Movie Review: Truly More Than Meets the Eye in Transformers Sequel
By Chance
June 27, 2009 at 9:50PM EDT
Art, whether high or low, cannot escape being a product of its time. A piece of art can be considered timeless or even behind or ahead of the times, sure, but you can’t separate the artist, the time in which he lived, the environment and the social, political and economic landscape from the art. But art, whether high or low, works on a purely aesthetic level, too. You can be moved or horrified by the work of Francisco Goya and have no knowledge of the Peninsular War. So why on earth am I mentioning this before discussing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? Because I’m curious. Is this a racist, sexist, pro-Iraq war, anti-Obama treatise, or just a movie about robots, as director Michael Bay innocently claims.
Ebert’s Law states: “A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it.” There are reasonably lots of ways in which to make a movie about transforming robots. Movies, especially huge blockbuster movies, don’t accidentally make themselves. Movie studios, producers, directors and writers all make and influence decisions about how a movie is made. That said, the world of this movie is a very specific one. The military is working side-by-side with the heroic Autobots to uncover and subdue the sinister Decepticons. A man in the White House named Obama sends his most unreasonable assistant (played by openly gay actor John Benjamin Hickey) to suggest that by going after the Decepticons so aggressively, the military unit is really just asking for trouble. So why not have the good guys give up and go away, and maybe the bad guys will follow? The military is disgusted by this “let the terrorists win” attitude in the face of their obvious successes, so they decide to go rogue and handle things themselves. Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky’s wacky parents are in France, because, as Americans, they like the idea of France, but not the food or the people. When the Decepticons attack, they blow Paris all to hell and give the world an ultimatum. Meanwhile, the people of New York remain relatively calm about the impending apocalypse and just go to the deli. The unreasonable assistant then suggests that the administration will, in fact, negotiate with terrorists, so please stop trying to fight them all the time.
From a political perspective, a pretty clear message emerges. Just let America do what it wants. America will handle things. The Bush era policy of “invade first, ask questions later” works, if everyone would kindly just look the other way. Optimus Prime even invokes the words of the doomed heroes of Flight 93 when he proclaims, “Let’s roll!” before entering the final battle. The desert of the Middle East is populated by goats, chickens and unhelpful locals who can’t speak English. The military guys refer to it as a “God-forsaken desert.” The military drops into this scene with no resistance, and when the locals do arrive to lend assistance, they are quickly defeated and must then be rescued by the Americans. When the Decepticons revealed their plan to snuff out the sun, I fully expected someone to say, “But that’s America’s sun!”
Fine, fine. So this is an American movie about American heroes and 25-year old American toys that were created and developed by the Japanese. But getting back to my point, these choices didn’t make themselves. It’s not an accident that France is reduced to the usual stereotype of snails and mimes (then gets destroyed); or that the Decepticon who makes inappropriate sexual advances has an Italian accent on loan from an Olive Garden commercial; or even that Mudflap and Skids “make Jar Jar Binks look like he belongs in a production of A Raisin in the Sun” as one reviewer put it. Bay says it’s just a movie about robots. But that suggests that no thought went into these choices whatsoever. Is that better?
I laughed throughout a lot of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I laughed in that “I can’t believe how over the top this is” kind of way, or that “I can’t believe they’re introducing a new character with a huge backstory two hours into the movie” kind of way. Which is not a bad thing. And I even found some of the more emotional moments to be authentic and heroic. And though the Decepticons were generally difficult to tell apart, unless they were in close-up, the visual effects are nothing short of triumphant. So I can see going into the movie theater this summer, digging into the popcorn and getting your senses (and brains) blasted out of you for almost three hours. I think that’s a perfectly legitimate way to enjoy this film. It was not, however, made overnight. Nor was it made in a vacuum. America is in a war that it’s still trying to justify. We’re only a few months into a new administration, and the frustration of feeling jobless, hopeless and aimless is at an all-time high. A movie that reassures us that we’re the heroes, that we know what’s best for us and the rest of the world, and that we can win if we just believe hard enough is not inherently evil. I love America. There are a lot of things to love about America and its people. I just didn’t see those things in this movie.
On the FBOTU Scale of Fabulousness, I give Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 1 out of 5 sensory overload emoticons:
Funny you should mention that. As the credits were rolling, my friend turned to me and said, “Didn’t you expect ‘America, F**k Yeah’ to start playing there at the end?”
