14 DAY TRIAL // Director Michael Bay took a lot of heat for taking Hasbro’s Transformers and making it into the 2007 film that went on to gross over $700 million at the box-office immediately upon release. With “Revenge of the Fallen,” now running in most theaters, the director is taking the same kind of heat – if not actually worse – for making possible anything from the toyfication of America, the utterly shameless objectification of women to the purging of what was once a beautiful story from all common sense, or any kind of sense for that matter. Still, “Transformers 2” stands to make history at the box-office, most critics agree.
Anyone familiar with the story knows who the Autobots and the Decepticons are. Anyone familiar with Michael Bay’s work (and the first “Transformers” film in particular) knows what to expect when they pay for their cinema ticket so, it is being argued, perhaps finding fault with “Revenge of the Fallen” might be somewhat futile. Still, this is one sequel that manages to make for such a fast-paced and extravagant action film that, most of the time, even the most attentive or diehard fan does not know what it is happening onscreen. With a whopping budget of over $200 million, most of which went into the postproduction creation of the bots, it’s no wonder that all emphasis is placed on action, much to the detriment of storytelling or acting.
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” takes up the story where the first film in the franchise left off. Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), who acts as some sort of ambassador between the Autobots and humans in their constant fight against the Decepticons (who see Earth as the last battling ground and ultimately want to destroy it by using the Sun for energy), is about to embark on the special adventure that is commonly known as moving out and going to college. In doing so, he must leave girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox) and Bumblebee (an Autobot camouflaged as a Camaro always ready to transform to protect its precious charge, Sam) behind. Unfortunately, touching a little piece of the Cube makes Sam see symbols that actually make up a map for a devilish device meant to create Energon – the energy Decepticons need to survive – by destroying our Sun.
Consequently, Sam spends about two days being a regular freshman before being chased around, shot at and nearly killed by all kinds of Decepticons (including a new type that can assume the appearance of an insanely good-looking girl with a killer tongue – literally). He is soon reunited with Mikaela and Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), working in close connection with a special army unit, NEST, and the other Autobots to find out just what the Decepticons are after. This being a sequel, it’s not hard to believe that Megatron is not quite really dead. The problem is, he’s not the only one out to put an end to our planet, as his evil lord, The Fallen, also wants to have his revenge on Prime and, ultimately, the humans by using our Sun to make energy for the Decepticons.
The story seems simple enough when put on paper, critics seem to agree, so it’s not here that the problem with “Transformers 2” lies, but rather with Michael Bay’s attempts at breathing life into it on the big screen. As it’s common knowledge, this is one director that is extremely comfortable when blowing up stuff, therefore this is what predominates in this film as well, sometimes up to the point of making the viewer dizzy. There is little coherence, and even less acting on behalf of the cast in this film, it is being said. LaBeouf screams most of his dialog, Fox seems more concerned with her lip gloss not getting smeared than with rendering some form of emotion for the camera, while the other human characters are merely props.
Similarly, the Autobots are just stereotypes that do not surpass the level of mediocrity, as also are most of the scenes that should have had some sort of impact with the audience (Optimus Prime’s demise, Sam’s close brush with death, Sam’s father learning to let his boy become a man, and so on and so forth). What replaced all the above is an insane rhythm set by the clanking of metal pieces together, with an explosion or two on the side for good measure.
And it’s precisely here that Michael Bay shines. Fans and moviegoers alike must remember that this is one director that has always been a passionate maker of action films, so judging him for what he does not do might ruin the fun of seeing “Transformers 2.” Granted, there are many scenes where viewers are almost unable to tell who is fighting who, or who is winning the violent, noisy confrontation, as well as many shots where explosions and violence seem to serve no ultimate grand purpose, but that’s not to say they don’t work well in the context of “Revenge of the Fallen.”
For 150 minutes, Michael Bay takes viewers by the hand, thrusts them in a world filled to the brim with noise and violence, and then leaves them to deal with everything on their own. The only moments viewers are allowed to get a grip on themselves are the funny bits, where both humans and Autobots show a remarkable sense of humor in the most unlikely of circumstances, which is yet another Michael Bay moviemaking trick. All in all, critics agree, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is a well-targeted and fun film that excludes the other segments of the audience from the first seconds of runtime.
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” opened nationwide in the US on June 24, and is now running in most cinemas all across the world. It is rated PG-13 for violence and some profane language.
