Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Transformers ROTF Trashed By Critics

Probably to the surprise of no one, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is getting trashed by critics judging by the summaries and results over at Rotten Tomatoes. Currently the ratings show a top critics rating of 23% (out of 100), T-Meter critics rating of 29%, and RT community (site users) of 68%. Comparing that to the first Transformers movie which has a top critics rating of 68%, T-Meter of 57%, audience rating of 68% it seems to sequel is suffering.

These results however are not definitive. The only number (besides money) that really matters to Paramount and Bay is the audience number. Word of mouth alone made Star Trek the current US top dog and Hangover a smashing success. This year it seems, as people watch what they spend their money on, they are paying a lot more attention to what friends say about a movie then a critic and judging by the audience score, things are looking good for the movie and this is before the world wide audience gets a chance to weigh in.

Below is a sampling from a few reviews. The consensus seems to be confusing plot, poor dialog, too long, too loud, and too many robots and confusion sequences. I hear that from critics and my mind goes "perfect summer popcorn movie!"

Chicago Tribue (1.5 stars)
Nobody's looking for anything other than relentless, brainless action from this sort of movie, but Bay, whose best junk came early with "Bad Boys" and " The Rock," offers nothing but visual and aural chaos. Your eye instinctively flees to the far corners of the screen for some relief from the computer-generated mayhem.
USA Today
Bigger, louder, longer and more metallic is definitely not better. Where the first movie was a happy surprise, a comedy with engaging characters and spectacular action-filled escapades, the sequel lacks wit, charm, subtlety, restraint, humanity and clever dialogue. It has loads of spectacle but no soul. Though there are more special effects and new ways for machines to turn into 'bots, the story seems as if it's about to end at least three times.

Entertainment Weekly
(B)
Revenge of the Fallen has a number of dead spots, but every time the movie hits one, you can sit back in eager, childish anticipation of the next feat of industrial whirligig diversion. Revenge of the Fallen is slovenly, bombastic, overly busy, and — at two hours and 29 minutes — far too long. Each of these creature-gizmos has a marvelous, organic fluidity — they don't just move, they clank and roll. And it was an inspired touch to set the film's most ferocious battle amid the Pyramids, featuring a Decepticon so humungous it just about waddles with power. Revenge of the Fallen may be a massive overdose of popcorn greased with motor oil. But it knows how to feed your inner 10-year-old's appetite for destruction.
Roger Ebert
If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination. The plot is incomprehensible. The dialog of the Autobots, Deceptibots and Otherbots is meaningless word flap. The human actors are in a witless sitcom part of the time, and lot of the rest of their time is spent running in slo-mo away from explosions, although--hello!--you can't outrun an explosion. The battle scenes are bewildering.

23 comments:

  1. screw the critics they don't know shit!

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  2. Difinitely no surprise there...Like the first, i'm sure the movie will be a hit nevertheless.

    Oh, and by the way? All of the 'bootleg clips' have been removed.

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  3. awww...........WHO THE HECK CARES ANYWAY?!! critics are just people who get paid to trash movies. im with michael bay on this one. "critics? come'on."

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  4. let us all not forget the movies these "critics" like...the reader...the notebook...driving miss daisy...crap no one watches. that's why there's an mtv movie awards...something fans vote on and like. they're just pissed cause tranformers will dominate yet again. one shall stand...the critics will fall

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  5. you know what? i read some of the reviews fully, and i gotta say, they're dumb. they only criticize the movie only, without tying it to the sequels. they dont know anything about transformers, especially roger ebert. they really have to learn from the first movie, then tie it with this movie, then it will all make sense to them. come'on.

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  6. What a surprise...I went to see it on Sunday (IMAX - the best way) and you know what? I see why critics don't like it, but I enjoyed it!

    This is the big problem with critics; they cannot enjoy anything at all. Everything in their minds is clogged up with so much theory and academic studies that they theorise, dissect, examine and devour every film to death (I took Media Studies and I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would :/). Their 'studies' influence their opinion so much that they don't know how to enjoy something.

    Anyway, you shouldn't be influenced by 'critics'. If you want to go see a film, go and see it! Let nobody else tell you different!

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  7. Of course the critics trashed it. They have their heads so far up their asses, they can't see the movie for what it is. A summer blockbuster, a popcorn action flick. It's not the goddamn notebook, it's transformers. If it didn't have giant fucking robots blowing shit up, no one would go see it. Screw the critics. I should be a critic, so I can give the movie a 100% rating!

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  8. Constructicons combining to form Devastator...!

    Hurry before it´s deleted from youtube...!!


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0adE_G_v3N4

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  9. I do recall that Ebert was one of the douchebag critics that gave Forest Gump thumbs down....Yeah.. they REALLY know movies. Give me a break.

