Oh boy, is this movie getting crucified. Everywhere you look, everybody has nothing but bad things to say about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It's like a good old fashioned stoning, where everybody lines up to take a shot and slowly kill this movie with negativity. My question to those throwing the stones is this...what the hell were you expecting? I mean seriously, this is Transformers,not high-art. This series has been (since its birth in the eighties) and always shall be, at heart, a story about giant effing robots that beat the crap out of each other. Not a lot of room for depth...or character development...or even great writing. But it's the perfect set up for great action, and the Transformers series has always delivered in that regard.

Transformers 2 is exactly what I want out of a live-action Transformers movie. The first film? It was alright, and certainly entertaining, but it wasn't exactly what I was thinking a big-budget, live-action Transformers film would be. Essentially, Revenge of the Fallen is just a big, long B-movie, and never tries to disguise that fact. Michael Bay and his crew are just having fun, and in my mind at least, that fun transcends the screen and envelops the audience. There's no effort on display here to suggest Bay was trying to make a great movie, nor a deep one, nor a thoughtful one; just a fun one, and for this reason, I'm forgoing my usual letter-grade I give at the top of the review. What's the point? I have no idea what grade I would give this movie; if I grade it purely technically and judge the writing, acting, directing and so-forth...the results wouldn't be too pretty. But those aren't necessarily the things I look for in this kind of movie, and I had a helluva lot of fun with it.

However, for those of you who end up hating this movie, and for those critics who have already cast their stones, I understand where you're coming from. There's a very specific kind of person who will like this movie, and that is people familiar with Transformers lore. You'll need to have seen more than just the first live-action film to understand this movie; watching the 1986 animated flick, and perhaps even some of the original TV series, will help viewers immensely in understanding what's going on. The things I loved about this movie will fly right over the heads of general audiences; let me explain exactly what I loved, and then I'll come back to this point.

My absolute favorite thing about this movie was the use of the Transformers. I complained that they weren't in the first one enough, and Michael Bay obviously shared by sentiments. The Transformers are truly main characters this time, with some getting equal (or more) screen time as main human characters. Optimus Prime appears in the film's awesome opening action scene, and he's a constant presence from there on out, along with many other Autobots. But what impressed me most was how well used the Decepticons were. Megatron is resurrected early on, and in his first minute of screen time, he has more dialogue than he did in the entire first movie (that's not a dramatic exaggeration: that's true). His rocky relationship with second-in-command Starscream is brought front and center, which has always been an element of these characters. Plenty of other robots come and go, many of them recognizable to those versed in Transformers lore, and it's immensely fun to see all of this. The storyline contains many references to energon, the matrix of knowledge, and other things from classic Transformers that I, for one, never thought would make it into a big-budget studio film.

But will most viewers be as excited as I am about these things? Absolutely not. If you don't know that Megatron hates Starscream, then their scenes will probably seem forced. If you don't know what Energon is...good luck deciphering the plot. You'll be lost from moment one. If you don't revere Optimus Prime as the single greatest thing to come out of the eighties, then don't bother seeing the movie. If your only knowledge of the Transformers universe comes from the original, 2007 live-action film, then you'll still have a tough time accepting this sequel. For me, it was a blast, infinitely better than the first film. Most people will disagree.

But one thing no one could complain about is the action, which is absolutely incredible. I've complained that the action in the first film was framed too close and was incomprehensible. For the most part, Bay has fixed this in the sequel. It's always easy to see the Transformers and tell exactly what they are doing, except in particularly crowded shots. The opening action sequence is spectacular, starting the movie off on an impressive beat; it also includes what might be the most epic re-introduction to a character (Optimus) in the history of sequels. The 45-minute long epic war in Egypt at the end is thrilling, and while it's hard to keep a handle on what's going on at all times, it will keep you on the edge of your seat. But the highlight of the whole movie is a three-on-one battle between Megatron, Starscream, and unnamed Decepticon, and Optimus in a forest that will kick you're a** into next week; it's that cool.

