The human who first met the Transformers, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), completed high school and is going on to college. Left behind are his girlfriend, Michaela (Megan Fox), parents, and his Autobot Guardian, Bumblebee. Trying to move on from the events which turned his world upside down, Sam avoids the call to action the Autobot’s leader, Optimus Prime, gives him. The good robots, called the Autobots, are fighting a world war with the help of a secret military division called NEST against the bad robots, called the Decepticons. Leaderless since the destruction of Megatron, the Decepticon survivors are unfocused but still dangerous. The introduction of an old evil which seeks to reunite the fallen Decepticons places the whole word, including Sam and his family, in jeopardy.
“Transformers 2” starts well, following Sam and his adorable parents, as they prepare to drive him to school. There is a seamless family dynamic between Sam and his parents, leading to most of the film’s humor and emotional moments. The likelihood of a long-distance relationship places a strain on Michaela and Sam’s relationship. These human moments occur only in the beginning with the rest of the movie overwhelmed by robot-on-robot action. Forgotten along the way, is that the human characters are just as important to the story (if not more so) than the alien robots.
An intriguing storyline is briefly raised and discarded, when the U.S. government contemplates expelling the Autobots from the planet. Considering them an occupying force that may have caused the Decepticon violence on Earth, allusions to the Iraq war are made. Instead of further examining this concept, the movie appears to forget it was ever mentioned. Having the Autobots as outlaws, hiding from the people they are trying to protect, would have been a better storyline than what was written. Instead, a confusing and exposition heavy back story about the Transformers slows the action and terminates the humor from the film.
New robots are introduced but little time is given to form their personalities. All the Decepticons kind of look the same in silver, while the Autobots introduce two annoying redneck cars. While the corny, goofball humor initially works (a blatant rip-off of Tow-Mater from Pixar’s “Cars”), it eventually becomes grating. A toy car Transformer has the most personality in this film but he never gets into the action. These smaller robots are the best expressed in “Transformers 2,” including some Decepticon nano-bots which assemble to form a surprisingly scary foe mid-way through the picture.
While the action scenes are explosive and visually stunning, they often lack the emotional gravitas from the first film. The humor leans too much towards the adult side when the movie is supposedly aimed at a family audience. Overall, “Transformers 2” may appeal to boys and die-hard fans but the cross-over value of the first film is lost in the sequel.
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material.
