Now: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)Then: Terminator Salvation (2009)
The world just can't get enough of angry robots, can it? While their overpriced real-life counterparts struggle mightily just to vacuum our floors properly, the sentient machines of Hollywood's imagination come from the far reaches of the cosmos to kick, blast, and pummel their way across the screen -- leaving in their wake devastated cities, smoldering piles of humanity, and mountains of moviegoer cash. As Michael Bay's sequel to his 2007 hit about cheap Japanese toys -- sorry, rock 'em, sock 'em robots from outer space! -- hits theaters, what better movie to pit it against than this summer's other killer-robot movie, Terminator Salvation? So which of these scifi blockbusters pitches the bigger tent pole?
And a Human Shall Lead Them!
Transformers 2: After a brief interlude with his new college roommates and a bizarre slapstick pot-brownie episode involving his mother, it becomes clear that helping good alien robots isn't just Sam's duty, it is... (cue deep voice) "his destiny."
Terminator Salvation: We've known since the first movie that John Connor (Christian Bale) is destined to lead the human resistance against Skynet. Luckily, there are no colleges left in this post-nuclear age to allow for detours into audience-appeasing juvenilia. Poor us.
Winner: Terminator Salvation. This iteration of John Connor is a fairly lifeless and bland one, but we'll take lifeless and bland over shrill and annoying any day.
