I would like to say, for the record, that I have been waiting to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen since the end credits of the first Transformers. As an old fan of the TV cartoon, I am a huge fan of the film. I have been in such anticipation of this film that whenever I saw trailers for it, my body would start to tingle.
I finally got to see my Transformers sequel and I liked it. Transformers picks the story up with Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf) going off to college. Before he can leave his family home and make his way to college, the Decepticons have set into motion yet another war with the Autobots and the humans. Now, Sam is the only person with the key to taking down the Decepticon leader, known as The Fallen.
Screenwriters Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman have written a decent script. The plot is interesting enough, but it seems to be missing that great subplot; there really isn’t one.
Director Michael Bay has a better time with the direction, but the objects and plot points move so quickly throughout the film that certain things are almost missed. Apparently, Bay focused more on making sure his shots were CGI friendly and less on making sure the audience members could follow. With so much going on, it’s a race for the audience to keep up.
LaBeouf is still a great actor and is perfect for the role of Sam, with his great comedic timing and tenacity. Megan Fox (Mikaela), however, still needs work. With her obviously collagen-enhanced lips, I still see Fox as just the girlfriend.
Josh Duhamel as Major Lennox and Tyrese Gibson as Master Sergeant Epps are pretty good as the soldiers who work with the Autobots, protecting the human race from the Decepticons. Duhamel and Gibson still make a great team and play off of each other nicely.
Another great duo is John Tuturro as Agent Simmons and Ramon Rodriguez as Leo Spitz. Turturro is great as the wannabe hero and Rodriguez is annoying as Leo, a scaredy cat college student who gets tasered a lot.
There were two glowing pimples on this film. The first is (or should I say are) those two annoying twins, Mudflap (voice of Reno Wilson) and Skids (voice of Tom Kenny). Supposedly, their presence is to exploit the stereotypes of young black men in America.
What the audience gets are two Wayans’ brothers knock offs on speed. The gold tooth, their not knowing how to read, and the heinous way that they speak is insulting and not funny. The film, itself, has some funny scenes, but not the ones that include these twins. They need to go back to the shop and get repairs.
There are ways for characters to sound “black” and not sound like idiots standing on the street corner. What bothers me is that Bay could have found another black actor to voice Skids, instead of Kenny, who voiced for SpongeBob SquarePants. There are so many out- of-work actors of color who would love to voice a cool, interchanging car.
And why didn’t Wilson stand up for his people and say that the portrayal of the twins is not favorable or accurate? He could have saved this film from being hated by many a black person. Or, maybe that was the plan all along.
The second pimple is the language. I almost fell out of my seat when I heard my beloved Optimus Prime call a Decepticon a “punk a**.” First, when did Optimus Prime get a street attitude? He does way too much trash talking. Second, this is a children’s film. Kids don’t need to be asking their parents about words like “p***y”, “b**ch”, “sh*t and scrotum.
I know kids are exposed to a lot of things they shouldn’t be, but foul language in a kids’ film is absurd. I am surprised Bay was able to get away with a PG-13 rating with such words, which made most of the adult audience members gasp.
The language and stupid Autobots aside, I did enjoy Transformers. It’s not better than the first one, but it’s not necessarily worse. It’s still a great time at the movie theater.
But you won’t be able to bring your child without having to explain to him or her why the little robot calls Mikaela a “stupid b**ch” and later humps her leg.
I still like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. But the pimples of this film make me re-think my opinion of the franchise.
Is it a joke gone wrong?
KAliciaG@Aol.com
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