Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Having really loved the first Transformers movie, I decided to sit down and watch Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, albeit a little late. It was alright- but nothing spectacular.

I felt they tried to outdo themselves in the special effects arena, making the fight scenes look too animated and not at all a part of the surrounding environments. There were a lot of new introduced characters that seemed interesting too but like the first movie, they didn't really have any development or screen time which I found disappointing. They were all just another lot of "extras"- which there is an overabundance of.

But the weirdest issue of all was that there were quite a few visual errors in the movie that made it seem really rushed and as if it wasn't looked over properly, i.e the complete absence of the signature rotor blades on Blackout/Grindor's back in a fight scene with Optimus, whereas they appeared everywhere else [pictured left.]

Overall, it felt like just another action movie to me. Bumblebee's presence salvaged it and gave it a bit of soul in my opinion, but aside from that it felt shallow and just a grounds to show off special effects and fancy fight moves.

And lastly, if you will be so kind to allow me to go a tad off topic- I do have a qualm about one of the characters that has me confused.

Blackout got dropped on his ass in the first movie, and miraculously re-appears in the second. There's word going around that it is, in fact, his brother "Grindor." This apparent Blackout clone goes by that name in the second game, however this name isn't mentioned once in the corresponding movie. There's virtually no way to tell them apart, and they both serve the same purpose; being third in command to Megatron. The differences between them is, and I quote from this article:

"...though he [Grindor] is a lighter grey, and the forward fuselage has a different refueling probe and sensors."

Lighting could have something to do with the apparent colour change, and the different sensors could just be because they altered the model a little. Or because they can scan different aircrafts/vehicles, it's possible he does this to keep out of the US military's profile.

There was a Q&A session with Roberto Orci, one of the screenwriters of the movie, who had this to say about it:

Q: Was that Blackout? Was he just revived off camera along with Megatron?
A: Could explain it that way, but I can't remember if he's ever called Blackout in the movie.

The only lines he has in either movie lay mention to his name [see left.]

Things like that make it feel as if they just found a quick-fix solution to a stupid error to make the fans happy, giving an overall "broken" feel to the movie. As it stands in the cartoons and comics, many of the characters went through name/design changes, so it's probably no different in this case. They re-named the so-called Devastator in the first movie.

I feel there should have been something to explain it, or tie it all in together, despite this.

N.B: I did take and frame those screenshots, I didn't nick 'em from anywhere online. Click them to make them larger.