Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Poster

Director: Michael Bay
Producer: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf)
Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox)
ExPlOsIoNs!!!!!!11111111111!!!1!1

Review:
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was probably the most awaited movie of this year. Probably even more than Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It is a sequel to Michael Bay’s super duper hit Transformers, as you may already know. However, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen fails to capitalize on the superb head start it knows it gets from its prequel.

The movie starts off with Optimus Prime (leader of the Autobots) telling a story in that monotonous robotic-cum-human voice of his. You come to know that the Autobots have formed an alliance with the Americans to destroy Decepticons hidden in parts of the world to help prevent resurrection of Megatron, whom Optimus destroyed and threw into the ocean. Funnily enough, the Decepticons are simply lying there and doing nothing, not even hurting a fly, when the Autobots show up and tear them to shreds. Poor guys. Er… robots.

And the best part is that all this Autobot-American-friendship thingy is supposed to be a secret. They’re actually doing a very, very good job actually. I mean, come on. Who’s going to notice ten-odd twenty-foot robots ripping apart Shanghai to search for another twenty-foot dormant robot, and destroy him in a major explosion? No one, of course.

Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky is going to an expensive collage, and still loves Megan Fox, who still works as a mechanic in her dad’s garage. Now as usual, Megan Fox is hot and sexy, but still has no trace of emotion on her face. She is as expressive as a very beautiful block of wood. Shia, meanwhile, is 0.1% better than her (I measured), but still doesn’t manage to impress you a lot. Its only his cuteness which will make a couple of you go “Aww… He’s cho cute!”, but that’s it.

Coming back to the ridiculous plot now. There are only two parts of the All Spark cube left, as it was destroyed while destroying Megatron. The Decepticons use one of them to resurrect Megatron. When Optimus Prime dies, and Sam still has access to the All Spark shard, it doesn’t even strike that kid to use it to resurrect Optimus. No! Let us do it the hard way. That’s the only way we can make a movie out of this crazy plot. Our friend Sam, while mourning Prime’s death, attends collage, and starts drawing all sorts of strange symbols. A Decepticon-seductress tries to kill him there for no apparent reason. His eccentric room mate takes him to that Sector Seven guy Agent Simmons, who now owns some kind of bakery/cookie shop, who takes them to some museum, where they find Jetfire so that he could read the symbols, who teleports them to Egypt, where they learn about the legend of the Fallen and some Matrix key. Only Jetfire the Old could read the symbols. Not even Bumblebee could, so should be more educated.

Lets keep the plot at that. You would have realised the flaws in it. There are more, but then that’s another post novel altogether. The last half-hour of the movie are merely explosions. Boom ka-boom is all you hear.

The screenplay is a bit wacky as well. You may often tend to get confused between scenes, and will ask the guy beside you about what just happened and why it is happening. But its not that bad. Not as bad as the plot, at least.

But what actually saves the film, is an excellent soundtrack, featuring those great songs – New Divide by Linkin Park and 21 Guns by Green Day. The filmmakers had to turn to someone other than themselves to rely on making a movie a success. It does work. You’ll hum those tunes for a long time.

But the main forte of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the visual effects. Spectacular stuff. Amazingly created robots and explosion, with an accurate reproduction of reflections, scratches and dirt on their metal bodies. Especially those few slow-motion action sequence will make you go “Whoaaaaaa”. This saves the film from becoming a complete fiasco. The visual effects are just so bloody awesome, that they are beyond description.

In the end, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is just an average film. But the amazing visual effects make it a must watch. This is just an entertainer to make your mind stress free.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Trailer. Do watch it in Full Screen HD.

Detailed Raitings (Out of 10)

Plot: 5

Acting: 4

Visual+Sound Effects: 10

Direction: 8

Screenplay: 7

Rating: 6.8/10 (Fair)

Tweetable Shadow Line Bottom Line: Transformers 2 has a fair plot and bad acting, but superb visual effects make it a must watch.

