Bryce Zabel's MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) -vs- Transformers (2007)

The Smackdown. Hollywood's in love with the 1980s, and nowhere is it more apparent than with the Transformer's franchise. In 2007, the first "Transformers" was a box-office success, easily earning a sequel in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."  Now, in less then two years, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" hits theaters with the same cast and crew as the original.  Sounds like a fair fight?  So true to the spirit of the Transformer series, today's smackdown pits robot against robot in a knock-down intergalactic cinematic fight as we ask which film does robot-on-robot action better?

The Challenger. With "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," Michael Bay spares no expense ensuring audiences get more bang for their $14 movie ticket. This time, a college-bound Sam Witwicky finds himself trapped in the ever-escalating war between the Autobots and Decepticons...again. See, a prehistoric Transformer called The Fallen intends to drain our sun to obtain the Transformer's life-force, Energon. Naturally, he'll then conquer the cosmos or achieve some equally impolite end (like chewing with his mouth open). But only Sam knows the location of this Energon machine due to a series of psychic visions. Now, Sam must lead the Autobots to Egypt where they wage war against The Fallen, his Decepticons, and Megatron...yes, that's right, Megatron's back too. Still want more plot? Don't worry; I just gave you half. Clocking in well over two hours, "Transformers: RotF" has enough plot for three trilogies. It's the only type of sequel you'd expect from Michael Bay: one that's bigger, louder, and dumber.

The Dark Knight (2008) -vs- Batman Begins (2005)

EDITOR'S NOTE:   It was June 15 -- four years ago -- when the highly anticipated re-conception of the Batman franchise, "Batman Begins," hit the screens nationwide.  Almost instantly it made audiences forget the increasingly lame series of films that had preceded it. Then, three years later, "The Dark Knight" extended that new franchise in ways that had previously been unheard of for a comic book movie.  (HBO will debut "The Dark Knight" on June 13).  In honor of the singular achievement of giving such new life to Batman, Movie Smackdown looks back at SmackRef Stephen Bell's 2008 ring match between the two films in which he predicts, among other things, that Heath Ledger had a lock on the Best Actor Oscar. Here's his review, as it appeared last year:

 When Is a Sequel Not a Sequel? 

The Smackdown.  Batman's back.  Unless you live in an isolated third world village, you knew this already and, frankly, even if that's where you live you probably know it anyway.   In 2005, Christopher Nolan reintroduced the world to the infamous Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy by day, caped crusader by night. His film, "Batman Begins," reinvented the iconic hero for a new generation, discarding the camp and flash of the previous films and introducing a hero that strayed very far from the classic Boy Scouts we'd come to associate superhero films with.  He took a 16 year old franchise and wiped the mud off, breaking IMAX records and pumping life into a movie hero that had been M.I.A. since a Mr. Clooney pulled on the cowl (shudder).

The Challenger.  It is official. "The Dark Knight" has set the world on fire. Picking up where "Batman Begins" left off, we follow Bruce Wayne/Batman as he attempts to remove Gotham's worst from their position of power and pass the mantle off to a new hero, D.A. Harvey Dent, played by veteran star Aaron Eckhart. Since the conclusion of "Begins," Batman has been successful in striking fear in the hearts of Gotham's villains and it appears that he might actually see the light at the end of the tunnel in his fight against crime. Unfortunately for Batman, that light happens to be an oncoming train, embodied by none other than the most notorious of the vigilante's nemeses, The Joker. As you've no doubt already heard, this is not Jacky's Joker from the 1980's. This is Heath Ledger unleashed, a rabid dog of such unspeakable evil that nothing is left untainted in his wake. The Joker's mission is simple - bring chaos to Gotham. As he moves through the city like a maelstrom, it is up to Batman, Dent, Gordon (again played by Gary Oldman) and the rest of Batman's allies to save the city from the Joker and his corruption.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) -vs- Iron Man (2008)

 Men of Metal 

The Smackdown.  Well, bub...another year, another X-Men movie.  Marvel Studios and Fox continue expanding its X-Men film universe with the addition of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the first in a series of Origins spin-offs designed to focus on specific characters from the X-Men franchise.  With the movie already proving to be a box office blast, I'm sure we'll get all the way to X-Men Origins: Xavier's Wheelchair before this franchise runs out of steam.  So what other film hero could possibly best the Wolverine?  How about another team member who goes solo on film?  Yes, another "man of metal"...Iron Man, founder of The Avengers (due out in 2011...you're welcome, Marvel)!  So today, sparks fly, metal on metal, adamantium and iron clashing to determine which of hero can hold his own alone?

