Dream Works and Paramount Studios. 2009.
Screenplay by: Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman.
Run Time: 149 minutes
Rated: PG-13
Watchers Annotation
Sam Witwicky is off to college, but the Decepticons return places Sam and his family in danger. It isn’t long before Autobots and Decepticons are battling for control of the energy matrix that can either save Optimus Prime or destroy the sun.
Cast
Shia LaBoeuf, Sam Witwicky
Megan Fox, Mikaela Banes
Josh Duhamel, Major Lenox
Tyrese Gibson, USAF Master Sergeant Epps
John Turturro, Symore Simmons
For more information about the cast go to IMDb at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1055369/
Plot Summary
Sam Witwicky is off to college leaving longtime girlfriend Mikaela, and his Transformer guardian Autobot Bumblebee behind. Before leaving home he discovers that a sliver of the energy cube (Energon) that nearly destroyed the Earth in the previous film has somehow lodged in his old jacket. When Sam touches the shard it transfers map coordinates into his brain. At first the information lies dormant, but he soon realizes that his reaction to the information is similar to what happened to his great grandfather. This causes Sam some trouble on campus when he disrupts an astronomy class spouting babble. Back home Mikaela, keeper of the shard, is accosted by a little Decepticon robot. Sam and Mikaela are soon together on campus, and joined by Sam’s roommate Leo, a conspiracy theorist. The Decepticons continue to wreak havoc on the planet in search of Sam and the missing shard. Many battles ensue. During one such battle between the Decepticon leader Megatron, and the Autobot leader Optimus Prime – Optimus is killed. As the last Prime of the Autobots, Optimus is the only robot that can defeat the Decepticons. Sam and his crew, joined by Agent Simmons and the USAF attempt to revive Optimus by using the dust from the energy matrix they located in the Egyptian desert. During the battle Sam dies only to be revived by several Autobot Primes he meets on another plane of existence. Sam revives Optimus who defeats Megatron in a final showdown.
Critical Evaluation
Although the cast is well chosen for the film, the real stars of the film are the Transformers. This film is all about the computer-generated special effects. The Transformer transform into some very nice cars, motorcycles, and airplanes. From the first battle scene it is impossible to tell which Transformers are Autobots (the good guys), and which are Decepticons (the bad guys). There is so much happening onscreen that the average watcher cannot differentiate between the characters. All the transformers look like they were created from mismatched pieces of machinery. The script is minimal, and the dialog is mostly dreadful. The screenwriters or director believed that by adding subtitles to explain the action would make the film easier to follow. This treatment also occurred using the living actors. There is also an offensive use of cultural lingo with some of the Autobots. There are two robots in particular that the writers chose to use rap dialog. These two robots are always insulting each other. It is unappealing and simply wrong to include this kind of racist profiling of cartoon characters. This is an action flick that makes little sense beyond lots of explosions with fighting robots. This film is also far too long at 149 minutes.
Information about the film
You can find more information about the film on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1055369/
Genre
Science Fiction, Action, Adventure
Curriculum ties
None
Challenge Issues
Fantasy violence, sexual situations and innuendo, language.
Challenge defense ideas
· Become familiar with the film and its content.
· Refer to the collection development policy of the library.
· Refer to reviews from IMDb at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1055369/externalreviews
· Try to get reviews of the film from teens that have seen it.
Why I included this film
This title was a summer blockbuster hit that many young adults watched. It is the second film in a series. The first film is titled Transformers.
No comments:
Post a Comment