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Michael Bay managed to do something the Decepticons
and the Fallen couldn’t ; transform some cool toys and a
cartoon series spinning it into one of the worst movies
of the summer. “Fallen” perfectly describes what has happened
to the standards of storytelling in Bay’s film and they
weren’t that high to begin with.While I’ve always believed
that Bay was a technically gifted director he can’t tell
a story worth a darn without his razzle dazzle rapid fire
ADHD approach to filmmaking. In short, Bay’s great at tearing
through a paper bag but can’t tell us what was in it leaving
a mess for the audience to deal with. ***
“Transformers: Rise of the Fallen” steals its best
story elements from other well known and better told science
fiction/fantasy/action-adventure flicks and fails to make
those elements its own. Poorly written and realized “Transformers:
Rise of the Fallen” would if not for its massive budget
devoted primarily to visual effects (which are indeed quite
dazzling but not in service of the story)have been a perfect
third class movie on the Disney Channel, Nick or (gulp!)
the idiotically named SyFy Channel. ***
When we last left Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) he and
the Transformers had defeated the Decepticons , destroyed
the Allspark the ultimate power that both were seeking and
the U.S. government dumped the remains of Megatron in the
Pacific Ocean trench the deepest place on Earth not even
accessible via submarines. Optimus Prime and the Transformers
now work with the U.S. government to help drive the surviving
Decepticons away from Earth. Sam heads to college trying
to keep his relationship with Mikeala, stay away from temptation
from a girl at the college unaware that a sliver of the
Allspark survived and has altered his consciousness. He’s
also unaware that the Decepticons have resurrected Megatron
and that the Fallen that Megatron serves plans on returning
to Earth with their own insidious plans. ***
Aside from the introduction of a pair of annoying new
characters that are a part of Optimus’ team, there are so
many misfires that you will find yourself amazed when Bay’s
film hits its target accurately. “Fallen” can’t even be
considered a film that’s so bad that it’s good although
it might be a guilty pleasure for someday. ---
Image & Sound:
One think I can say is that Michael Bay makes sure
his brain farts look really, really good. “Transformers:
Rise of the Fallen” has become the visual reference standard
for Blu-ray. Clarity remains remarkably sharp and crystal
clear throughout the presentation. This is probably the
closest I’ve seen to a film-like presentation on home video
to date. The images are smooth with a nice film like quality.
Colors pop and black levels are brilliant throughout. ***
The audio is equally impressive with a 5.1 lossless
soundtrack that is among the best I’ve heard. The soundstage
is impressive with depth, detail and the most minor soundtrack
detail sounding terrific ---
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