History YMMV / TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen

* AwesomeMusic: The video-game's soundtrack is composed by beloved industrial band Music/JulienK, so this is a given.

* HamAndCheese: John Turturro as Simmons.

** Michael Bay is not responsible for the UnfortunateImplications of Skids and Mudflap; the twins were improvised by their actors, and are meant to be parodies of [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy white people pretending to be black]]. Of course, it's rather hard to tell when they're green and orange robot cars. Notably, Reno Wilson (who is black himself) was saddened to hear that his performance was apparently offensive to himself.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: It's plainly obvious that the rendering and animation of the robots during all of the desert scenes, with the notable exception of Devastator, aren't up to par with the rest of the movie. The scenes that take place on Saturn's moon and in particular, the one where Starscream backs into a hatchling's pod, also look unfinished. It's particularly egregious when you consider ''Revenge''’s budget outstripped [[Film/{{Transformers}} its predecessor's]] by $50 million. Appropriately, while the first and third movies ''were'' nominated for the Visual Effects Oscar, this one was not. See {{Narm}} above for another infamous example.
** During the desert battle, some flames very noticeably clip through Megan Fox's frame.

* MemeticPsychopath: The above-mentioned line "Give me your face" line [[MemeticMutation especially blew up]] on Website/TFWikiDotNet, and for awhile references to Optimus stealing faces were [[NeverLiveItDown inescapable]] on the wiki. Standout examples include:

** Skids and Mudflap are widely hated by fans for their obnoxious, annoying, and [[EthnicScrappy HORRIBLY stereotypical personalities]].

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The first film drew criticism for lack of focus on the Decepticons, particularly regarding Starscream’s minor role and Soundwave not appearing at all. While the Decepticons are still not that fleshed out, they do get several scenes where they’re the focus of the action, and have scenes to themselves. Starscream becomes a major supporting villain, and Soundwave finally makes his debut, albeit in a minor role.

* TakeThatScrappy: After being nothing more than an [[TheLoad absolute hindrance]] to both the film ''and'' [[TheScrappy the audience]], quite a few viewers couldn't help but laugh at Bumblebee bashing them together and throwing them out of the temple while they were searching for the Matrix of Leadership in Egypt.

* DesignatedVillain: The Shanghai operation does not cast a very favorable light on either NEST or the Autobots. First off, Sideways made no hostile actions against the Autobots, and was [[GetBackHereBoss merely trying to flee the scene without incident]]. Also, the toy bios make things much worse: [[NobleDemon Demolishor apparently considered himself something of a protector to the smaller Decepticons]] who were just waiting for a new Decepticon leader to rise in Megatron's absence, while Sideways is described as being [[NonActionGuy someone who avoids combat entirely]]. In the Autobots and NEST's defense, [[FourthWallMyopia they were unaware of this information]], and for all they knew, the Decepticons may have been planning an attack. Also, the whole "jumping through an apartment" and "crushing and flinging cars on the freeway" thing [[MoralEventHorizon make the Decepticons a little less sympathetic.]]

* MemeticPsychopath: The above-mentioned line "Give me your face" line [[MemeticMutation especially blew up]] on Wiki/TFWikiDotNet, and for awhile references to Optimus stealing faces were [[NeverLiveItDown inescapable]] on the wiki. Standout examples include:

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Some accused Michael Bay of holding an anti-UsefulNotes/BarackObama agenda, since he is specifically mentioned as being the president, and the government officials go from being generally cooperative (albeit in over their heads) in the last film to being complete jerkwads in this one. However, as Bay pointed out, the screenplay was completed and filming began at the start of 2008, before he or anyone else involved knew that the ''Democrats would nominate'' Obama (UsefulNotes/HillaryClinton was still the favorite for their nomination at the start of 2008, albeit by a slim margin), much less that he would out-poll all other presidential candidates. Furthermore, Bay and the writers are known Democratic voters and meant no offense to Obama, and the decision to namedrop him occurred ''after'' Obama became president. Additionally, Obama is only mentioned in a brief line and shown in a few brief shots of news footage, both of which were obviously changes made in post-production. The line and snippet of footage could've easily been changed to focus on John [=McCain=] had he won the 2008 election.

