How Far Bay Must Have “Fallen”
Posted by emperorbananaketchup on June 25, 2009
Warning: may contain spoilers.
What made Michael Bay’s initial live-action adaptation of Hasbro’s toy line- turned-80’s-era-cartoon series Transformers so (guilt-pleasuringly) enjoyable was not just the way he managed to have real-life vehicles transform on-screen into humanoid robots (and vice versa) look so convincing, he even gets these verbose hunks o’ metal to show a comic side. Sure enough, the multi-million ka-chings in box offices around the world have not only made the world safe for giant-robot movies (hmmm…where’s Tobey Maguire’s mulled Robotech adaptation????) but also turned Disney-channel alum Shia LaBoeuf into a bonafide teen idol (not to mention making Megan Fox a self-minted sex symbol for the geek set)
This time around, in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, it seems that chinks are already showing in the armor. Continuing from the first movie, Sam Witwicky (LaBoeuf) is seen off to college, but not after nearly ripping up his folks’ home to shreds once again when his keepsake shard of the Allspark falls into the kitchen, turning the home appliances into mini-Transformers. Reveling in his newly-found independence, Sam proceeds to distance himself from Mikaela (Fox), whose way with engines makes her useful in her father’s custom-bike shop. There he gets himself a roommate in Leo (Ramon Rodriguez, looking like Matthew McConaughey’s kid brother), a self-styled online mini-mogul trafficking in cute-kitty calendars and caught-on-video conspiracies, as well as the (unwanted) attraction of the campus hot chick (Aussie newcomer Isabel Lucas)
As Bumblebee has to contend with a lower profile in Sam’s college life, his Autobot allies had to content with the collateral damage from a Shanghai skirmish that has their Diego Garcia-based joint exercises (with a US military contingent led by Josh Duhamel’s Cpl. Lennox character) censured by a senior bureaucrat.
Meanwhile, back at Cybertron, The Fallen gets restless and maps out his plan to seek vengeance upon Optimus Prime for what he had done to Megatron. He sends the panther-like Ravager to Earth (through Soundwave - now an orbiting satellite - a clever nod to the cartoon series, where Ravager was a cassette tape), where he finds out that Sam holds the key in unlocking a device built millenia ago when Cybertron troops first attempted to colonise the Earth – an immense gun concealed in one of Egypt’s Pyramids, intent on destroying our Sun to mine Energon, a mineral upon which Cybertron’s inhabitants get their sustenance from.
Soon enough, a reluctant Witwicky (along with his even more reluctant parents) find themselves dragged into the Autobots vs. Decepticons conflict part deux. Along the way, they meet up with former Decepticon Jetfire (a SR-71 with the voice and posture of a British WWI veteran) and Simmons (John Turturro) who has fallen from heading a high-security-clearance government agency to schlepping out at his mom’s butcher shop (while carrying on with his X-files paranoid ramblings).
The evolution of JetFire (original Transformers cartoon, Transformers Armada version and artist rendering of final film version)
The Autobots may have missed Jazz (who was knocked off in one of the first film’s climactic battles) but they have able replacement(s) in the form of “the Twins” – aka Skid and Mudflap, whose “ghetto-kid” banter have unfortunately drawn comparisons with the infamous Gungan “pseudo-Rastafarian” Jar Jar Binks from George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels. Sure, Jazz was also protrayed with a characteristic African-American “cool” ‘tude, but The Twins come off a tad too stereotypical with the jug ears and Skid’s gold tooth (good thing they did not go as far as putting thick lips or king-sized bling bling).
The "Twins" - Skid (green) and Mudflap (red-brown)
Needless to say, the robot fights are just as impressive as in the initial installment, particularly the forest fight where Optimus Prime nearly pawns Starscream with his arm-mounted blades (as well as in the aforementioned Shanghai skirmish).
The new robots are just as impressive (especially Autobots Sideswipe and Arcee) but definitely owning them is Devastator – formed from the union of all five Constructicons; it’s a pity he gets pawned big-time by a ship-mounted railgun. Can’t help but notice how Decepticon Wheelie – taking the form of a R/C 4X4 truck – resembles the titular hero of Disney/Pixar’s Wall-E when he takes on ‘bot form.
Separated at birth (or is it creation?)
Unfortunate racial stereotypes aside, I was a bit surprised that there were a number of cuss words (including references to Devastator’s “balls” as well as females of the canine specie) in a movie whose primary aim is to draw a whole lot of kids into cinema seats. Let’s not get into the dorm scene where Leo’s leggy hot chick gets poor Sam into bed (much to the horror of a visiting Mikaela). Maybe it was just a way to up the “eewww” count from the first (who couldn’t forget Bumblebee “pissing” on Agent Simmons???) but a similar scene turns up where Mamma Witwicky unwittingly helps herself to the contents of a dimebag on her son’s new campus.
Character-wise…well, this is a Transformers film, so definitely, humans are officially an afterthought (even if they prove to be valuable allies to the Autobots’ battle against the Decepticons.) Somehow, much missed in the whole affair is Anthony Anderson’s small-time hacker as well as Jon Voight’s US President (this installment recognizes the current Obama leadership, so Voight’s absence is all moot.) Michael Bay, ever the conscious hack, never seems to have learned his lesson from Pearl Harbor, so he proceeds to slather cheese all over Sam & Mikaela’s relationship (cue in sun-backlit shot of Mikaela as she implores a near-dying Sam not to give up).
What made the first Transformers film memorable was the budding sense of cooperation between the humans and the robots (not to mention the latter picking up human characteristics). Then again, if Skid and Mudflap are any indicator, maybe Optimus Prime may change his mind and consider taking his whole troop back to Cybertron.
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