Transformers 2: So Insane, IT ROCKS!

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen has been receiving bad reviews from big critics since the first day it was shown. I didn’t give a damn on their reviews because I loved the movie, I watched it twice. If there’s a word to describe it, it’s INSANE.

If you watch Michael Bay movies, you’ll know how explosive the movie can get. This one has a lot of it. ROTF begins 2 years after the battle in Transformers 1. Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) is entering college and have to leave her hot girlfriend, Mikaela (Megan Fox) and Bamblebee at home. But the thought that they can get back to their normal life is immediately broken after a warning that the Fallen is coming.

From start, the film is already crazy. Ginormous decepticons, cool new autobots, little transformers, quarreling crazy parents, humping dogs and wherever you look is already catastrophic. Then at the middle, the main players are battling, car chases, fake humans, explosions, foxy Megan Fox, screaming Shia. I can go on and on until I spoil everything here, so I’ll shut up and end this review.

Optimus Prime is the newest Chuck Norris!

But no, I will not stop yakking! Transformers 2 is a movie that’s like every scene is a climax and the only time you rest your eyes is when you look at Megan Fox to admire her. I laughed with every witty lines they dropped, from the ghetto twin robots to the cracked parents. The lead characters here are the Transformers and the actors here are merely supporting roles. What’s even great with this film, you don’t have to be smart to watch this. All you have to do is sit back and feel that you’re in the warzone.

Megan Fox, what a relief.

The plot is predictable and that what pisses off the major critics. But for me, that’s what I sometimes look for in a movie. I get the most of the entertainment factor than thinking of what’s coming next. That’s what movie should be on the first place. Michael Bay did what he do best, make use of all the elements for a great movie and forget what others say. That’s the real artist. From sounds to visuals, everything is remarkable. What Bay did here is to make the audience feel that they are part of the movie. Entertainment factor is over the top and I can watch it over and over again because I don’t need a brain to see it. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is all about movie experience.

If you want to experience war, you better see this.

Ratings:

• Visuals: 5 out of 5 stars
• Intellect: 3 out of 5 stars
• Plot: 3 out of 5 stars

Blood sucks? Not really.

The first time I saw the full trailer of Blood: The Last Vampire (Live Action) I knew already that it would be crappy. You know why? It was too flashy for a trailer. Most shitty movies usually put all their best clips in a more than a minute cinematic trailer (like cheap slasher movies and most of our mainstream local movies) and you will realize that the whole movie is already in the trailer. But I think I judged the film too much on the trailer.

Blood: The Last Vampire is an adaptation of an animé of the same title. The film features Saya, a half human-half vampire who hunts other full-blood vampires. She’s like Blade, a daywalker, not a vegetarian, doesn’t glitter like Edward Cullen and she’s Japanese (played by Gianna Jun, a Korean). Saya is a tough kickass vampire with her samurai which Edward Cullen can’t do because she only kill girls with his looks and bad hairdo.

The movie is a one big mess. How will you make a 40-minute animé into a full-length 2-hour live-action film? It’s this way. Let’s stick how it began and ended in the animation and tweak it a little bit. Now, you already made a 50-minute film. No, it won’t make the cut. Let’s change the characters a bit, the setting, and add what-happened-in-between-to-make-the-movie-more-understandable parts. Yay, you now have a 1-hour movie… which is good for TV release only. Let’s add the tale of her origins; who taught her to fight, did she fell in love, whatever. Hurrah, you made an 80-minute film! You’re close. Add slow-motions to the fight scenes and add all the unnecessary visual effects to make it longer. Then, you watch it and you’re assistant said, “Sir, I think we only made a mess”. But you as the filmmaker spoke in firm tone, “Just serve it to them, we don’t have budget left.”

I don’t say the movie is totally bad. It’s just messy. CGI-bloodspills during the fight scenes are really unnecessary. It’s like 300, you can see the blood spilling everywhere but you won’t see the characters get stained. Yes, the CGI is bad, really bad. The CGI monsters are also awfully done. I know that monsters are supposed to be ugly, but not plainly ugly.

So far, what I like in the movie are the fight sequences. The fights are really amazing (without the ugly CGI bloodspills). Imagine Saya, our half-vampire heroine against hundreds of vampires and her foster father against dozens of ninjas coming out of nowhere. The plot is half-baked and if developed, it could have been great.

Overall, I underestimated the film too much. It’s not bad. It’s just a mess, but if they’ve reduced and put things in the right place it would be better.

Ratings:

• Visuals: 2 out of 5 stars
• Intellect: 3 out of 5 stars
• Plot: 3 out of 5 stars