Seen any good movies lately? Besides Up? Owen and I will be alternating days on this new blog–for months now, we’ve been lobbying for the opportunity to go deep and offbeat with you in this space. And I pulled the lucky straw to go first. Which is a good thing, since there’s something I need to confess to you right off the bat: I haven’t seen Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Not only that, I have no intention of seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen–at least not unless I’m invited to participate in a scholarly symposium on the cinematographic aesthetics of Michael Bay and need to conduct a thorough study of the filmmaker’s oeuvre.
I announce this with some trepidation, since I realize I’m setting myself up for trash talk from readers who may say, “You call yourself a movie critic, how could you skip something so big, are you lazy or what?” To which my answer is, “Yep, I call myself a movie critic, I’m not lazy by any stretch, and I can skip something this big for a bunch of reasons. Here, I’ll name three:
First, Owen reviewed the movie and he can fill you in on anything you need to know about Decepticons and Autobots.
Second, I don’t believe a movie critic has to see everything in order to be good/useful/professional/insightful. If the time comes when I want to or need to analyze the qualities of Transformers: ROTF, I would certainly go see it and pay careful attention. (I suppose in that case I should see the original 2007 Transformers first, huh?)
Third and most important, everyone I talk to-and I mean everyone, critics and normal people alike–say that ROTF is a terrible, jangling, clanging loud, attention-deficit-disordered mess of indistinguishable special effects. A week ago on Sunday afternoon, I hung out with a family of knowledgeable enthusiasts (enlightened Dad, with-it Mom, smart twentysomething son, cool teen daughter) who were way into Transformers culture since back in the day, and who had run to see ROTF on its opening weekend. Their group verdict: peee-YEWWW.
And yet the movie has made a trillion dollars. Is all of that box office gold coming from the pockets of audiences who walk out holding their noses? Really, I need to know. So in this first post, I’m turning the floor over to you: Did you see the new Transformers? Were you disappointed? What’s good about it? Why should I see it?
Are you kidding me? This movie has made so much money because of positive word of mouth. The critics hate it, but the fans LOVE it. I have not met once person who said they did not enjoy the movie.
A LITTLE honored being your first comment EVER. Congratulations! As for seeing Transformers ROTF- no need. Imagine a Chevy Commercial. Imagine a commercial for U.S. Army. Combine the two. Stretch it out to nearly three hours. The final product will end up similar if not exactly the same as ROTF. Awful, manipulative, and insultingly dumb. And I even kind of liked the first one.
I can’t fault Lisa for not seeing Transformers. But I would like to point out that she has demonstrated a tendency to just not review things that she finds cumbersome. Case in point: she wrote a snarky “review” of Infinite Jest when it was released WITHOUT READING THE BOOK. While even Michael Bay enthusiasts would have to admit that he is no genius, there aren’t many who don’t cite David Foster Wallace as one of the great literary influences of his generation. So skip Transformers, but I’d like to challenge Lisa to pick up Infinite Jest (finally) and actually read it. Being an informed critic is, after all, what she is paid to do. Lots of people would love that job and would not turn their nose up at opportunities to have an informed opinion.
First off, this sounds like a blog I’d actually love to read! Kudos! As for ROTF, I COMPLETELY agree with all those people you’ve talked to. I was there opening night, my only expectation that it be a fun, visually-pleasing popcorn flick – and three hours later I was questioning my love of popcorn for the first time in my 22 years of life! The sequel is “more” in the most negative connotation: weak dialogue; loud, incomprehensible action; eratic pacing – and an ending not worth the journey. Worst of all (and the reason I’ve actively recommended against seeing this movie), the film doesn’t so much have plot holes as it has violations of its own basic premise. Don’t see it. Or, if you someday choose to, watch the first instead.
I haven’t talked to a single person who thought it was bad, everyone said it was a great movie. Yes, it has faults. Yes, it’s busy, loud, and long. It’s also making tons of money, and movies generally don’t do that if they aren’t at least entertaining. And Transformers 2 is very entertaining.
totally agree. ROTF is a terrible mess. i felt decieved and insulted
Michael Bay has always had utter disdain for his audience. “Who cares if it makes no sense? Who cares if it has no plot, clunky dialog and absolutely no continuity? I’m BLOWING STUFF UP!!! And showing hot women!! The audience doesn’t care about plot and character development when they can watch things explode!”
I love this comment because this is what Transformers was about. It’s also why people even watch it. Who doesn’t want to see cool cars-turned-robots fighting perpetually in battles louder than actual war and megan fox’s hot bod? Well, at least most of the US does…
You DEFINITELY made the right choice. The first movie was a lot of fun (in a campy, ID4 kind of way), but this one was just a random, incomprehensible mess.
i have zero intention of seeing the 2nd one, as i could barely even sit through the 1st one.
LOVE that you and owen now have this blog, you guys are great! keep making the videos, too!
I haven’t seen it, but part of me wants to see it just to find out if it’s as bad as everyone says. I also think there are plenty of people who will go and see it and enjoy it just because they are not keyed into cinema enough to know that they could expect better. I have friends who loved Wolverine, and that was pretty terrible. They also enjoyed the second Pirates of the Caribbean. Well, I ENJOYED it, but I also had the perspective to realise it was a bad movie. I’m not sure everyone knows the difference between those things. So those few who enjoyed the film won’t just say they liked it, they’ll tell people it was really good.
I liked it. It was loud, brainless, and full of action and explosions. Just the kind of summer movie I was expecting.
That is exactly why I saw it. I wasn’t expecting anything amazing. Just loud music, loud fighting scenes, and a stupid script. It was relieving.
I think Michael Bay is a terrible director. Pearl Harbor is my least favorite movie ever. Bad Boys 2 is not far either. And even though a lot of the stuff in ROTF is in fact terrible and stupid, I thought the special effects were truly outstanding and the action sequences exciting and fun. It’s way too long and did I mention there is a lot of stupid stuff? But the stuff that’s good, i.e. all the robot stuff is good. There you go.
I took my 10 year old son to watch it . We liked the first one but he said after the movie” dad i dont want this one Blu Ray and it was way to long” 10 years old im proud of my boy
oh i think there was a joke in there that was lost on the title Transformers ROTF minus the L
ROTFL thats Bay doing all the way to the bank
This movie isn’t supposed to be the Dark Knight. It’s supposed to be a big action-packed summer movie, like Attack of the Clones and Pirates of the Caribbean 3–only I think ROTF is better than those movies. I just don’t get the hate everybody has for this movie.
One sentence: robot humping Megan Fox’s leg in a KID’S Movie!