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Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen opened in theaters this week. If you haven't watched it yet be warned spoilers abound and proceed only if you want to spoil the fun(?) of discovering the movie for yourself.

Let's start with what I liked about the movie short list this one. Autobots transforming the sheer mechanical marvel of it; Bumblebee doing that jig to the tune of I'm so excited' and the subsequent letdown; Sam dealing with all the mayhem, er, mostly Shia LeBeouf running away from all the explosions. Since I'm not a dude, Mikaela, better known as Megan Fox isn't included in the list. I'll let the guys dwell on that one.

On to the unsavory bits that left an unpleasant aftertaste. First, what is Mikaela doing in the motorcycle shop dressed like that? It's a wonder the two guys who were with her managed to do anything. If I were her dad I would have told her to cover herself. Geesh. Such a blatant use of Fox to excite the audience. I was cringing throughout that scene. Then there's Decepticons overload. Why is it that machines set to life by the Allspark turn out to be Decepticons? Whether rampaging-murderous robots were the default mold of the alien robot race was never fully explained nor can it deduced in the plot. Autobots were no exception what was the purpose of the twin cars except to amp up the noise and clutter the landscape some more. Loved it when Bumblebee thrashed them both and threw them out of Petra. Oh wait! They needed to brawl inside so they could break the wall. Hmm.

When the freshly resurrected Megatron flew out to space to return to his camp on one of Saturn's moons, those alien robots hanging from fluid-filled sacs reminded me strongly of The Matrix. Then there was the meeting between the Fallen and Megatron. The former addressing the latter as my apprentice was a hark back to Star Wars! The whole story just lost me. Why was Alice aka Isabel Lucas doing an eerily Terminator-like transformation? Beats me.

To top it all, the whole story was convoluted and unnecessarily long. Too many supporting characters that failed to add depth to the story. Then there was the problem of resurrecting Optimus. When the matrix or the key disintegrated, all hope was gone. Not in this movie. When Sam lost consciousness he went to this place where he met the three original robots that gave their lives to hide the key from Fallen. Harry-Dumbledore-Train station-Book 7?! Sam earned the key apparently because he died trying to get it to Optimus, Ha! He awakes to find the pixie dust' transformed into the key and resurrects Optimus. So lame.

All in all, Michael Bay managed to put together explosions; robot fights; robots who can come back from the dead (so what if they were robots who died a millennia or two ago); Decepticons that are indestructible - at least until it's time to end the story; very flattering shots of Megan Fox and an overlong movie that meandered into unpalatable. Robots and explosion overload. Two stars out of five. And that's for Bumblebee doing the jig.

Learn more about this author, Maria Sheila Chou.
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