Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The sequence serves no real purpose beyond dazzle for dazzle's sake, but when you're watching it, that's purpose enough.

San Francisco Chronicle Amy Biancolli

A well-oiled, loudly revving summer action vehicle that does all that's required, and then some, within the confines of PG-13: It cracks genitalia jokes, messes around with toys and blows stuff up.

Premiere Robert Calvert

It is unapologetic about delivering what it promises. Bigger battles. Massive explosions. Megan Fox looking hot.

TV Guide Cammila Albertson

If you enjoyed the robo-spastic ride the first time, then you should be happy with this movie, too. And if you complained that the first movie was trite and lacking in character development, then you probably shouldn’t even be reading this.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

At least the special effects in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen are remarkable: You never tire of the endless variations of robots Bay and his computer-generated effects crew come up with.

Empire Nick De Semlyen

A super-sized second helping, but the novelty factor and some of the charm’s gone. Hey, at least there's more Megatron / Starscream squabbling this time round.

Variety Jordan Mintzer

Little seems new compared to the first installment, except that this version is longer, louder, and perhaps "more than your eye can meet" in one sitting.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Hey, Michael: It's the robots, stupid. Despite all the mechanical mayhem, none of the Transformers stand out.

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

With its intelligence at the level of the simple-minded, however, the film is not likely to attract moviegoers who seek something more than a screen filled with kaleidoscopes of colored metal. Fan boys will no doubt love it, but for the uninitiated it's loud, tedious and, at 147 minutes, way too long.

Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey

Exhilarating or excruciating, depending on your point of view.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Taken on its own, this is a masterful little slice of computer-generated animation, but it gets lost here in the visual racket.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

The man (Bay) just wears you out and wears you down, so much so that it’s easy to pretend that you’re not ingesting 2 hours and 30 minutes of warmongering along with all that dumb fun.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Roughly an hour in, Transformers 2 morphs from teen adventure into lumbering war movie. Bay and his screenwriters squander their human capital in order to show us scenes of 20-ton toys crushing 10-ton toys.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

At least in the last half-hour, Bay's incredibly sloppy continuity and overeager rush to action pays off.

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

This is blockbuster porn absent even the suggestion of care or concern for anything that might resemble "a point," save the obvious one to move more Hasbro action figures and animated-series DVD boxed sets. In a word: distasteful.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Revenge of the Fallen just comes off as a bratty kid showing how many swear words he knows.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

2 1/2 hours of tumescence disguised as a motion picture.

USA Today Claudia Puig

This sequel to the clever and funny first "Transformers" not only is disappointing, it will give most people a throbbing case of metal overload.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The storyline is so infantile that it will appeal to young kids.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Fox's cleavage is the only camera object that catches Bay's attention for more than a millisecond.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Dazzles the eye, numbs the mind and may cause deafness in some cases. Did I mention to bring along some Excedrin?

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Revenge of the Fallen almost feels like it's signaling an end-game for blockbuster movies: all sensation, no content, catastrophic expense.

Slate Dana Stevens

The reductio ad absurdum of a summer blockbuster. It is loud (boom!), long (two and a half hours!), incoherent (poorly explained intergalactic warfare!), leering (Megan Fox in short shorts!), racist (jive-talkin' robot twins!), and rife with product tie-ins (Chevy! Hasbro!).

Washington Post John Anderson

Much of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is simply despicable.

The New Yorker David Denby

The movie rages on for a hundred and fifty minutes and then just stops, pausing for the next sequel.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

The special effects are better and the dialogue slightly more humorous than in the first movie, but the anti-Arab subtext is repugnant.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

This Transformers is a pile of glittering junk.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The whirl, bang and general bother of crashing gears and gnashing metal ends up suffocating the senses.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Overstays its welcome by at least a half hour. But, assuming that cute Camaro stays in the picture, I expect we’ll all be back for the planned round three.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

An impossibly, incomprehensibly overlong and cacophonous bore.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Transformers 2 has a shot at the title Worst Movie of the Decade.