MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, sociological*
REVENGE received a lot of brickbats in its day, with one critic calling it "incomprehensible"-- which I for one find incomprehensible. It's just a formulaic sequel seeking to keep its audience's attention with even more giant-robot action and silly humor than the previous film. And it's hard to see any other logical avenue for such "high concept" filmmakers. For me the biggest attraction of the 2007 film was to see how its craftsmen attempted to make a kids' cartoon into a general-audience feature film-- which was an act that could only be offered once.
So, the plot. Despite Sam Witwicky having saved the Earth by (temporarily) destroying Megatron, he's attempting to live an ordinary life by going off to college, even though this separates him from girlfriend Mikaela. However, his contact with a shard of the "All Spark" causes him to experience visions-- which, in a circuitous manner, will lead him and various allies to discover a new threat to Earth's survival. But before they can do so, Megaton is resurrected while the Autobots' noble leader Optimus Prime is slain. Yet once the audience learns that only a Prime can defeat "The Fallen," a world-destroying Decepticon who's constructed as an "Autobot Devil"-- can Optimus' revival be far behind?
Most of REVENGE is comfortably predictable and nothing more. The most unlikely development in my view was that the writers brought back Seymour Simmons (John Turturro) from the 2007 film. I described the character as a "minor dick-villain," but here he's a more rounded (if still goony) character who adds some variety to the human allies of the Autobots.
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