Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen [Mass Market Paperback]

[SPOILER FREE]
As with the first Transformers movie and novelization the first Act here is pretty slow moving. We do get almost instant Transformer action this time around, but the story takes a while to really pick up pace. When it does pick up the action is relentless.

As far as the story goes, overall I liked it. It was not as well put together as the story for the first movie. Alan Dean Foster novelization of which I read cover to cover in two days upon it's release weeks before the first film was released. The first book made me feel like a kid a again. This one failed to do that and actually felt a bit forced in parts (hard to put into words without spoilers, but think of the last Mummy squeal and you might get the idea), but in the final Act it does redeem itself.

My biggest problem with the story is two fold: 1. Lack of character growth. Near the end we're suppose to view one of the primary human characters as having gone through growth, but it just doesn't come across as believable in the book (perhaps in the film it will). 2. Single dimensional characters, I lost track of count of how many lines from the last film got recycled here. These characters are the same people we met last time and don't change at all throughout (goes for humans and Transformers).

[COMPARISON TO FILM: WARNING SPOILERS]
This go around I liked the film better than the novelization. Really that comment isn't aimed at the author, he did a great job of making this a entertaining, quick read. As is the case with many novelizations the book represents an earlier draft of the script than what was final (or scenes were simply edited out or reworked by the director). In case of Transformers: ROTF there were a lot more changes in the novel to film over the first. Some examples:

* In the book Optimus doesn't die. There's a line of dialog between Sam and Rachet where Rachet explains that his body has shut down and is slowly regenerating and that this could take a very long time. This tid-bit of information really isn't all that important, but it explains why some of Decepticons we saw get blasted in the previous film made a return.

* In the book there's more dialog by Soundwave, Sideswipe and Arcee. Also Smokescreen is in the book.

* The scene with Alice in the dorm room were a bit more drawn out. Sam was more conflicted, see's a Deception tattoo on her, etc... Wish that scene was filmed as it was written.

* There is a part where Sams Parent's get captured by the Decepticon's. Perhaps filmed and cut?

* Near the beginning when Sam is packing there is a TV in the background talking about the events from the last movie. A representative from Massive Dynamics (nod to TV series Fringe, which screenwriter Alex Kurtzman is involved with) was part of the cover up and is explaining the whole event

* The book has an epilogue which I expected to run after the credits. It's a scene where damaged Megatron is back on his ship in space and commands his protoforms to "Rise".

* Almost all of the the dirty humor you see throughout the film (including several lines of dialog) are absent from the book. Leading me to wonder who exactly added, but on the flip side the book was almost dry of humor which had me concerned.

* The book seemed heavy on redundant dialog. Little catch phrases, etc... recycled from the last film. That was kept to a minimum in the film.

Overall I really liked the film a lot better and it just goes to show you can't judge how much you will like a film based on a novelization.

First off let me say, I was very excited to get this book, and it did not let me down. It starts out a little slow; trying to catch you up on where the characters are and what happened after the first movie, but once the action starts it does not let up. From the US to Egypt and everywhere in between, this story has it all, and if most of the things in it happen in the movie; it will be awesome. (Being in the Air Force I liked the C-17 parts personally, but I digress) The only problem I found was that the Transformers are named off and it is hard to tell who is who, a little more clarification would have been nice, and the way the twins and Arcee are described confused me until the end of the book. The good part, you find out lots more about the Autobots and Decepticons, their history and that of Cybertron and the war. More bots, including some fan favorites and surprises abound. If you liked the first Transformers, give this book a try, it'll tide you over till the movie.

...all the stupid stuff in the second Transformers movie, is still in the book. I would really have expected better, but I'm not blaming Mr. Foster for anything. The reason being, he was writing what he was being payed to write. He could have made it better, but he had no control. All that having been said, this is still a fun and exciting novelization. If you could sit through the film, you can read this...and this is a whole lot better.

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