Review
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Director: Michael Bay
Release Date: 19 June 2009
Is Michael Bay a modern auteur? His films are instantly recognisable, with recurring shots and themes throughout, and a distinct core ethos: to blow absolutely everything up. In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, not only does everything get blown up, but we are invited to re-witness the infamous aerial bombing of Pearl Harbour - this time in the form of a Decepticon plummeting from space onto a harrier jet ship, which, in case you haven’t guessed, blows up.
Of course, we appreciate an entertainingly stupid film as much as the next person, but no amount of anti-film-snobbery can compensate for the fact that Transformers… is just not entertaining. Suffering from Peter Jackson syndrome, which assumes that CGI fight scenes can never be too long, the impressive effects are dulled by the sheer tediousness of their running time. This script must be mere pages long, and exists solely to vaguely bridge the gaps between one action sequence and another. Shia LaBeouf, who has proven his worth as a believable everyman put in unbelievable situations, is lost amid a weak script and a juvenile fixation with gay jokes that verges on unintentional homo-eroticism, thinly disguised by recurring shots of Megan Fox’s navel/ breasts/ derriere. Even the robots become indistinguishable from each other, with only the particularly irritating stereotypical ethnic-minority Autobots having any sense of identity. Had Transformers… been an hour shorter, it would have been absolutely acceptable mid-summer mindless blockbuster fodder, but inevitably, Michael Bay just couldn’t stop blowing more stuff up.
Becky Bartlett