Hayfax_Jo

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - is it a bone fide hit in the making or a load of noisy old rubbish? Well, it's both, quite probably. Having not seen the first film I hoped there would be a sufficient introduction to get me into the Transformers world, but I don't think the filmmakers could really be bothered as it would have got in the way of whatever explosion happened to be going on at the time. Now, don't get me wrong, explosions are lovely and all, but there was so little by the way of character exploration in this that in no way did you care about any of the protagonists; the almost complete lack of plot didn't help much, either. Well, I say there was no plot - there may have been but I can't be certain because my eyes started to bleed and then I fell asleep.

So, what was good about the movie? Well, Shia was likable in the lead role, Megan was always watchable (although I couldn't tell you what her acting was like), there were a few scenes with Sam's parents that were entertaining, much (although not all) of the effects work was effective but that was about it, I think, because come the end, I still wasn't sure exactly which of the robots were goodies or why I should care. Oh well.

As it is, I think they missed a trick with this one; had they cut down on the swearing a bit they'd have made a PG rating rather than 12A/PG13 and so their prime constituent of eight year old boys could have had a field day without having to drag their poor parents along. And, as I sat there with my low expectations I thought, "this really IS just like a Saturday morning cartoon" and so on that basis it was just about tolerable, which is especially odd because I was bored stupid by this kind of mindless cartoon as a kid.

All in all, then, I'd say skip this and go watch Star Trek instead. However, if your only demands are to watch large robots fighting for your gratification towards an ill-defined but doubtless noble cause, then this is the movie for you.

As someone with a longstanding fondness for most things Trek (I've seen most of the movies and quite a few of the shows), I have to say that JJ & Co did a fine job with this picture; the character dynamics were broadly satisfying, the action scenes entertaining and the set pieces well put together. Most of all I was impressed with the lightness of touch of the whole venture - it would be very easy to criticise the picture for making what could be considered significant changes to certain parts of Trek lore, but given that the changes were accomplished with such comfort and confidence makes them, in my view, perfectly acceptable.

With regards to the acting characterisation, everyone was pretty much solid, with perhaps the exception of Sulu, who I thought didn't have much to do. Kudos, though, to Zoe Saldana's loveliness as Uhura and also, especially, to Chris Pine as Kirk - I had always thought Spock was my favourite character, but it looks like I may have to reassess; Pine lives and breathes that Kirk moxie exquisitely and he'll be great fun to watch in future instalments.

With regards to plot, it's pretty good; there is a decent sense of internal logic to it, without it being too overwrought. True, there are a number of points where you might think, "Blimey, that's serendipitous," but as I'd already suspended my disbelief to accept the possibility of time travelling green-blooded alien from the planet Vulcan, these things really didn't bother me at all. Plus there were a number of points in the movie where they were saying, "We were pulling this kind of shtick 20+ years ago, and you loved it then; run with us on this one," and I was happy to.

Oh, and most importantly of all, the movie is fun; it has the good sense to not take itself too seriously, despite remaining well aware of that sense of pomp and importance that all great character dramas should have, and that isn't a bad thing at all.

How this movie will bear up to repeat viewings, I'm not certain yet, but at the premiere, it was a blast.

Addendum: It's a month plus since I originally wrote this and I have seen the film three times in total now - the opening ten minutes remain a manipulative marvel that the remainder of the film struggles to match, the coincidences and conveniences seem even more far fetched than ever and the jokes seem even more silly BUT I still fancy seeing it again, so I guess it must work for me.

Okay, I've not seen either of the first two Rush Hour films, so don't have that direct yardstick to compare them to, but I have seen a good number of action comedies over the years and this one added absolutely nothing; in fact, it was damned close to reducing my enjoyment of the whole genre. Why? Well, aside from the lack of originality, there was nothing to keep you interested in these characters - Jackie Chan's was a mere cipher, which is kind of okay in this kind of film if the plot makes up for it, which it didn't here, but worse of all, Chris Tucker's was just a dick, a total moron, and not even an endearing one - he didn't have the moves, and neither did Jackie, so what was the point? Now, if the movie had been shot well, so you could appreciate the artistry of some of the action, that too would have been a redeeming feature, but it was all too fake and uninvolving. In summary, the movie was mind-numbing and not fun to watch. And I had wanted to really like it, too; I just couldn't.

H_J