Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is a funny thing. On the one hand, the huge technical effort that goes into making such a film lends it a certain kudos; but then, what it that worth when the storytelling doesn’t measure up? All you really need to know about the movie is that it has more plot than its predecessor, but isn’t as fun to watch. The original was a B-movie with A-list effects, right down to its choice of Shia LaBeouf in the lead; he’s OK, but lacks the punch to distract you from the robots. When the human actors are front and centre, the focus isn’t usually the acting; it’s some nearly nude part of Megan Fox (look here for the lowdown on the spat between Fox and director Michael Bay over her role in the movie, and here for a rather lewd story about her audition).
The tone of the movie is the strangest thing; Michael Bay comes off like an embittered Republican warmonger, flying the flag for kicking ass downtown, shooting first and planning later. Obama is mentioned by name, and his collegial approach portrayed as weak and indecisive (he doesn’t trust Optimus Prime; a big no-no in Transformers lore); at one point the Democratic President is even hiding in a bunker, cowering from the results of his inaction. The man’s no Autobot, Bay seems to be saying, and he ain’t no soldier; this is a love letter to the military-minded Republicans from start to finish.
The movie makes other strange attempts to be topical – when descending into the basement of a butcher’s, a wry comment about swine flu is dubbed onto the soundtrack. presumably in post – but this political tint is by far the most curious, at least until you begin regarding it as something more basic. It’s more of an attitude than an opinion, more of a thrust than a thesis; could you put Bay’s The Island, where the anti stem cell research position is quite clear, into the same category? Possibly. In a Bay movie there isn’t time to sit still and sift the layers, partly because there usually aren’t any to sift; but mostly because that isn’t the point of them. They’re rides, some better than others.
After The Fallen, Bay seems to think he needs a break. We here at News Hour agree, and hope for a good-humoured return. Perhaps a small scale reinvention is in order? A meditation on life without explosions in the Yorkshire Dales, or a collaboration on childhood with Terence Davies?
News hour, with Jerry Caesar 