Archives > Blogs > Whats New Movie Reviews
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Bay digs hole, buries self
By Andrew Snyder
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is without worth.
It offends on a sliding scale, quickly hitting 10 and moving up from there.
Starting with the least damaging, “Revenge of the Fallen” is seven deadly sins worth of excess: there are more women to gawk at, more Transformers than can be remembered and enough explosions to blow up reality itself. The continuation of the throwback saga teams up Megatron with a new, mysterious villain named The Fallen and sets after drama of a Biblical caliber.
Early on the film’s pace mimics its predecessor, mixing an opening action scene with a docile view of Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), who’s moving to college, rather than discovering the Transformers, this time. From there “Revenge of the Fallen” degrades into extended, expensive battle scenes that should have been the film’s lonely appeal. Though the visuals are as high-tech as money can buy, money has never seemed so useless. A suitcase full isn’t enough to make a compelling scene. That doesn’t prevent director Michael Bay from squandering dollars on eye-catching, emotionally vacant robot combat. Think Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em. Thirty minutes in the viewer is already a veteran numb from overexposure. When fighting isn’t going on, the film is setting up a battle. I’ve never seen so many shots of troops mobilizing outside of Armed Forces’ recruitment commercials, and “Revenge of the Fallen” isn’t as well choreographed.
With a cast ideal for comedy, Bay tried to remake “Lord of the Rings.” LaBeouf, John Turturro (Simmons, no longer Agent), and Kevin Dunn and Julie White (Ron and Judy Witwicky) are capable of drawing laughs when giving the opportunity. Megan Fox’s character (Mikaela Banes), in contrast, is still the physical manifestation of Bay’s work: looks without appeal. Downtime spent moving Sam into his dorm and looking for an aged Transformer in the Smithsonian, when the comedians are giving room to joke around, is actually the best time for “Revenge of the Fallen.”
It’s a shame no one involved in the film was willing to rehash the light entertainment of “Transformers.” That one was at least fun. Instead, “Revenge of the Fallen” develops a God complex with Optimus Prime standing in for Jesus. Multiple instances of resurrection and lines about the Alpha, Omega and being created in his image are just some of the ways the film attempts to capitalize on religion. At 150 minutes, it’s almost as long as the Bible too. A loose connection with God has always been a desperate way to compensate for a lack of creativity and drama. “Revenge of the Fallen” is no different.
Now it’s time to hit rock bottom.
Sequels are where everything gets bigger; in the case of “Revenge of the Fallen” that includes racism. The first film had a robot named Jazz, clearly meant to be black, whose name and stereotypical status as character-doomed-to-die was an annoyance. Jazz has been duplicated in "Revenge of the Fallen" into two massively offensive ‘black’ robots, Mudflap and Skids. They are what once served as comic relief in minstrel shows. The way they talk gives away the pair’s intended race, with Tom Kenny (Skids) and Reno Wilson (Mudflap) playing up their version of urban hip, but their looks are what deeply disturb: two prominent front teeth, one of the twins even has a bright gold tooth, stick out, huge ears flap at the sides of their heads and a set of eyes equally enlarged fill out what can only be described as racism n blatant racism. Add in their diminutive height and Mudflap and Skids could pass for robotic chimpanzees.
How so many people could miss this caricature is impossible to comprehend, and that’s only if you look at the duo in the forgiven light of unintentional idiocy. Bay defends Mudflap and Skids when not trying to pass the blame.
Unforgivable enough, “Revenge of the Fallen” takes it further by revealing that the high-tech version of Bones and Tambo can’t read. Sam shows them the symbols he’s been scribbling down across classrooms, dorm rooms and certainly bathroom walls; but they can’t read it. That’s not strange since the symbols are from a dead alien language, but it’s considered humorous to further reveal that Mudflap and Skids are completely illiterate. When I started reviewing films I thought hard about whether I’d ever give a zero-star review. I decided that it could only be warranted in a situation I fully intended to be exclusive: a movie would have to be beyond terrible, a failure both aesthetically and morally.
Congratulations “Revenge of the Fallen,” you’re the first of a kind.
0 out of 4 stars
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: Whats New Movie Reviews «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
