Poster © Paramount Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Adventure & Sci-Fi
RatedPG-13
Runtime2 hr 29 mins
ReleasedJune 24, 2009
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorMichael Bay
StarringShia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel
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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
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| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Adventure & Sci-Fi |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 06/08/2009 (Tokyo, Japan); 06/24/2009 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 29 mins |
| Budget | $200–210M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Hasbro's Transformers action figures |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's Interests | |
| General | College dorms, AllSpark shards, alien symbols, kitchen gadgets with a grudge, Autobot muscle cars. |
| Music | Steve Jablonsky. Linkin Park wrote a new song for this one too. |
| Movies | Transformers (2007). Where Sam bought his first car and got way more than a ride. |
| Television | Beast Wars. The '90s cartoon where the robots turned into animals instead. |
| Heroes | Bumblebee. Best car, best friend, no talking needed. |
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's Crew | |
| Director | Michael Bay |
| Writers | Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman |
| Producers | Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy, Ian Bryce |
| Cinematography | Ben Seresin |
| Music | Steve Jablonsky |
| Edited By | Roger Barton, Paul Rubell, Joel Negron, Thomas A. Muldoon |
| Production | DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Di Bonaventura Pictures, Hasbro |
| Distributed By | Paramount Pictures |
Is it possible to be bored during an explosion? Revenge of the Fallen answers that question for 149 minutes. The plot is a scavenger hunt for an ancient energy source, a machine hidden in a pyramid and a villain literally named The Fallen, and none of it holds together for longer than a scene. Sam heads to college and the movie keeps forgetting he’s supposed to be the hero. Two robot twins are written as lazy stereotypes, and it was uncomfortable then and it’s worse now. The desert finale is so loud and so blurry that you can’t tell which robot is winning or who’s even still around. John Turturro commits harder than the script deserves. The movie.guru score is a 3.0, with critics putting it ahead of only 9% of movies. It still made $836.3 million worldwide. A 2.3 because a couple of cool robot designs can’t rescue a movie this long and this lost. $182 says you can’t explain what the Fallen actually wanted, and you just spent two and a half hours with him.
What works: A few robot designs look great, and John Turturro brings more energy than the script gives him.
What doesn’t: The story is a confusing scavenger hunt, the finale is unreadable noise, and the robot twins are built on tired stereotypes.
Who it’s for: Die-hard Transformers fans who need to see every movie, and nobody else.
Spoilers
Sam briefly dies and meets the ancient Primes in a robot afterlife, where they tell him he’s earned the Matrix of Leadership. He uses it to revive Optimus, who defeats the Fallen, while Megatron escapes to set up the next sequel.
Two years after he helped the Autobots win the battle of Mission City, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is packing for college and trying to be normal. His girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox) is staying behind, his mom is a mess about it, and Bumblebee is crushed that Sam can't bring a car. Then Sam finds a tiny leftover sliver of the AllSpark, touches it, and starts seeing alien symbols everywhere. The kitchen appliances come to life, the Decepticons want whatever is now inside his head, and the Autobots and their military team NEST have their hands full. Michael Bay directs. One hundred fifty minutes, zero quiet semesters.
Anyone who can read ancient alien symbols. Help with homework also welcome.
Major William Lennox A U.S. Army Rangerphoto: Daniel Benavides, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
| Shia LaBeouf | Sam Witwicky |
| Megan Fox | Mikaela Banes |
| Josh Duhamel | Major William Lennox A U.S. Army Ranger |
| Tyrese Gibson | Robert Epps |
| John Turturro | Seymour Simmons |
| Ramon Rodriguez | Leo Spitz |
| Kevin Dunn | Ron Witwicky |
| Julie White | Judith Witwicky |
| Isabel Lucas | Alice |
| John Benjamin Hickey | Theodore Galloway |
| Glenn Morshower | General Morshower |
| Matthew Marsden | Captain Graham |
| Rainn Wilson | Professor R.A. Colan |
| Michael Papajohn | Cal Banes |
| Spencer Garrett | Air Force Chief of Staff |
| Josh Kelly | Stone |
| Deep Roy | Egyptian Guard |
| Peter Cullen | Optimus Prime |
| Tony Todd | The Fallen |
| Hugo Weaving | Megatron |
| Mark Ryan | Jetfire |
| Jess Harnell | Ironhide |
| Robert Foxworth | Ratchet |
| Charlie Adler | Starscream |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 6.0 / 10 (459,716 votes) → 6.0 / 10 (459,737 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $836.3M; Domestic box office $402.1M; Opening weekend $109M; Profit / loss (est.) +$110.7M; Rotten Tomatoes 19%; CinemaScore B+; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 19% (248 reviews); Metacritic 35 / 100; CinemaScore B+; IMDb users 6.0 / 10 (459,716 votes); movie.guru score 3.0.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.