Throwback Thursday Review: 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'

This week I'm continuing my series of Transformers reviews, once again well in advance of the correlating film due to the number of installments in the franchise and sequels that will be released this year. Next week I'm taking a break from Transformers reviews till April and in the following four weeks I will be reviewing The Matrix trilogy and John Wick to coincide with John Wick: Chapter 2 since it will see a reunion between Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. Reviews of new (or wider) releases you expect over the course of January include Patriots Day, Live By Night, Split, The Founder, A Dog's Purpose, and Gold.

'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' Review

Nominated For: Best Sound Mixing.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen picks up two years after Transformers as humans and Autobots are now working together to track down and destroy the remaining Decepticons while the Deceptions seek to find the remaining shards of the Allspark and resurrect Megatron. Meanwhile Sam Witwicky is off to college and gets wrapped up in the Transformers war again after encountering an Allspark fragment that causes him to randomly see cryptic symbols.

Michael Bay returns to direct, upping the ante of the action and daring to deeply explore Transformers lore. Revenge of the Fallen is almost universally regarded to be worse than its predecessor. However I do think a case can be made that for every dumb moment or failed attempt at levity, there's a cool action sequence between Transformers or compelling concept to balance it out. Yes, there are plenty of Bay-esque elements (explosions, portraying women as two-dimensional sex objects, and dumb crude humor) throughout Revenge of the Fallen, but the film as a whole is not quite as bad as everyone remembers.

Arguably, I'd say that the cinematography, visual effects, and spectacle are improvements over the first. Some of the cooler action moments include a feline Decepticon's infiltration of a covert base, a sequence in which Optimus Prime wields two sword arms to take on a host of Deceptions in an epic last stand, and the battle bot bonanza at the end. Other than that, there's not much to take away from Revenge of the Fallen.

The script written by Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman gets too caught up with trying to explain Transformers lore that it doesn't even really attempt to deepen the already lackluster characters or tell a worthwhile story. It's telling when a screenplay is able to make the robots the most likable and lifelike characters in a film. Occasionally, the film is almost self-referential to a point where characters voice the audience's opinion such as when Agent Simmons tazes Sam's obnoxious tag-along room mate or Bumblebee throws the two Autobot twins out of the frame. It's a relief but a reminder that these characters are more an annoyance than an asset to the story being told (they literally add nothing except maybe a pitiful attempt at comedic relief).

If you didn't think it was possible, the performances in Revenge of the Fallen are even worse than those found in the original. Shia LaBeouf is a total klutz, spazzing around with what I guess is his imitation of a seizure and failing to make a confident lead the audience or surrounding characters can put faith in. It almost seems that Megan Fox is around purely to run around the desert in a tight low-cut shirt and look attractive on motor vehicles because she has little else to offer in terms of acting ability.

Other returning cast members include John Turturro's rash Agent Simmons, Kevin Dunn and Julie White playing Sam's idiotic parents, and Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson as military personnel. Peter Cullen, Mark Ryan, Robert Foxworth, Jess Harnell, Hugo Weaving, and Charlie Adler all are terrific voicing their respective Transformers, bringing the appropriate demeanor to each one, while Tom Kenny's voicing of the twins Mudflap and Skids verges on the edge of being a racial stereotype. Ramon Rodriguez joins the bots as the single most annoying tag-along character but thankfully his character didn't stick around for the next installment.

Overall, the narrative presents challenges for the characters but none of them stick and there's no consequence for characters and no lasting impression on the viewers mind. The visuals don't exactly make up for the flat story, but do come to the blockbuster's aid rather than hindering it, making some parts of it watchable. In conclusion, Revenge of the Fallen is everything you expect from a Bay production, but dialed up to an eleven.

Film Assessment: D

Throwback Thursday Review: 'Transformers'

Sorry for the delayed review but this week I'm beginning another series of reviews with my thoughts on Transformers, once again well in advance of the correlating film due to the number of installments in the franchise and sequels that will be released this year. Next week I'll be doing my Throwback Thursday Review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and I will then take a break from Transformers reviews till April. The following four weeks I will be reviewing The Matrix trilogy and John Wick to coincide with John Wick: Chapter 2 since it will see a reunion between Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. Reviews of new (or wider) releases you expect over the course of January include Hidden Figures, Patriots Day, Live By Night, Split, The Founder, A Dog's Purpose, and Gold.

