I went to see Transformers II. I thought it was great. It has all the action and power you’d expect; cool robots; a charming Shai, a foxy Mefan, and that’s that. For most people that’s enough, but not for the general reviewer.
I dispute the general over-the-top negative reviewing of Transformers II because it’s wholly exaggerated and in doing so loses its credibility. The fact is that 90% of action films have a sub-standard plot, with the other 10% having a plot that’s either dire beyond belief (see Star Wars Episode II) or extremely clever and engaging (e.g. the Matrix). Transformers II is in this middle section.
Now my point in case is, why all the kill-me-now-its-so-bad reviewing of this film when it’s as good as 90% of all action films ever made. Just because there’s been a small handful of action films with a very good plot or that step outside their genre, surely it’s not an accurate judegment to judge Transformers against this small minority and not the entire body of the genre. In an equality reviewing, it would be fair to say that Transformers II is very enjoyable, but not quite out there amazing. When a film is not spectacularly amazing, this does not make it automatically really really really bad. There’s a vast continuum between “that was amazing” and “the worst film i’ve seen ever”. Reviewers of this film need to learn about this continuum.
So forget about the drama. If you like transformers, if you like action films, and you’re happy with 80% from a film and not 45785421634546444%, then you’ll love Transformers II.
It was too long. Pure and simple. Other action films, if they’re particularly bad, don’t generally last 140 minutes.
Personally, I hated it and I’m not just saying that because it’s apparently the popular thing to do. I felt stupid watching it and angry to have wasted money on a ticket for me and my friends. After a full forty minutes in, I actually felt the need to text someone from the cinema (which is a first for me given that I usually hate people who do it) and the gist of it went “I think Transformers 2 is giving me brain damage”.
It’s not in my “general reviewer” nature to give “general over-the-top negative reviewing” but I couldn’t appreciate anything other than the effort in keeping the CGI pretty.
I haven’t hated a movie so much since the first Transformers. I wasn’t expecting 45785421634546444% or something placed favorably in the broken scale between Star Wars: Episode II and the first Matrix. Maybe I didn’t enjoy it because I’m not mentally retarded. You know a movie is too long after I found out that there are 235 ceiling tiles in screen seven of the Galway Omniplex cinema.
For more from proper general reviewers, check Roger Ebert’s blog or the following link: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/24/transformers.reviews/index.html