violence is all over the place and inconsistent. For a PG13 film, there are an awful of Cobra Neo-Vipers getting their eyes gouged out, GI.Joe members getting impaled and Cobra agents melting into piles of goo. These are not even very inventive kill scenes, but since the film feels like a light action film, these harder scenes of violence are surprising.

Hollywood will never make the ‘GI.Joe’ film that I want to see. While I’m OK with that, I’m just disappointed that such a classic and iconic 80’s property was handled so poorly in it’s big-screen translation. The filmmakers took the ‘GI.Joe’ property and picked-and-chose what they wanted and forced those elements into one package. Director Stephen Sommers has once again put his name on another hollow and forgettable action film. One which will most likely garner a big enough box office to receive a even bigger and equally as mindless sequel. People who enjoyed the 80’s version of ‘GI.Joe’ in either comic or cartoon form, will be curious to check out this film and see what’s up. ‘GI.Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ is 118 minutes of sheer boredom and stupidity. I urge people to vote with their wallets and avoid this film.

Directed by Michael Bay
Written by Ehren Kruger & Roberto Orci

Starring - Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Ramon Rodriguez, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, Isabel Lucas and John Turturro 

Fact: If you enjoyed the first ‘Transformers’ film and found it to be a fun summer action film then you will most likely enjoy the sequel ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’. If you hated the first film then the sequel will be one of the most offensive, trite and obnoxious films you will see all year and possibly in this lifetime. With that out of the way let this review commence.

‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ is a summer action movie in the purest sense. It’s not meant to be art; it’s meant to entertain people of all ages and backgrounds. What it attempts to do is provide escapist fun for two-and-half hours. It seeks to make audiences forget about their problems in the real world while they watch giant space robots kick the crap out of one another and revel in CGI robot pornography. And for the most part- ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ does just that.

Picking up two years after the previous film, ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ brings back all the familiar faces of the first film and immediately we are shown where those characters are in life now. Optimus Prime and the Autobots have joined forces with Master Sergeant Epps (Tyrese) and Major Lennox (Josh Duhamel) who lead the newly formed military faction NEST. With the help of the Autobots, NEST hunts down rogue Decepticons that are still in hiding and flush them out. 

The Autobot team has several new additions to its roster since the first film. Jolt (a Chevrolet Volt), Sideswipe (a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Concept car), Arcee (a hive mind set of three Japanese motorcycles) and the now infamous Skids and Mudflap (each is a Chevrolet Beat). Combining with the Autobots from the first film, this is the new team of Autobots that is responsible for defending Earth.

Our protagonist from the first film Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) has graduated from high school and is about to leave sunny California to attend college in Philadelphia. He’s faced with many things to take care of before he heads east. Mainly, how to not lose his super-hot girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox), and what to do about the alien robot that lives in his garage and watches over his family.

Sam’s parents, Ron and Judy Witwicky (Kevin Dunn and Julie White) are now aware of the alien living in their garage and sworn to secrecy by the United State government. (It almost goes without saying that Kevin Dunn and Julie White as Sam’s parents were easily one of the best things about the first film and they are a major standout of this one).

Sam and Mikaela have officially become a couple since the first film (and, let’s face it, thwarting a robot alien invasion is just about the best “How we met” couple story ever.) Unfortunately Mikaela’s father is fresh out of prison so while Sam heads out to college, she has to stay in California and help her father with the family business. Much to no one’s surprise, while packing his clothes for college Sam takes out his sweatshirt from the first movie that he keeps as a keepsake of the event and it just so happens a sliver of the All-Spark cube had latched onto it.
The plot setup for ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ is paper-thin, as should be the plot setup for any ‘Transformers’ film. As stated early on in this review, this is a movie franchise based off of an 80’s toy line, and don’t expect this to ever be something it’s not. The plot of this film gives enough basis and justification to start a chain-reaction of plot device events that are needed to get certain characters into place throughout the film

Michael Bay goes so far as to blatantly disregard geography in order to advance the story. One scene in particular features Sam, Mikaela, Agent Simmons and Leo awakening the ancient Transformers Jetfire at the Smithsonian Air & Space museum. Once Jetfire is awakened and Transformers from his alternate mode of being an SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, he bursts through a pair of hanger doors and immediately all of our characters are in The Boneyard, a airplane retirement depot at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. 
This marks the first appearance in the franchise of fan-favorite Decepticon character, Soundwave who is an orbiting satellite in the film (and not a giant boom box as he first appeared in the 80’s TV series). Soundwave might be a point of contention for hardcore fans, but his role in the film is in line with the character of Soundwave. Let’s face it; a giant boom box would look outdated and completely absurd if it entered the fray.