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Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Director: David Yates
Cast:
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe)
Ronald Weasley (Rupert Grint)
Hermione Granger (Emma Watson)
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (Michael Gambon)
Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent)
Severus Snape (Alan Rickman)
Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton)
Heavy British Accent (Everybody)

Review:
Exams finished on the 21st of July, and I rushed (yes, literally. I ran from school) to Fun Cinemas, Pitampura to catch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The movie starts off with the Dementors/Death Eaters wrecking havoc around the streets of England. That perfectly rendered scene, especially the one in which that bridge collapses, is superb to watch. Inevitably, it sets the tone for the entire movie. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince doesn’t deviate much from the book, but it does a little, which may disappoint you to an extent.

The film actually starts off when Dumbledore takes Harry away to persuade former Potions professor Horace Slughorn to return to Hogwarts. Then follows the scene in which Snape makes the unbreakable vow with Narcissa Malfoy, to take care of her son, and assist him the job the Dark Lord has asked him to perform.

Now this is the film in which Harry and his friends actually grow up. They start noticing girls/guys, and begin to kiss them in public in broad daylight as well. Even in corridors. I really wouldn’t like to use the cliched “raging hormones” which you’ve probably heard of in every movie review.

Harry begins to develop an affection for Ginny, and Ron for Lavender, of which Hermione is particularly jealous of. Now the film has been directed in an excellent manner by David Yates, using all the characters to throw in just the right amount of comedy and sincerity in the characters they play in the same time. All actors perform their roles fabulously, especially Rupert Grint as Ron, who is exceptional. He really steals the show more than Daniel or Emma does, although they do seem to share the limelight for most of the time. Watch that scene in which Ron accidentally consumes Love Potion, and that one too, when he goes out for Beater tryouts. Daniel isn’t bad either. I particularly liked that scene in which Hermione accuses him of mixing a potion in Ron’s juice, so that he feels more confident, and Harry admits he didn’t. Alan Rickman and Jim Broadbent  as Snape and Slughorn are nice as well. Michael Gambon does perfect justice to Dumbledore’s character, which is, in my opinion, one of the most important one in the film.

All the special effects are done pretty well. Especially the Apparation scenes, the Inferi, the Dark Mark and the scene in which Harry travels with Dumbledore to the dark cave. These are the main forte of the film, and make up for some of the bad parts, which I will discuss later.

Draco Malfoy is involved with a Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement, which he eventually uses to get all the Death Eaters to Hogwarts, and eventually kill Dumbledore. Now, the ever-inquisitive Harry must find out what his enemy is up to, and this often leads to eye-to-eye face-offs with each other. The enemity is a treat to watch, and their acting is so convincing, that you can actually sense the loathing they have for each other. Watch that spectacular scene in which Harry and Draco are involved in a raging conflict in the bathroom.

Now to the plot. David Yates’s direction is pretty convincing, but you simply cannot ignore the film’s plot problems. There are many things not mentioned from the book, the most important ones being Marvolo Gaunt’s memory and the entire Quidditch Cup season, which all the movies just seem to ignore almost completely. Also, some scenes, such as the awesome Bellatrix-Harry chase scene in a wheat field is completely pointless, as both Bellatrix and Fenrir Greyback (the werewolf) do not succeed in killing Harry, and do not achieve much in burning down Ron’s house, which struck me as pointless. Also, the entire Dumbledore burial scene is skipped! That was the most emotional part of the book, and brought me to tears, which very few books do.

The film has an extremely long running time of two-and-a-half-hours, and becomes really, really boring in a few handpicked scenes. The first half is fantastic, and you will never know when the time flies (unless you have an empty stomach). But even when you’re munching on butter popcorn and sipping Coke, the second half seems to drag on. Yates tries to finish of the film in a hurry, when the detials are actually required.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Theatrical Trailer. Do watch it in full screen HD.

Detailed Raitings (Out of 10)

Plot: 7

Acting: 10

Visual+Sound Effects: 5+4=9

Direction: 10

Screenplay: 10

Rating: 9.2/10 (Brilliant!)

Tweetable Shadow Line Bottom Line: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is easily the best film in the entire series. It is a must watch.

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June Wrap-Up

June has officially ended, and here are the stats for this month. This is the first month-stat-post I’m doing, because I never really explored how good WordPress’s stat system was.

Total views this June: 9,920 (Nine thousand, nine hundred and twenty, which is eighty short of ten thousand)

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