Along with the start of summer, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” came out with much anticipation. Based off the toy-line turned Saturday morning cartoon and eventual popular comic book, “Transformers” is basically about an ancient struggle that restarts on Earth between two extraterrestrial clans, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, with the key clue to their power held by a teenager named Sam, played by Shia LaBeouf.

In “Revenge of the Fallen” the battle for Earth is over, but the battle for the universe has just begun. After returning to the aliens’ home planet, Starscream, the evil transformer, takes command of the Decepticons, and has decided to return to Earth with his army.

Sam and his girlfriend, Mikaela, played by Megan Fox, and his new college roommate, Leo, find themselves on the run from the Decepticons, who are after Sam’s visions of alien writing, which lead to an unstoppable, ancient power source. He and his friends must decipher the strange characters and a bizarre riddle to save Earth from the Decepticons and their Sun-killing machine.

A lot like the first “Transformers” movie, it has exciting action, awesome robot on robot fight scenes and plenty of romance between Sam and Mikaela. It had almost all of the first “Transformer’s” characters, including the former intelligence agent who harassed them and who later ends up befriending them and bringing them halfway across the world in order to find an ancient key called the Matrix.

It also had my favorite character, Bumblebee, the strange Autobot Transformer, who talks only with voice recordings from movies or the radio and transforms into a yellow Camaro. Also a new character, Leo, was introduced as Sam’s new college roommate, who starts out as a confident internet blogger/conspiracy theorist chasing incredible government secrets, but soon turns into a panicky teen who regrets being brought along on the adventure.

Shia LaBeouf really stood out as the main hero in this film. His acting has noticeably improved from his earlier works like “Distrubia” and the first “Transformer” film in 2007. Megan Fox did a good job as his love interest as well, and her hair was always perfectly brushed and straightened no matter what the circumstances.

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” was overall a lot better than I expected it to be. It didn’t have a fantastic storyline, but it was funny and most of the jokes were really good, though there were some sexual innuendos that were awkward and unnecessary. Overall, it was fun to watch.

As an action movie, the special effects were amazing. It was a very entertaining movie, but leading up to the climax, it tends to drag a little bit. However, if you want good summertime fun at the movies, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is a good bet.

Aran Kirschenmann, 12, is a contributing writer for the Bellevue Reporter and a seventh grader at The International School in Bellevue.