Also making their first appearance are the Constructicons. A group of Deceptions that appear as construction vehicles that eventually combines into the monstrous robot colossus  Devastator. The Constructicons are incredibly interesting to see onscreen since they do not have conventional robot forms like the majority of the Transformers do. The look awkward and gangly but truly keep up to the idea of being robots in disguise. The biggest problem with the Constructicons being introduced in the this film is that they have no individual personalities and only serve as a way to introduce their combined mode of  Devastator.

While there are only a few new Autobots that make their debut in this film, there are many Decepitons that make their first appearance in ‘Revenge of the Fallen’. There are needless other Decepticons introduced in the film, in fact so many are being thrown at the audience by the end of the film it’s hard to keep track of who any of them are. Their basic purpose is for cannon fodder in the climatic battle at the end of the film.

There is a lot going on in this film. It’s frantic and even chaotic at times. This never lessened my enjoyment of the film. The biggest problem with this film that universally everyone will agree about is the twins, Skids and Mudflap.
While audiences of all kinds seem to be eating up everything about the twins, I feel that they’re one watermelon-patch joke away from being an Amos and Andy parody. One character has a gold tooth and both admit they can’t read. Every line of dialogue uttered by these two characters is cringe-worthy. Undoubtedly Skids and Mudflap were created by some marketing person who thought these two characters would score with the urban demographic and, sadly, they seem to be right. It definitely wasn’t the most responsible creative choice to include these characters as any relating jokes pander to the lowest common denominator. These characters don’t serve or impact the story by any means whatsoever. They are forced into the story for comedic effect, which was lost on me. Yet audiences aren’t the ones wanting someone’s head on a spike for their creation- it’s the reviewers. For me, Skids and Mudflap were embarrassing additions to the Autobot roster but they sure as hell will sell a lot of action figures.

Another noticeable problem with ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ is it’s unnecessarily long. Although I enjoyed almost every minute of the massive amounts of explosions, robot CGI shots and the now signature Michael Bayshowcasing of military hardware shots, it’s perfectly understandable that casual fans of the ‘Transformers’ franchise might have a problem with the length.

You may think that with all that I’ve mentioned about this film that I walked out of ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ annoyed with the little things, but that’s not the case. ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ isn’t superior to the first film in regards to the plot, but it’s a worthy follow-up and exceeds the first film when it comes to big action set pieces. This film is packed with so many Transformers that you can’t keep track of them. While some character development for certain Autobots and Decepticon characters would have been nice, I loved the amount of new characters that are thrown on screen even if they weren’t named or given a backstory. Michael Bay is pulling new Transformers designs out of the toy box and throwing them at the audience left and right. Every time a new Transformers character makes their appearance I just want to see more of them.

The action is also amped-up considerably from the first film. Optimus Prime gets a chance to a shine as even more of a badass in this film as he slices-and-dices his way through waves of Decepticon baddies. One of the best scenes of the film features Optimus rolling out of the back of a C1-30 cargo plane and transforming midair before he tackles a rampaging Constructicon. It was a scene that made the fanboy inside me squeal with glee. There are many scenes like this in ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ and that’s exactly the type of entertainment I would want out of a Transformers sequel.

I’m not a devoted Michael Bay fan, but I am a fan of his films (‘Bad Boys 2’ being the glaring exception). Sometimes I’m a Michael Bay apologist but not in the case of the ‘Transformers’ series.This is a franchise that is meant to be big, loud, hyper-realistic and in your face with action and style. ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ is a flawed film where geography and continuity are concerned, but these things never lessened my enjoyment of the film. The simple truth is that ‘Transformers’ movies will never be what hardcore fans want them to be. They will also never make the ‘Transformers’ movie as hardcore as fans might want. I am perfectly okay with that the ‘Transformers’ movie franchise is in its current incarnation. ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ doesn’t exceed at being the best summer movie this year, but it is a film you will have a lot of fun with.

(via:iheartmovies)