“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” — 2.5 out of 5 stars for action
Ty Hampton
Critic’s Corner
Hoards of non-biological alien robots duke it out with planet Earth as their battleground for the second time in two years as “Revenge of the Fallen” definitely stuns the eye but also numbs the brain with little to offer in the way of a memorable storyline.
After the evil Decepticons fled Earth after their defeat in the first film, they have re-grouped and returned with force to reclaim their fallen leader Megatron. The peaceful human-loving Autobots have found their place aiding the United States military, but are weary of their nemesis return, calling friend Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) away from his first week at college to join the fight and help them once more. Sam just may unknowingly hold the key to this age old battle as the war is brought to his doorstep whether he likes it or not.
First of all, I have to say that just seeing “Transformers” on the big screen has a surreal sort of nostalgic effect with me, as I’m sure it does with others of my generation. I can appreciate and enjoy the film despite it’s obvious shortfalls, because it’s like I’m watching Saturday morning cartoons again — except on a much larger screen, with far better effects, and Optimus Prime is far more of a badass.
But nonetheless this is a typical Michael Bay action film, and these days, that’s a bit of an insult in the film industry. The filmmaker directed the first Transformers installment in 2007 (as well as earlier memorable hits “The Rock”, “Bad Boys I and II”, and “Armageddon”) and the idea was fresh and played like a straight-on thrillride with all the special effects in the world. It rode CGI effects to success and the origins of the Transformers tale was enough to pass for a good action film. Somewhere along the line that whole gig ran out of gas here though.
This movie will get no respect from the film world other than being a big budget, explosion-packed action film — and that’s all it deserves. It’s not as much a film that tells a story as much as it is a movie that displays all the mechanical advancements in film CGI technology over the years and what we’re now capable. Other than that, it’s pretty much a brainless experiment with enough cheesy comedic one liners and PG-13 sexual stereotypes to put the Megan Fox fascinated teen audience in the seats and keep them there.
Oh yes, she is beautiful. Beautiful but talentless in acting when it comes to anything but wearing tons of lip gloss and running from large fictional robots on a green screen backdrop.
The plot really didn’t expand from the first film — and the first movie was not bad — making it an obvious desperate sequel with not much to say other than “Kaaaabooooom!” Plus any message in the film is somewhat unclear, other than a hint of half-hearted patriotism.
The main man responsible for this traincrash of a story is screenwriter Roberto Orci who created the first “Transformers” film screenplay. Turns out he has become quite notorious for writing scripts for remakes and sequels as he wrote screenplays for the likes of the new “Star Trek” as well as “Mission Impossible III”, “The Legend of Zorro”, and ... what the? “Xena: The Warrior Princess”? How does this man still have a job after that?
As far as acting goes Shia is a decent fit for the role but plays everything a little too cutesy for me. You’re not making Disney films anymore buddy, grow up. Then there’s Megan Fox playing Sam’s rebel hottie girlfriend whose greatest acting accomplishment was maintaining enough cleavage and perfect hair at all times, no matter how many explosions are going off all around her.
The best actor choices were Hugo Weaving (yes the main elf in “Lord of the Rings” and villain of “The Matrix” series) as the voice of Megatron and John Turturro as the eccentric former secret service guy whose gotten his wires a little fried working on his alien robot conspiracy theories. Nobody plays crazy like Turturro, and he’s really the only legit actor on the cast.
None of the other supporting roles are worth mentioning because they were either robots or terrible actors.
This sort of special effects dominated cinema clearly has a draw with the masses though, as it pulled $16 million nationwide on opening night — which was a Wednesday. Hump day, of all the days to pull that feat off. A bit frustrating considering the legions of far better films that would never see that kind of number.
Not only that, but Bay seems to be selling out in other ways these days as sexed up this movie more than anybody would ever dare. There were more bimbos, sex jokes, and sexual references in this movie than I’m sure most Optimus Prime fans had witnessed in their entire life. What about a movie oriented around giant robots and explosions also says “make me sexy”? Plus there’s a lot of really young kids in that theater this summer who probably don’t need all the crude and sexual stuff in this one.
Bay you gone and lost yo mind bro. There’s really just too much going on here — cinematic overload. It’s a bit of a mess to be honest.
One other drawback is its 150 minutes in length and two and a half hours of robots fighting and people running gets old by the end. Plus the On pure entertainment value — since after all, it’s an action flick — and my childhood love for Transformers, I’m going to give it 2.5 out of 5 stars and that may be generous.
“Revenge of the Fallen” is rated PG-13 for brief drug material, intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, crude and sexual material and language. It’s showing at 3:45, 6:45, and 9:30 p.m. nightly at the Showboat Cinema 2 in Polson.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
A ‘Hangover’ never felt so good
Ty Hampton
Critic’s Corner
“The Hangover” — 3.5 out of 5 stars for comedy
They should’ve just named this movie Murphy’s Law because everything that could have gone wrong for these poor four guys went wrong, and then some. However, the only symptoms you’ll suffer from with this “Hangover” are a possible laughter-induced belly ache.
Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married in 48 hours so he and his three buddies Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) embark on bachelor’s party trip to Las Vegas. Things start out as planned but when Alan slips them all rufies in a toast drink instead of ecstasy, the drunken debauchery leads to evening that none of them will soon remember.
The three groomsmen awake to find a bengal tiger in their bathroom, a crying baby in the closet, and absolutely no sign of the whereabouts of their best buddy and groom-to-be, Doug. Hilarious other hyjinks such as hanging out with Iron Mike Tyson, stealing a cop car, accidentally marrying a stripper, and getting in deep with the asian mafia all ensue before this one is over.
Director Todd Phillips (“Old School”, “Starsky & Hutch”, and “Road Trip”) and the same writing team of Jon Lucas and Scott Moore who put together last year’s hilarious holiday comedy “Four Christmases”, have all struck again with an off-the-wall Vegas farce that puts to shame even the craziest of drunken Las Vegas stories.
To give the guy credit, Phillips actually matured some since his last major hit “Old School”, of course not in subject matter, but in the gritty shooting fashion he used to set this film apart from your standard comedy. I’d compare the shooting style to that of “Pineapple Express” or “Hot Fuzz” — both good film company to keep.
The big four actors were also a great team in this one, seeing as none of them are big enough stars to carry the load alone. Galifianakis (“Out Cold”) was the hilarious bearded screwball as usual but Helms (“The Office”) added a tender, genuine guy role to the lineup that was necessary amongst the rest of this motley crue.
Plus, Helms does a brief musical interlude on the piano before the third act begins which was probably the most random, spot-on humor in the entire hour and forty minutes.
The movie starts out a bit slow, dragging for the first 20 minutes or so like your typical bachelor’s party flick, but picks up speed fast as everything starts to go off the deep end and before you know it — Doug is gone. The three then are forced to play detective and retrace their steps in order to find their friend alive and in time for the wedding which is looking more and more unlikely.
This is real “dude” humor and, as has been the trend lately, “dude” humor means get ready for some extreme “cringe.” Plus, with a subject matter as such, what other way are you going to go? Still I can’t give a cringe, gross-out humor driven comedy four stars, much less five — so I have to give this one 3.5 stars because it was still pretty darn ridiculously funny.
This movie is rated R for some drug material, pervasive language, sexual content and nudity. It is showing at 4, 7:15, and 9:15 p.m. nightly at the Showboat 2 Cinema in downtown Polson.
Critic’s Corner
“The Hangover” — 3.5 out of 5 stars for comedy
They should’ve just named this movie Murphy’s Law because everything that could have gone wrong for these poor four guys went wrong, and then some. However, the only symptoms you’ll suffer from with this “Hangover” are a possible laughter-induced belly ache.
Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married in 48 hours so he and his three buddies Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) embark on bachelor’s party trip to Las Vegas. Things start out as planned but when Alan slips them all rufies in a toast drink instead of ecstasy, the drunken debauchery leads to evening that none of them will soon remember.
The three groomsmen awake to find a bengal tiger in their bathroom, a crying baby in the closet, and absolutely no sign of the whereabouts of their best buddy and groom-to-be, Doug. Hilarious other hyjinks such as hanging out with Iron Mike Tyson, stealing a cop car, accidentally marrying a stripper, and getting in deep with the asian mafia all ensue before this one is over.
Director Todd Phillips (“Old School”, “Starsky & Hutch”, and “Road Trip”) and the same writing team of Jon Lucas and Scott Moore who put together last year’s hilarious holiday comedy “Four Christmases”, have all struck again with an off-the-wall Vegas farce that puts to shame even the craziest of drunken Las Vegas stories.
To give the guy credit, Phillips actually matured some since his last major hit “Old School”, of course not in subject matter, but in the gritty shooting fashion he used to set this film apart from your standard comedy. I’d compare the shooting style to that of “Pineapple Express” or “Hot Fuzz” — both good film company to keep.
The big four actors were also a great team in this one, seeing as none of them are big enough stars to carry the load alone. Galifianakis (“Out Cold”) was the hilarious bearded screwball as usual but Helms (“The Office”) added a tender, genuine guy role to the lineup that was necessary amongst the rest of this motley crue.
Plus, Helms does a brief musical interlude on the piano before the third act begins which was probably the most random, spot-on humor in the entire hour and forty minutes.
The movie starts out a bit slow, dragging for the first 20 minutes or so like your typical bachelor’s party flick, but picks up speed fast as everything starts to go off the deep end and before you know it — Doug is gone. The three then are forced to play detective and retrace their steps in order to find their friend alive and in time for the wedding which is looking more and more unlikely.
This is real “dude” humor and, as has been the trend lately, “dude” humor means get ready for some extreme “cringe.” Plus, with a subject matter as such, what other way are you going to go? Still I can’t give a cringe, gross-out humor driven comedy four stars, much less five — so I have to give this one 3.5 stars because it was still pretty darn ridiculously funny.
This movie is rated R for some drug material, pervasive language, sexual content and nudity. It is showing at 4, 7:15, and 9:15 p.m. nightly at the Showboat 2 Cinema in downtown Polson.
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