'Transformers' Review

Nominated For: Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing. 

In Transformers two races of alien robots, the Autobots and Decepticons, bring their war to planet Earth and everyman Sam Witwicky is drawn into the conflict. I'm not going to dress it up, Transformers is mindless popcorn entertainment and the fact Michael Bay is at the helm doesn't help much. Bay has a distinct style, it involves big loud CG and lots of explosions, and his tropes are cranked up here. With that being said, it's actually fitting for a movie where metamorphosing robots fight each other in grand action sequences.  

Bay's in his wheelhouse and alongside the visual and sound effects departments does a superb job translating the Transformers to the big screen, handling the action quite well. On the flip side of things, the script from Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and John Rogers features scarcely developed characters with basic motivations and the story is generic, but that doesn't make it bad, just mediocre. The performances are passable for this action blockbuster ranging from pure exposition delivery to regular people running amidst the robot rumble.

Shia LaBeouf makes Sam an awkward protagonist, Megan Fox feels like a dunce in some moments as her mouth is open a little too long and then Mikaela often gets over-sexualized, Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson are around as the military personnel with Rachael Taylor and Anthony Anderson playing the techie comic relief and Jon Voight, Michael O'Neill, and John Turturro playing the governmental agency representatives.

I also feel the voice actors who voiced the Transformers deserve some appreciation for great robotic caricatures including the likes of Peter Cullen, Mark Ryan, Darius McCrary, Robert Foxworth, Jess Harnell, Hugo Weaving, and Charlie Adler.

Transformers is the perfect encapsulation of a big, dumb popcorn movie, the insane action and grand spectacle can't be denied as visually interesting and make for a fun ride but the flat storytelling can't be ignored either. In summary, Transformers encapsulates everything notable from Bay's filmography; explosions, slo-motion, explosions, blatant eye-rolling product placement, and did I mention the explosions?

Film Assessment: C

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows' Review

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is the sequel to 2014's reboot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles picking up relatively soon after the first. We find that the turtles are still working in secret to protect New York City and wish to be accepted by human society followed into the fray by lots of crazy hijinks. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows has new direction as Dave Green takes the reigns from Jonathan Liebesman and I can say that was a change for the better as the film keeps a consistent tone of fun, fun, fun. Green strays away from many of the Michael Bay-isms that plagued the first, but they're still present. 

Producer Michael Bay knows how to slip in some slow motion, big explosions, and one scene that focuses on Megan Fox's midriff. However, Green does maintains some honor to his work. I'll outright say that I feel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows improves on many of the flaws that befell it's predecessor.

For one, the focus is consistent and clear emphasizing the turtles and their zany personalities, one of the few highlights from the first in my opinion. The human characters are relegated to supporting players, a much more appropriate place for the characters as they better support the film in that capacity.  Secondly, the visual effects are even better as the turtles look slimmed down to be somewhat more believable, aside from Raphael since he's the muscle who's meant to be the largest, and a less grotesque Splinter. Thirdly, character depth is actually distributed to characters this time around as we see some strong character arcs and a valuable message about teamwork for the turtles.

And lastly, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows doesn't feel too derivative of other films although I'm sure comparisons will be made to Transformers: Dark of the Moon and The Avengers' respective third acts. With that being said, the sequel does actually make some of the same mistakes.

The screenwriting team composed of Josh Applebaum and André Nemec did the best they could to balance all the ongoing storylines introducing a few new characters while continuing the stories of the characters from the preceding chapter. The story's not awful, but it just comes off as the plot to a serialized cartoon, not too surprising since the turtles have had quite a few popular cartoon series in their history. Many of the jokes come off as a bit too kid friendly, but considering that's the market in which the turtles thrive, it's not too big of a deal. 

The action once again is run-of-the-mill action, but there are unique moments hidden amongst it all. In particular, there's a sequence featuring the Turtle garbage truck and the inevitable third act conflict with the best sequence being the airplane brawl leading to a chase down the river. 

Another improvement was the cast, which brings back the major actors from the reboot along with introducing some fresh faces. Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Pete Ploszek, and Jeremy Howard provide the motion capture work and the voices for the four turtles, ensuring each turtle's personality is distinct. The four motion capture actors did quite well carrying the film as the turtles are once again the heart and soul of the franchise thanks to the electric charisma radiating from Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, and Donatello allowing for a number of entertaining moments. 

