Tracks of Distraction

Okay, I can’t resist it. I absolutely loved the first movie, so I would just die of jealousy if I can’t watch the sequel. This turns out to be the most enjoyable experience I’ve ever had since coming here. Warning: Long entry ahead. I discussed the plot in the first page, and my reactions on the next page. The gang of Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, are out to wipe out the remaining Decepticons in cooperation with the military. Sam is about to go to college, and he’s still dating Mikaela. It seems like things are slowly going back to normal. But the Decepticons are planning on something big, and Sam is again forced to battle alongside the Autobots against the Decepticons. (Spoilers under the cut.) Turns out that the Decepticons arrived on Earth way before Megatron found his way here. The “Primes” (now we know how Optimus Prime got his name) were mining for Energons (the power supply for Transformers) on the stars. Although these Primes vowed never to destroy planets with inhabitants, one of them (aptly called “The Fallen”) turned against the others. He was defeated, and in order to stop him from executing his plan in the future, the other Primes hid the machine they used to mine Energons, and used their own bodies to hide “the Matrix”, the key to activate the mining machine. Fast forward to the present, Starscream and the rest of the Decepticons managed to pinpoint the location of a piece of the Allspark Cube from the first movie (and here I thought it was totally destroyed), and used it to revive Megatron. Turns out that the Fallen is still alive, taking refuge in Saturn. Once Megatron was reunited with the rest of the Decepticons, they set the plan to reactivate the mining machine into motion. But to to that, they must kill Optimus Prime first, because only a Prime can stop another prime. The death of Optimus Prime finally made Sam join the war against the Decepticons. With the help of Mikaela, his roommate Leo, and Agent Simmons, they sought Jetfire in order to understand the meaning of the symbols in Sam’s mind. Jetfire led them to the location of the Matrix, only to discover it crumbling before their eyes as they held it. Nevertheless, Sam holds on to it hoping that it could help revive Optimus Prime. They raced back to Optimus Prime, dodging the attacks of the Decepticons along the way. Sam was hit just before he reached Optimus, and seeing how he sacrificed his life to save Optimus Prime, the “spirits” of the other Primes brought back the old form of the Matrix. Sam was then able to revive Optimus Prime, only to be defeated by the Fallen by taking the Matrix. At this point, Jetfire sacrificed his life to give Optimus Prime the power to defeat the Fallen. Thoughts on the Movie Let me start with the complaints first. For a title character, the Fallen has little screen time. I would have expected the battle scene between Optimus Prime and the Fallen to last longer, after all it is the battle between two “Primes”. But what the heck, Sam’s mother got longer exposure than the Fallen! It is already bad enough that we had to watch Sam’s mother advertise the location of Sam’s room, but we had to watch Sam’s mother get high and tackle a college guy over a damn Frisbee. Geez. Those scenes were unnecessary, and could have been used for the fight scene between the Fallen and Optimus Prime. And yeah, I’m starting to hate Mikaela in this movie. I know that my guy friends will hate me for this, but her drama about saying “I love you” is really irritating. She redeems herself when she was able to convince the Decepticon Wheelie to help them decipher the symbols. But geez, that scene with Wheelie trying to ehem do Mikaela is really, really disturbing. Now for the fun parts. I love the twin Autobots, Mudflap and Skids. They provided the comic relief for this movie. It was really fun watching them argue to the point where Bumblebee had to intervene and throw them out. But they had their shining moment in their battle with the Devastator.

And yeah, who can forget the “blending in like a ninja” part? As if they could really blend in with their surroundings with their outrageous colors. Hehe. Bumblebee is lovable as always. He’s more entertaining when he’s using his radio to communicate with Sam, instead of talking to him directly. And I can’t get over his teary-eyed scene when Sam tells him that he can’t come with him. And he’s one excellent fighter. Just what you would expect from a guardian. Aww. I also enjoyed watching Jetfire. Sure he was a Decepticon before, but he defected to the Autobots because of all the negativity. He was screaming all the time though, a habit formed perhaps when he was still with the Decepticons. They even gave him a crutch to show that he’s very old. But he’s one mean fighter, he can kill Decepticons using his crutch. Nice. Scorponok vs Jetfire. Watch out! That crutch is deadly. Trivia: the actor playing Agent Simmons is also the vocal actor of Jetfire. Haha. And yeah, they finally included the scenes where Megatron screams at Starscream whenever he fails to do his job. Ah, just like the original series. Although I find it a bit weird that Megatron submits to the Fallen, isn’t it a bit out-of-character? Come to think of it, there might be a flaw in this part of the film. How come Megatron already knows of the plan to reactivate the mining machine, if he was destroyed in the previous movie? How come he submits to the Fallen? The Fallen may be a Prime, but I think that Megatron is stronger than him. He watched as Optimus Prime defeated the Fallen, and he might have fought back if he wasn’t stopped by Starscream by saying: Starscream: Cowards do survive… So Megatron falls back. Are we expecting a comeback for another movie? Most probably. And I will definitely watch the next installment.