Transformers 2

There has been a lot of criticism and speculation about Transformers 2 by the media and so called "critics". I went to see it last night and a bunch of people wanted to know what i think, so ill try to put some initial thoughts down without giving too much away.

Likes!
- Story: Was a very covincing story giving more weight to why the Transformers are on earth. I thought the whole idea of the NEST team was cool, would have like to see them doing more ops instead of fighting with the Obama administration over how they operate.

- Character development between Megatron and Starscream. Showing their rivalry, starscream's shady side and how they both need each other to survive. In the first movie, they were just bad guys. In this one, they are allowed to grow their characters a bit.

- Shia and Megan: Great on screen chemistry. If only the Star Wars prequels had that.

- Bumblebee: The essential figure of the movie, but doesnt utter a word of dialogue outside his radio. Hes so emotive that you can tell what hes thinking just by watching him. Its amazing what the guys at ILM can do.

- EPIC scale battles. The last 30 min or so of the movie is one for the books. Robots, amazing amounts of military hardware, one of the coolest explisions in movie history...so cool.

- Michael Bay: I love his filming style, his epic scale of movies and his no holds barred attitude when doing movies. Noone could make these kind of movies but him.

- Steve Jablonsky's score. With the help of Linkin Park, they did another great job. Its not as thematic as the first movie's score, but fits great in the movie.

- The witwicky family. Sams parents, especially his mother are just plain funny. Love the addition. They were great near the end as well during a very dramatic part as well. Kudos to those 2 actors.

- Glenn MOrshower. While i thought they killed him off in TF1, hes back now and with a MUCH bigger role. Loeved him as Agent Pierce on 24 and his other roles. He was perfect in this as the General in charge of NEST.

- IMAX: the IMAX scenes were incredible. The non IMAX scenes sounded amazing and looked great too. I love how more and more movies are doing this.

- Peter Cullen: Dude is just flat out amazing. His voice gives me chills when i hear him do voiceovers.

- Frank Welker as Soundwave. While its too bad he couldnt voice Megatron, im glad hes in the new Transformers iteration. Guy is a legend.

- Scorponok back, if only for just a shot or 2.

- Jetfire: what a cool way to do some history/exposition. I loved the character and his whole schtick.


Dislikes:

- Character Development: 44 Robots in the film alone. Way too many. Fallen, Devastator, Constructicons, Demolisher, Megatrons group....too many groups of Decepticons. Needed to either tie it together somehow or pair it down.

- Autobot usage: Less Twins, more Sideswipe/Ironhide. Sideswipe got almost 0 screentime talking to anyone. While most people hate the Twins, likening them to JarJar, i didnt mind them. However, Ironhide/Bumblebee/Rachet are more interesting characters, imo.

- Rachet: Love the character, but for another key point in a movie, his role as team medic is never used. Either hes a crapass medic or they are out of their league. I see Autobots getting blown up and hes standing there firing some weak ass gun. YOU ARE A MEDIC, SO GO HEAL.

- Overabundance of Testicle Jokes: Wether its the wrecking balls on Devastator or John Turturro saying "scrotum", i could have done without em. I wasnt offended or anything, just was a bit trashy, imo.

- Political overtones: The bit about the Obama Administration trying to shut down NEST is played out and dumb. Whats wrong with saying, ok, we have this team, its US VS THEM. GOOD VS EVIL. Also, who is Obama to choose if the autobots can stay on earth or not. If Obama wants them gone, then cant another country take them in?

- Length: hate to say it, but it could have been edited down a bit. No need for the whole "Pretender" bit in college. Cut that whole subplot out and youll save a good 10 minutes. I know its tied into some other areas of the movie(aka sam/mikayla tension) but i thought that was kind of forced as well.

Im sure im forgetting things, but thats my overall thoughts. I would love to see it again, and its a day 1 buy on blu ray.