Michael Bay’s “Transformers” sequels were critical punching bags — the only one to get above a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes was the third film, “Dark of the Moon.” That can make it hard to remember that the 2007 original actually got some of the better reviews of Bay’s career.
Critics weren’t exactly raving about it, granted, but its middling, just barely failing 57% on Rotten Tomatoes looks like a golden crown compared to the sequels’ scores.Between 2007 to 2009, “Transformers” was largely considered a perfectly harmless blockbuster.
It was the second film, the panned “Revenge of the Fallen,” that earned the series its bad reputation.
I quite like the comparison by interview reviewer SFDebris: “Transformers” is a mindless action movie while “Revenge of the Fallen” is a stupid action movie.The sequel doubled down on all the worst elements of the original: crass frat-boy humor, indecipherable robot designs, headache-inducing action, and ill-conceived world-building.
The…
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