The Challenger.  Hugh Jackman returns to the role that made him an American star in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, directed by Rendition director Gavin Hood.  Taking place roughly fifteen years before Bryan Singer's X-Men, X-Men Origins: Wolverine explores Logan's journey in becoming an amnesiac mutant with indestructible adamantium-laced claws.  William Stryker, the bigoted villain of X2: X-Men United, is back with a plan to genetically-create a "mutant-killing" soldier for the coming species war--a plan that inadvertently creates Wolverine.  New to the fray are fan favorites Gambit and Deadpool, each helping and hindering Logan as he tries to track down another familiar face, Sabertooth.  Jam-packed with comic book cameos, witty one-liners, and over-the-top thrills, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a fast-paced action adventure which moves as swiftly and ruthlessly as its main character.

X-Men (2000) -vs- X2: X-Men United (2003) -vs- X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

 X Marks the Spot 

The Smackdown.  What happens when you take a merry band of hot people with gifts that get them lynched, a bitter geriatric villain born from the Holocaust, and a Star Trek captain confined to a wheelchair but still in charge with his faintly-odd-I-can't-place-that-but-it's-North-Atlantic accent?  You get the X-Men trilogy, started by Bryan Singer in 2000.  Leave it to the X-Men, a comic book franchise that re-defined comics, to make comic book films cool again following the fall of the Batman franchise.  With X-Men Origins: Wolverine's release and Fox's not-too-subtle Blu-ray release of the X-Men series, X-Men, X2, and X-Men: The Last Stand face up to find out which film is more evolved, and which determines the fate of mankind's war against their genetic superiors?

In One Corner.  Bryan Singer's X-Men took a little bit of Matrix and a whole lot of Marvel and jam-packed it all into an intense 90-minute film that was surprisingly more thriller than action film.  This isn't a surprise since Singer has always seemed most comfortable in thrillers, The Usual Suspects and Apt Pupil being the merits that earned him X-Men's directorial helm.  In X-Men, Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine, an amnesiac mutant with indestructible claws, is found by the X-Men, a group of highly-trained mutants who moonlight as teachers at a school for young mutants.  The school's headmaster, Charles Xavier, dreams of creating a world where human and mutants co-exist.  Opposing Xavier and his X-Men is Magneto, Xavier's former best friend and militant leader of the anti-human Brotherhood of Mutants.  This is a movie made by its casting since the plot is rather slim and predictable.  Watching Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan wax philisophical as comic book versions of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X makes for a riveting thriller.  

Dr. Manhattan (1986/2009) -vs- The Silver Surfer (1966/2007)

 Big Bald Dudes with Really Smooth Skin 

The Smackdown.  Ladies and Gentleman, welcome one, welcome all to our very first Character Smackdown! We've all wondered at times: who would win?  Rambo versus Jack Ryan?  John McClane versus Martin Riggs?  Ethan Hunt versus Jason Bourne?  Rocky versus The Wrestler?  Terminator versus Wall-E?  Tonight, we have a cosmic showdown as Stan Lee's Silver Surfer blasts his way toward Dr. Manhattan to find out what mortal-turned-deity remains standing. Will it be Marvel's Surfing Herald for The Destroyer of Worlds or will it be The American Atomic Superman?  With the ability to atomize objects, glimpse the future, and traverse space-time itself, what matters in the end when god meets god?

The Challenger.  This past week moviegoers were introduced to John Osterman, a.k.a. Dr. Manhattan.  Created in 1985, Alan Moore's demi-god represented the next step in the nuclear race, a living, breathing "Atomic Man" in the world of Watchmen.  One of the earliest members of the vigilante group The Minutemen, scientist John Osterman fell victim to a freak accident in which his basic being became warped by energies beyond knowable science.  The result: a super-powered god, contracted by The United States to tip the balance of the Cold War.  In Vietnam, Dr. Manhattan cuts a atomic swatch across the battlefields, wrapping the war up neatly.  But with his power came the burden of immortality, a burden that challenged Osterman's very humanity.  And Dr. Manhattan goes from a man isolated from his humanity to a man who simply gives up on humanity itself.