'Transformers' sequel, full of special effects

My initial reaction was that it didn’t feel as much like a unique Transformers experience as it could have, I just viewed it as if it were any other Sci-Fi movie. It was still very entertaining and I was genuinely interested in the plot, even though it didn’t quite stick to the original cartoon story.

The most disappointing part of the movie was probably the fact that the story was so rushed and that the battles and special effects took up most of the two hours and twenty minutes of run time.

I was impressed with the characterization and was especially happy with the visual appearance of Soundwave’s character. There was also quite a bit of comic relief including Mrs.Witwicky eating a pot brownie, a lot of leg humping, a sexually awkward freshman-year roommate, and a few last minute pop culture references about President Obama and the swine flu.

One of my biggest problems with both of the Transformers movies so far is that appearance-wise the different factions of Transformers haven’t been very recognizable. In the cartoon all the characters have very specific head shapes depending on their faction.

Optimus Prime was the only character that kept his trademark head, so when I saw Soundwave for the first time and for once saw a head reminiscent of the cartoon I was pleased.

During one of the opening battle scenes we get to see returning characters Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Tech Sergeant Epps (Tyrese Gibson) fighting alongside the original cast of Autobots, along with a couple new recruits. This includes “The Twins” Mudflap and Skids, and Arcee who is one of the only “female” Bots.

It was nice to start off with a new face like Arcee who was a pink convertible from the 1986 animated film “Transformers: The Movie.” She is now portrayed as three identical motorcycles, one being pink of course.

I was really looking forward to the introduction of Soundwave, who has a very unique electronic monotone and was thankfully voiced by the original actor Frank Welker.

Knowing already that the voice would be solid, I turned my focus to the look of the character. He is usually a micro-cassette recorder, but in the film they updated his look and made him into a satellite, which I thought really worked.

Once you recover from the vertigo-like sensation of the battle scenes and get a chance to see some plot you notice that although the story is good, it is very limited. It seems like every other scene is an epic battle, with plenty of slow-motion running and chock full of Michael Bay’s trademark explosions.

The fact that everything is moving so fast makes it difficult for you to keep up with continuity and hard to follow what little adventure the story has thrown in.

On top of the explosions and lack of dialogue, there were also gratuitous amounts of military B-roll that made you feel like you were watching a “Go Army” commercial. After every military command you see planes taking off of carriers, hovercrafts delivering troops and tanks, and plenty of control rooms.

It almost seemed like the army was backing the movie as long as Michael Bay put plenty of shots of new weaponry and vehicles. Including things like the take off of an irrelevant unmanned plane, followed by the highly unnecessary shot of its distant pilot back at the base, followed by a swooping POV shot of the sky.

It was sad, especially for the true transformers fan, that the story was so good but that there was so little focus on it. Overall Michael Bay could have done a much better job if he actually focused on the plot instead of making a movie that was basically just a special effects showcase.

If you’re looking for a summer action blockbuster with all the bells and whistles then you’ll probably enjoy the film. As for me this was definitely a one time viewing, although I will most likely still buy the DVD for my collection.