Michael Bay has often been called a hack director (even by me), but you have to admit the guy's got style. He is an expert at staging and executing a brilliant, effects laden action sequence. He's helped be the geniuses from ILM, who turn in the best effects I've ever seen in a film (I said that about the first movie too). Nearly every shot in the movie has a complex, CGI character there, and not once can you spot the use of CGI. Those robots look absolutely real, and I love it.

The movie's big weakness, however, is in the plot and storytelling department. Like I said above, I'm not looking for Citizen Kane or anything, but the writing could have been polished. I was able to follow the storyline, but just barely; exposition flies by ridiculously fast and is often incomprehensible. I wouldn't dream of trying to sum it up here. What's sad is that with a little bit of polishing, the storyline in this movie could have been amazing. As it stands, it's good, and it allows for plenty of great action. The script is really a casualty of the writer's strike from 2007; because of the strike, they went into shooting with just a rough draft of the screenplay, and while on-set rewrites certainly helped, a few more months of script work in pre-production would have helped.

And, like the first movie, this one is just too long. A good twenty to thirty minutes could have been excised, or the plot could have been told in such a way that everything becomes more compact. The pacing works well enough, but there are certainly unnecessary scenes and bits of humor that take you out of the experience, and that's too bad.

The cast of human characters is smaller this time around, and that gives the movie a bit more focus. Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam Witwicky, and again does a stand-out job, playing a likeable, relatable protagonist. Sure, his character is annoying at times, but that's not LaBeouf's fault. He didn't write lines like "I'm just a normal kid with normal problems." Megan Fox's acting is certainly better this time around as his girlfriend; her job mostly involves running around and looking sexy, which she excels at, but she also hits the right notes in some quieter, emotional scenes that ground the movie. I was impressed.

Other returning human characters include Sam's wacky parents, played by Kevin Dunn and Julie White, the army guys (whose names escape me) played by Tyrese Gibson and Josh Duhamel, and even John Tuturro as alien-obsessed former Sector-7 agent Simmons. Tuturro impressed me; he was actually a valuable part of the cast this time around, instead of the obnoxious twerp he was in the first film. Overall, the returning cast does a fine job and I was glad to see their characters. Some of the new additions to the cast, however, are not so welcome. Ramon Rodriguez plays Sam's college roommate...who doesn't have a name, and is one the single most obnoxious things I've ever seen in my life. He does not shut up. He babbles like a baby the whole time. This would be bad enough, but the writers thought they'd have him jump on board and join Sam and the Transformers for the entire adventure. He nearly ruins the whole movie.

There are some new Transformer characters as well, like the titular robot named "The Fallen" who, while underdeveloped, makes for a good villain. There's also Mudflap and Skids, or the Twins, two-jive talking robots who accompany Sam and Bumblebee. They're sort of like Jar-Jar Binks, but with two distinct differences. First, they're a lot more racist (never thought I'd say that). Second, they're not nearly as annoying. In fact, they're pretty funny. The problem with Jar-Jar was that he was in Episode I more than any single human character, but the twins are only in this movie for a certain amount of the time, which stops them from becoming too annoying.

Finally, if you're going to see this movie, see it in IMAX. It's incredible. Like The Dark Knight, certain sequences were shot with IMAX cameras, and the result is breathtaking. Only one major sequence is shot exclusively in IMAX, with the rest of the shots spread out over the final battle, but that one sequence is worth the price of admission (it's the forest battle). IMAX film boasts an astonishing resolution, and the wizards at ILM actually animated the Transformers in this resolution, which is truly groundbreaking. The level of detail is extraordinary, and something you can't afford to miss. Plus, you get to see a life size Optimus Prime, which is just plain cool.

So, to sum all these thoughts up, I really, really enjoyed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it even a good movie? That's certainly debatable. But Michael Bay set out to make a big, dumb, fun summer action movie, and he succeeded in spades. This film won't appeal to everyone, and if you know nothing more about the Transformers than that they are big robots, I absolutely do not recommend it. But if you know a bit about the characters and at least know what Energon is, then you'll have a great time.