** The film actually borrows a surprising amount from ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie''. [[spoiler:Megatron is resurrected and works for the true BigBad, who has vague motivations and cannot act until Prime is dead[[note]]While Unicron was more concerned with the Matrix, he still needed Optimus dead since only a Prime can use it[[/note]]. Optimus dies and the villain makes his move, but then the Matrix is used - which leads to the BigBad being [[AnticlimaxBoss taken out with ease]] while Megatron survives]]. Both films turn the amount of [[{{Gorn}} violence]] UpToEleven and introduce both [[RememberTheNewGuy new characters not seen previously]] and [[TheScrappy some scrappies]]. Technically even the animation issues[[note]]Granted, the animated film was pretty good about these, when compared to the series - but it wasn't perfect either[[/note]] are replicated as the CGI has some issues at places and certain character models are recycled. The Blackout/Grindor confusion is especially comical as the original series [[OffModel occasionally had dead characters reappear]] in some scenes.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The Autobots and N.E.S.T. hunting Decepticons in Shanghai. Questionable persecution because the Decepticons there were minding their own business at the time, or justified on the grounds that it's the equivalent of hunting down memebers of a terrorist organization after they endangered countless lives by attacking a U.S. Army base and a populated city in the last film?

* Padding: The most of the college scenes in the first hour of the movie don't really contribute to the plot and feel like they exist to take up time.

** This movie brings in Soundwave and a Predator drone shows up in a few scenes, a couple of years later it would serve as the alt-mode of another [[Series/TransformersPrime Soundwave.]]

* UncannyValley: The Autobots and the Decepticons taking on increasingly human-like features as part of their primary modes; for example, the Fallen's "beard" and head resembling an Egyptian headdress. This would later become a norm for the sequels.
** Skids and Mudflap were widely accused of [[UnfortunateImplications mimicking blackface]].
** Finally, Devastator's wrecking balls.

* AnticlimaxBoss: [[spoiler:The Fallen was over 20,000 years old, at least as old as Jetfire (who was falling apart), and would not come to Earth until Optimus was dead, implying that he was somewhat afraid of Optimus, so it is somewhat justified within the movie. Still, it was quite a disappointment to see the guy the comics have always presented as about midway between Megs and Unicron on the OhCrap-ometer go down so easily.]]

* {{Misblamed}}:

** And, apparently, they weren't intended to be parodies of urban African-Americans at all, but instead jab at the subculture of white males who emulate hip-hop mannerism to an offensive degree. Not a ''horrible'' idea in-and-of-itself, since the Autobots were already shown to adopt Earth cultures they most identify with and this could've been presented as a rather entertainingly cynical look at their cultural appropriation. However, the commentary falls somewhat short since they're, y'know, ''robots'' that have no ethnicity, leaving the audience to draw the most logical conclusions over what they're supposed to be representing.

** When Simmons climbs up to Devastator, he sees that he has two wrecking balls hanging from his crotch to resemble a scrotum. None of the components of Devastator were shown to have wrecking balls, and it ultimately serves no plot relevance outside of a quick bit of VulgarHumor.

** When Simmons climbs up to Devastator, he sees that he has two wrecking balls hanging from his crotch to resemble a scrotum. None of the components of Devastator were shown to have wrecking balls, and it ultimately serves no plot relevance outside of a quick bit of VulgarHumor,

** Megatron starts his BadassDecay in earnest here, going from the supreme badass of the first movie to the Fallen's YesMan. However, this is nothing compared to what happens to him in ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon''... but then [[spoiler: [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap he gets his cool factor back]] as [[Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction Galvatron]]]].

* WhatAnIdiot: At the Smithsonian, Sam and Co. don’t bother to check the faction insignia of the Seeker they’re reviving until ''after'' they’ve already placed the Allspark fragment on the dormant Transformer. [[OhCrap The inert jet turns out to have a Decepticon insignia plastered on it]]. Fortunately for them, Jetfire turns out to be a DefectorFromDecadence, but if that weren’t the case, things would have gone south for them very quickly.