Movie Review: Transformers 2
Despite Michael Bay's directorial credit, and the list of writers involved as well, the folks responsible for the Transformers sequel must have actually been a room full of dim, panting 14-year old boys. While the first iteration of Transformers certainly contained a healthy dose of sophomoric sexual voyeurism -- there's nothing personal about watching Megan Fox, clad in her Daisy Dukes, lean over the engine of a car -- Revenge of the Fallen goes well beyond any sense of subtlety or nuance: this time we again see Fox, clad in her cutoffs, performing ridiculous tasks, like airbrushing a chopper's gas tank whilst astride the saddle. And, as Tiffani has pointed out, what's with the new female acting technique of standing around with one's overplumped lips puffed out and parted? The media has lately allowed for too much emphasis on body parts, and not enough focus on story or acting.
Due to the success of the original Transformers, Bay likely enjoyed considerable license from the producers and the studio to expand upon those teenagery themes he most favors: unrealistic male sexual fantasy and anthropomorphic, clowny robots, which happened to be the weakest parts of the original Transformers. Shia LeBeouf isn't what one would describe as classically handsome, or even remotely good looking at that, yet here he is weakly rebuffing the advances of an aggressive, comely coed, and even resisting telling his girlfriend Fox -- the one he so pined for in the original -- that he loves her. And Bay must have polled pre-teen boys to discern what audiences wanted out of the sequel -- or validate his own childhood fantasy to play with robot toys -- because he blew up the CGI machines with all the mecha shots. Two new, particularly annoying autobots, Skids and Mudflap, remind one of the gratingly annoying Jar Jar Binks in the updated Star Wars franchise episodes, and only proved entertaining to 5-year old Seamus.
With this enhanced directorial power, Bay wanted more filmed feet for his ridiculous antics and shots; Transformers 2 was stuffed with too much movie, coming in at 2 hours 20+ minutes, it was far too interminably long. Continuity and plot are minor contrivances to Bay, impediments to his real goal of assembling sequences of Fox running through the desert in spaghetti straps. And speaking of running, has any of the Bay directed films encountered criticism of his John Woo-influenced slow-motion sequences? Finally, the advertising, too, in Transformers 2 is really unsavory, what with the overt General Motors and LG product placements both distracting and confusing. How mind-boggling that the Transformers producers shilled for extra money for these products when the movie was widely anticipated to be review-proof and make hundreds of millions, which it ultimately did with a $400 million worldwide box office.
Our 11-year old, Nick, wasn't home to watch the movie with us, but both Tiff and Sophia fell asleep, Cori didn't enjoy it, leaving Seamus as the lone fan of the movie, and I'm sure that's not the market for which the movie was intended. Also, watching the DVD Friday night I pretty immediately found myself thinking that this is the most disappointed I've ever felt about a sequel, and maybe even a movie itself. This sets me up for criticism of my movie tastes and choices, but the family and I were unapologetically fans of the original, and had some anticipatory hopes for the sequel. But, I see I'm far from the only viewer disappointed.
Due to the success of the original Transformers, Bay likely enjoyed considerable license from the producers and the studio to expand upon those teenagery themes he most favors: unrealistic male sexual fantasy and anthropomorphic, clowny robots, which happened to be the weakest parts of the original Transformers. Shia LeBeouf isn't what one would describe as classically handsome, or even remotely good looking at that, yet here he is weakly rebuffing the advances of an aggressive, comely coed, and even resisting telling his girlfriend Fox -- the one he so pined for in the original -- that he loves her. And Bay must have polled pre-teen boys to discern what audiences wanted out of the sequel -- or validate his own childhood fantasy to play with robot toys -- because he blew up the CGI machines with all the mecha shots. Two new, particularly annoying autobots, Skids and Mudflap, remind one of the gratingly annoying Jar Jar Binks in the updated Star Wars franchise episodes, and only proved entertaining to 5-year old Seamus.
With this enhanced directorial power, Bay wanted more filmed feet for his ridiculous antics and shots; Transformers 2 was stuffed with too much movie, coming in at 2 hours 20+ minutes, it was far too interminably long. Continuity and plot are minor contrivances to Bay, impediments to his real goal of assembling sequences of Fox running through the desert in spaghetti straps. And speaking of running, has any of the Bay directed films encountered criticism of his John Woo-influenced slow-motion sequences? Finally, the advertising, too, in Transformers 2 is really unsavory, what with the overt General Motors and LG product placements both distracting and confusing. How mind-boggling that the Transformers producers shilled for extra money for these products when the movie was widely anticipated to be review-proof and make hundreds of millions, which it ultimately did with a $400 million worldwide box office.
Our 11-year old, Nick, wasn't home to watch the movie with us, but both Tiff and Sophia fell asleep, Cori didn't enjoy it, leaving Seamus as the lone fan of the movie, and I'm sure that's not the market for which the movie was intended. Also, watching the DVD Friday night I pretty immediately found myself thinking that this is the most disappointed I've ever felt about a sequel, and maybe even a movie itself. This sets me up for criticism of my movie tastes and choices, but the family and I were unapologetically fans of the original, and had some anticipatory hopes for the sequel. But, I see I'm far from the only viewer disappointed.
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