Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Movie · 2009 · Science Fiction, Action, Adventure · 2h 30m · PG-13 · English

Curator score: 0.7/10 (880.6K ratings)

Revenge is coming.

Overview

Sam Witwicky leaves the Autobots behind for a normal life. But when his mind is filled with cryptic symbols, the Decepticons target him and he is dragged back into the Transformers' war.

Ratings

Director

Michael Bay

Production

DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures, di Bonaventura Pictures, DeSanto/Murphy Productions, Ian Bryce Productions

Cast

Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, Tony Todd, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Ramón Rodríguez, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, Isabel Lucas, John Benjamin Hickey, Matthew Marsden, Andrew Howard, Michael Papajohn, Glenn Morshower, John Eric Bentley, Erin Naas, Rainn Wilson

Where to watch

Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential

Curator Review

Verdict

A maximalist, noisy sequel that trades coherence for spectacle, with a few genuinely outrageous set pieces and a very specific kind of chaotic blockbuster energy. It’s often ugly, overlong, and tonally all over the place, but if you enjoy Michael Bay at his most unfiltered, there’s a perverse entertainment in how hard it commits to excess.

Best for

  • Viewers who like giant-scale action movies with zero restraint
  • Fans of loud, glossy, hyperactive summer blockbusters
  • People amused by bad-movie excess and memeable absurdity
  • Audiences curious about peak Michael Bay chaos

Skip if

  • You want clear storytelling or clean action geography
  • You’re sensitive to juvenile humor and leering camera work
  • You prefer character-driven sci-fi over sensory overload
  • You dislike long runtimes padded with repetitive destruction

Overview

Revenge of the Fallen is the kind of sequel that mistakes escalation for invention, and then keeps escalating anyway. It’s shapeless, overstuffed, and frequently embarrassing, yet it also has a strange, undeniable force: a studio movie so committed to noise, speed, and spectacle that it becomes almost abstract in its confidence.

Worth noting

The action is often hard to parse, the comedy lands unevenly, and the human material is thin to the point of vapor. But as a piece of blockbuster excess, it’s fascinating. Bay turns every scene into a collision of metal, fire, and attitude, and the movie never seems interested in restraint, taste, or even basic dignity.

Bottom line

For most viewers, that will be a dealbreaker. For others, it’s the appeal: a giant, ridiculous machine that keeps breaking and somehow still runs. It’s not a good movie in the conventional sense, but it is a memorable one if you’re in the right mood for chaos.

Top Letterboxd reviews

matt lynch (4★) · 1616 likes

Famously a strike picture and filmed around its injured star, its authorship given almost exclusively over to Michael Bay. This is what happens when you let him jerry-rig a $200 million tentpole. Utterly shapeless mayhem, lurching, leaping from one explosion of excess to the next, blissfully and almost antagonistically unself-conscious, a diamond forced into existence by a Kryptonite-poisoned Superman's fist. Not only does this feature a gigantic parachute-farting alien robot disguised as a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, it is also packed… more Famously a strike picture and filmed around its injured star, its authorship given almost exclusively over to Michael Bay. This is what happens when you let him jerry-rig a $200 million tentpole. Utterly shapeless mayhem, lurching, leaping from one explosion of excess to the next, blissfully and almost antagonistically unself-conscious, a diamond forced into existence by a Kryptonite-poisoned Superman's fist. Not only does this feature a gigantic parachute-farting alien robot disguised as a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, it is also packed… more

trin (2.5★) · 1496 likes

spongebob humping megan foxes leg

SilentDawn (3.5★) · 1097 likes

70 2009. Modern Warfare 2, with its 'No Russian' mission, would be released in the same year. Films like The Taking of Pelham 123, Drag Me to Hell, Orphan, The Human Centipede, even Watchmen etc. signaled a shared anger in the midst of economic collapse. Michael Bay, during the WGA strike, grabbed $200 million and, with the "help" of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, made Revenge of the Fallen, an effort of Maximum Bay and peak vulgar chaos. There are… more

comrade_yui (2★) · 963 likes

michael bay actually went back in time and built the pyramids just so he could blow them up in this movie

haley (4★) · 703 likes

i don't think we needed to hear 21 guns by green day four separate times, but maybe that's just me

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Topics

science fiction, action spectacle, summer blockbuster, chaotic tone, military sci-fi, alien invasion, explosive set pieces, 2000s cinema, high-budget excess, campy

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