Other fun motion capture characters include the dynamic duo of dunces, Bebop and Rocksteady, brought to the big screen by Gary Anthony Williams and Stephen Farrelly in both human and mutant forms that seems incredibly faithful to the source material. Splinter is once again voiced by Tony Shalhoub and is brought to life by a new motion capture actor, Peter Donald Badalamenti II, and I feel both did a fine job. Splinter has a much smaller role as he basically meditates in the turtles lair and lends his infinite wisdom to the turtles when needed. 

As for the human supporting cast, Megan Fox's role as April O'Neil is scaled down and she does fine in the capacity used, none of her scenes are horrendous, but they aren't amazing either. Stephen Amell gets a chance to bring another vigilante of sorts to life as Casy Jones. Now, I'm not all too familiar with the mythos of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I hear this isn't quite the Casey Jones turtles fans are familiar with. 

Those who keep up with Arrow know that Amell dons a bow and quiver weekly as the Green Arrow, and as a fan of the show myself, I can comment on how this performance compares to his weekly turn as Oliver Queen. Amell, like Fox, is decent in the capacity used and only gets to truly shine in his action scenes and great stunt work, which Amell does himself here as well as Arrow. His performance is about what you would expect from him and very similar to what he does as Oliver Queen, but brighter, I do wish he had more to do in the film though because I liked the energy Amell brought to the human side of things. 

Will Arnett's Vernon Fenwick is much more tolerable this time around as his role is also scaled down, but I liked the spin they put on his character. Arnett's material is much better written this time around as well as he had a few moments that made me laugh. Tyler Perry plays the wacky scientist, Baxter Stockman, and certainly nails it. Brian Tee takes over the role of Shredder and unfortunately had nothing to really do than be a villainous presence with no action sequences or proper motivation. 

Brad Garrett voices the alien Krang, with emphasis on his appearance rather than character, I wasn't too bothered by this and have no idea how fans will receive it. I do think hardcore turtles fans will enjoy though thanks to plenty of fan service and loads of fun.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is undeniably and unapologetically a 90's style faithful adaptation of the Teenage Mutant Turtles that can best be described as a mindless, entertaining popcorn flick reminiscent to a Saturday morning cartoon. I guarantee children will love it and the film definitely can be fun for the whole family, but for those looking for a more intelligent summer blockbuster either go see Captain America: Civil War again or wait around a little longer for smarter films to hit the market.

Film Assessment: C

Throwback Thursday Review: 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' (2014)

This week I'm reviewing the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles given the upcoming weekend release of it's sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is undeniably a mixed bag. Needless to say, it received a fairly negatively skewed mixed reaction from both audiences and critics yet was quite financially successful that a sequel was announced opening weekend, so clearly someone enjoyed it. I actually didn't see it in theaters as I was never a huge fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and my interest in it died with all of it's negative reviews. I ended up eventually seeing it a few months ago when it showed up on Netflix and I figured why not watch it while it's there. And for those wondering, it's no longer on Netflix but you can find it on Hulu. I can say that my feeling about the film are probably just as mixed as it's reception and I think I can derive some of the reasons why this is and will include said explanations in the review of course.  Next week, I will be doing a Throwback Thursday Review of Now You See Me to correlate with the sequel's release and the following week will review Finding Nemo to coincide with Finding Dory. In regards to other planned reviews, I would like to watch and review Alice Through the Looking Glass soon despite it's awful reception since I already did a Throwback Thursday Review for Alice in Wonderland and I'd like to check it out for myself. I should have a review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows in a day or two and I will go see Popstar: Never Stop Stopping but won't review it unless I feel I have enough substantial material to discuss. 

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' (2014) Review 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles follows the persistent investigative reporter April O'Neil and her inquiry of the terrorist group, The Foot Clan, that of course lead to her eventually crossing paths with the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is flawed narratively. While I don't mind embracing the concept of four ninja turtles, the film takes the concept a little too seriously. The reboot attempts to go the Christopher Nolan route with a gritty realized take on the turtles, and I'm not sure that was the best idea considering the film wasn't able to maintain that tone. 

