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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Release Date:
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

MPAA Rating:
PG-13

Rating Reason:
Intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, crude and sexual material, and brief drug use

Genre:
Sci-fi Action

Starring:
Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Isabel Lucas, Rainn Wilson

Written By:
Ehren Kruger, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci

Director:
Michael Bay

Official Site:

Synopsis:
In “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” two years have passed since Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and the Autobots saved the human race from the invading Decepticons. Now he's preparing for the biggest challenge of his life: leaving home for college. Despite his extreme heroics, the battle of Mission City has become an urban legend believed only by conspiracy theorists. Sam is still an average teenager with everyday anxieties and excitement about heading off into adulthood, separating from his parents (Kevin Dunn and Julie White) for the first time, and vowing to be faithful to girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox). Of course, he also has to explain his departure to his guardian robot, Bumblebee.

Leaving home is something the Autobots understand only too well. With the destruction of the Allspark, the Transformers home planet of Cybertron is uninhabitable, and the Autobots make the best of their lives on earth, working in league with the military as part of a TOP SECRET team called NEST. Operating alongside their human counterparts, field commanders Major Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and USAF Master Sergeant Epps (Tyrese Gibson), the NEST TEAM seeks to hunt down whatever remaining Decepticons are still hiding on earth. Unfortunately, even as the Autobots try to make a new life among humans, they discover they may not be welcome.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) | Review

Because I Believe
Elisabeth Leitch

Content Image
However, since Sam and his friends aren't just puppets in a play being staged by the Transformers, also important to the battle that erupts is the human side of the Transformer-human relationship. As we see in Sam's conspiracy-theory-addicted roommate Leo, in each of us is a desire to know that there is something greater out there. As Sam tells Leo when he finds himself right next to Sam in the middle of a robot battle, "You wanted this. You wanted the real deal. You're in the middle of it." But as we see when Leo becomes the movie's bumbling comic relief, sometimes the truth of the bigger reality is a bit too much to handle.

With time, Leo is able to handle his fear well enough to not muck up the situation entirely. However, for the government, their fear translated into blame proves a bit more problematic. Sure, the Autobots have helped protect the earth for years now, but as Transformers 2 begins, the question is whether they haven't also been the cause of the very problems they keep having to defend the world against. The proposed solution: the deportation of all Autobots. Says Optimus in response, "Freedom is your right." But as he also adds, "What if we leave and you're wrong?"

And so is also proposed the same problem and question for us. Sure, we have been given the free will to either reject or accept God, to invite Him into our life or bar Him; but what if we reject Him and we are wrong?

Of course, even if we accept both the reality and the benevolence of God, there still remains the question of how we are going to live in that reality. Even when we do believe in the power of God, sometimes the problem is that such power seems so great that we feel unnecessary and incapable. As Sam tells Optimus, "You're Optimus Prime, you don't need me." While we may believe in greater powers operating around us, sometimes we would rather leave it up to those greater forces to battle it out and just live within whatever reality ensues. As Sam tells Optimus, "This isn't my war." But as Sam proves as he accepts his role in the events unfolding around him, while there may be many more powerful than he, one of the greatest expressions of their power may very well be through him.

In a world in which even recognizing any greater reality or power is far from simple, it often seems easier to just believe and live as if we are all alone. But as Transformers 2 reveals, in a world where battles for our lives will always rage, those who will survive are not those who run from relationships, but those who embrace them in trust and faith. As Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) responds when asked to justify his defiance of governmental orders to follow cryptic instructions sent to him by Sam, "I don't know, but we've got to trust him." As Sam tells Mikaela as things go from bad to worse, "We didn't just go through everything we went through for no reason." As he responds when Mikaela questions how he knows their plan is going to work, "Because I believe." And as the movie's final scenes prove, when we believe in a Autobot or a God who loves us so much he is willing to sacrifice his life for ours, chances are: our faith will be rewarded

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