Movie Review: Truly More Than Meets the Eye in Transformers Sequel
By Chance
June 27, 2009 at 9:50PM EDT
Art, whether high or low, cannot escape being a product of its time. A piece of art can be considered timeless or even behind or ahead of the times, sure, but you can’t separate the artist, the time in which he lived, the environment and the social, political and economic landscape from the art. But art, whether high or low, works on a purely aesthetic level, too. You can be moved or horrified by the work of Francisco Goya and have no knowledge of the Peninsular War. So why on earth am I mentioning this before discussing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? Because I’m curious. Is this a racist, sexist, pro-Iraq war, anti-Obama treatise, or just a movie about robots, as director Michael Bay innocently claims.
(More after the jump!)
Ebert’s Law states: “A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it.” There are reasonably lots of ways in which to make a movie about transforming robots. Movies, especially huge blockbuster movies, don’t accidentally make themselves. Movie studios, producers, directors and writers all make and influence decisions about how a movie is made. That said, the world of this movie is a very specific one. The military is working side-by-side with the heroic Autobots to uncover and subdue the sinister Decepticons. A man in the White House named Obama sends his most unreasonable assistant (played by openly gay actor John Benjamin Hickey) to suggest that by going after the Decepticons so aggressively, the military unit is really just asking for trouble. So why not have the good guys give up and go away, and maybe the bad guys will follow? The military is disgusted by this “let the terrorists win” attitude in the face of their obvious successes, so they decide to go rogue and handle things themselves. Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky’s wacky parents are in France, because, as Americans, they like the idea of France, but not the food or the people. When the Decepticons attack, they blow Paris all to hell and give the world an ultimatum. Meanwhile, the people of New York remain relatively calm about the impending apocalypse and just go to the deli. The unreasonable assistant then suggests that the administration will, in fact, negotiate with terrorists, so please stop trying to fight them all the time.
From a political perspective, a pretty clear message emerges. Just let America do what it wants. America will handle things. The Bush era policy of “invade first, ask questions later” works, if everyone would kindly just look the other way. Optimus Prime even invokes the words of the doomed heroes of Flight 93 when he proclaims, “Let’s roll!” before entering the final battle. The desert of the Middle East is populated by goats, chickens and unhelpful locals who can’t speak English. The military guys refer to it as a “God-forsaken desert.” The military drops into this scene with no resistance, and when the locals do arrive to lend assistance, they are quickly defeated and must then be rescued by the Americans. When the Decepticons revealed their plan to snuff out the sun, I fully expected someone to say, “But that’s America’s sun!”
Fine, fine. So this is an American movie about American heroes and 25-year old American toys that were created and developed by the Japanese. But getting back to my point, these choices didn’t make themselves. It’s not an accident that France is reduced to the usual stereotype of snails and mimes (then gets destroyed); or that the Decepticon who makes inappropriate sexual advances has an Italian accent on loan from an Olive Garden commercial; or even that Mudflap and Skids “make Jar Jar Binks look like he belongs in a production of A Raisin in the Sun” as one reviewer put it. Bay says it’s just a movie about robots. But that suggests that no thought went into these choices whatsoever. Is that better?
I laughed throughout a lot of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I laughed in that “I can’t believe how over the top this is” kind of way, or that “I can’t believe they’re introducing a new character with a huge backstory two hours into the movie” kind of way. Which is not a bad thing. And I even found some of the more emotional moments to be authentic and heroic. And though the Decepticons were generally difficult to tell apart, unless they were in close-up, the visual effects are nothing short of triumphant. So I can see going into the movie theater this summer, digging into the popcorn and getting your senses (and brains) blasted out of you for almost three hours. I think that’s a perfectly legitimate way to enjoy this film. It was not, however, made overnight. Nor was it made in a vacuum. America is in a war that it’s still trying to justify. We’re only a few months into a new administration, and the frustration of feeling jobless, hopeless and aimless is at an all-time high. A movie that reassures us that we’re the heroes, that we know what’s best for us and the rest of the world, and that we can win if we just believe hard enough is not inherently evil. I love America. There are a lot of things to love about America and its people. I just didn’t see those things in this movie.
On the FBOTU Scale of Fabulousness, I give Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 1 out of 5 sensory overload emoticons:
Comments
I think Michael Bay’s entire filmography can be summed up by “America, F**k Yeah!”
Funny you should mention that. As the credits were rolling, my friend turned to me and said, “Didn’t you expect ‘America, F**k Yeah’ to start playing there at the end?”
Wait…is this “Transformers” or “Team America: World Police”?
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