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  10. You can watch the movie on one of the links from the 5 youtube clips that were taken away. I have watched a bit of it and it looks awesome..i wanna wait for the theater...but look for the last post in the comment section on this site from the 5 youtube links that were taken away

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  11. Gah, the douchebag critics make my head hurt. The purpose of a critic is SUPPOSED to be someone who lets you know the basic idea of a movie for the purpose of letting you decide if it's something you want to see. Not to just spew self-important hate speech so that they can feel like they're intelligent because they didn't like the "non-cerebral" flick about giant fucking robots!

    No one ever claimed that this was going to be some little artsy movie, it's a summer blam-fest! Anyone who doesn't like movies like that already knows they're not going to see it, so why do we have to hear the holier-than-thou spewings of the intellectual critics like Roger Ebert.

    A film should be judged only by its peers - by which I mean those critics that might be inclined to see this type of film anyway. I do film critiquing on occasion, but I won't write about artsy movies because I know I'm going to hate it and I know I won't be able to say anything good about it. So why would it be fair for me to review The Reader when I know I'll hate it from the outset?

    Sorry about the rant but these people make me so mad! I can't wait to see this movie, I'm salavating!!

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  12. who cares what this critics says.....if your a fan! your a fan!......revenge of the fallen rocks!.......every mall here in the philippines which has 12 or 14 cinemas has 8 spots reserved for revenge.......and i got my ticket already watching it tonight!....wohoooooo!

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  13. Oh jeez stop getting so pissy over what the consensus is saying about the film. It will make money which is all Bay cares about but for the most part people are leaving feeling disappointed from the sounds of it.

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  14. Almost everybody here in Malaysia is a fan of Transformers, heck even there is a competition spend abt $12 dollars or more in the cinema you can get a chance to win a 7foot Optimus Prime Replica worth $10k.

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  15. @TheChief

    Hey, that rant wasn't wanted...it was NEEDED. You are EXACTLY right my friend! GOD THESE CRITICS CAN'T STAND A DAY WITHOUT PANNING 2009'S BIGGEST MOVIE EVER.

    >:( Hey, rememeber. This is epic. Just don't let the "professional critics" get to you.

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  16. Did you know that in Singapore,the critics gave the rating a half star? WTF?! They said that there's no dialogue,the plot is flimsy and there are blurry action scenes!!! Although there was a "short" time making this film,it still turned out quite an awesome movie to watch!!! Bay is dead on his feet by now!!!!

    At least right now nobody is listening to the critics. I don't about non TF fans but every TF fan would say this movie is still superb. Even if they sense a bit of problem of the movie,I think they won't be crazy to give it a half star. 3(and a half) would be a reasonable rating.

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  17. question for the critics; if this film is so bad why then is it doing better then every other film this year, i work in a cinema in the uk an more or less every showing has been sold out, an i have already seen it 5 times (coz i am a hardcore transfan) its f***ing epic, so why dont the haters an critics leave the reviews to the real film lovers!!!

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  18. I think the critics are missing the big picture here. IT'S NOT REAL. IT'S FANTASY. AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH. The whole purpose of movies is to escape to another place in your head and enjoy something else than reality. Critics need to understand the premise of why the movie(s) were created to begin with. Because of us longtime Transformer's fans who have finally got a chance to live in that realm for 2.5 hours other than the 20 year old cartoons we grew up with. I am a tremendously huge fan of the first one, and have no doubt I will enjoy the second one just as much. I know it's not real, so I'm not looking for words of wisdom in the dialogue. I just want to be entertained and that's what I'm going to do. Critics can kiss my hairy tattooed ass!

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  19. Saw MIdnight showing lots of hoots and clapping best movie EVER im seeing it again and again and again...............

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  20. I thought Ebert's review was hilarious.

    Still going to see this movie!!!

    Music of hell sounds so damn good. :D

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  21. I pity critics...they must be a really unhappy bunch. I'm from Malaysia and i watched it it in the cinema.Had multiple nerdgasms throughout the show.

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  22. Man you people are dumb as dirt. I went into this movie with low expectations, and was still disappointed. I knew what I was going to see, giant robots beating the shit out of each other and got robots humping shit. Makes the first one look like Citizen Kane. You call yourself Transformers fans? You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

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  23. I think the critics need to wake up and smell the reality of things. That being said, they need to understand that it doesn't matter what they say and think about a certain movie and how they review it. At the end of the day, it's still up to the viewer's perception, opinion, and how they view things that matter. Funny, no wonder it called Rotten Tomatoes. The name fits them perfectly. TRANSFORMERS 2 is the epitome of spectacular CGI, amazing explosions, and sheer AWESOMENESS as a whole.....2 1/2 hours??? It was well worth it and actually, I was hoping for more...!

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