First off, the film is too tonally inconsistent as the turtles bring the fun but the world around them is drastically darkened for no apparent reason. Had the turtles been a beacon of light or hope in this dark world there could have been an interesting contrast to explore, but it was not the direction filmmakers sought to pursue. 

The creative team also made an odd choice in regards to choosing to make April O'Neil the protagonist for the first half and not the actual turtles themselves for the first act. In fact, I think the turtles didn't actually show themselves to the audience, shrouding themselves, till the full reveal thirty minutes into the film. I would have rather followed the turtles themselves as they were the highlight of the film by far, something I'll touch on more in a moment. 

The film's plot and visual aesthetic also comes off to be remarkably similar to The Amazing Spider-Man, but not done quite as well. The CGI rendering done for the turtles looks a little like the design of the Lizard and it even has what appears to be virtually the exact same third act battle on the rooftop of a skyscraper in New York City. 

One common misconception is that Michael Bay directed the film and he's the reason it wasn't that great, when in fact Michael Bay was just a producer. That's not to say that Michale Bay-isms aren't to be found in this movie because there are indeed some huge loud explosions, one scene objectifying Megan Fox, and lots of slow motion. It certainly feels like a lot of the creative decisions behind Bay's Transformers films were replicated in efforts to revitalize a cinematic version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

Jonathan Liebesman directs and doesn't have much of a creative voice of his own. I believe Liebesman allowed Michael Bay to guide his directorial vision instead of taking full reigns of the project, but I could be wrong. The screenwriting team composed of Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec, and Evan Daughetry bring together a lackluster script with cheesy dialogue, a paper-thin sloppy narrative, and lack of proper character development for almost any of the characters as only the turtles grow as characters from beginning to end. The one aspect that was done right in the writing was that the creative team remained faithful to Turtle lore. Not too much of a redeeming factor for me, considering I'm not a big fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Other technical aspects I felt were worth discussing included the film's visual effects considering the turtles are brought to life through motion capture animation, a more common technique in modern filmmaking. 

I'm aware that the look of the turtles has been fairly controversial since it was first showcased, but considering it's been two years from the film's initial release I've grown accustomed to these authentic somewhat believable buff six foot turtles. I feel that is a more hyper-realized version of what the turtles would look like so I can say it fits in the direction the creative team sought. However, I do think the turtles look a little too muscular, if that makes any sense. 

Another design I saw to be overdone was Shredder's suit. He had way too many swords and blades to make his suit actually functional in a practical setting. Other than these small nitpicks, the visual effects are fine, not mind-blowing nor terrible but somewhere in between. 

The action in the film was fairly enjoyable, with one memorable fight being one in which the turtles are sledding down a mountain while fighting the foot clan and protecting April and Vernon. This sequences keeps the momentum of the action and plot going and allows for a few cool moments featuring each of the turtles. 

Believe or not, there are performances ranging from decent to simply good. The five motion capture actors, Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, and Danny Woodburn, brought the characters of the four turtles and Master Splinter to life thanks to their performance and the visual effects team. A few celebrity voices, Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shalhoub, lend their talents to voice Leonardo and Splinter and both fill the roles nicely. The turtles, Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, and Donatello, are the heart and soul of the movie. Every time the turtles were onscreen, they brought charisma to the screen keeping me thoroughly entertained. Splinter made for a decent father figure and mentor for the turtles, but wasn't given enough depth for me to care about him. 

In regards to the human performers, Megan Fox leads the picture as April O'Neil and I can say her acting has certainly improved since Transformers and she's just fine in the role but is clearly around for her looks rather than making a convincing news reporter. Will Arnett brings what is probably the most annoying character in the film, Vernon Fenwick. Arnett does the best with the material provided, but when the material isn't that great it's a poor reflection on him. However, his character's annoyance is derived from the screenplay and not exactly Arnett's performance. 

Tohoru Masamune made for a menacing villain as Shredder, but one whose motivations weren't fleshed out. William Fichtner is basically the typical evil businessman who wants to make profit off of an evil scheme, not really given any development or value. Really the same can be said for almost all the characters side from the turtles unfortunately. 

When it comes down to it, the film is certainly a mindless popcorn flick that children will enjoy but it's weaknesses outbalance it's strengths. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles certainly has some entertainment value thanks to the charisma of the turtles but lacks story, a unique vision, and any true character development.

Film Assessment: D-