Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Analysis

It is official. Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen is the number one hit of the summer. It grossed in about $201 million in box office sales for its first five days of release. It is just shy a few million dollars from Last year's The Dark Knight grossing about $203 million in its first weekend release. That being said it is officially time to cast judgment on the big summer blockbuster hit. But that is not what this piece will do.

This is not a review (or at least I won't call it that). This is an analysis of the film. Many have already bashed this movie in their reviews and synopsis from the film. This piece is design to dissect the film and address some of the reasons why this film was good and/or bad.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (TFRTF) was longer, better, and packed full of action only Michael Bay can supply. Giant robots fighting over the sake of Earth's fate, an ultimate battle of good versus evil. That is pretty much the bases of this movie but of course there are sub stories like the main characters' relationship issues. Sam Whitwicky, played by Shia LaBeouf, and Mikaela Banes, played by Megan Fox (a.k.a. Hawt-ness) try to officially establish their relationship while Sam's parents (Kevin Dunn and Julie White) cope with the fact that Sam is growing up and moving off to college. Overall it was a very cool movie and a wonderful summertime flick. It was a rollercoaster ride. It was very fun to watch and it guarantees to entertain. But that is all on the surface. What is the movie really about and what is it deigned to do? If this was a rollercoaster ride what were the ups and downs? Did the movie do a good job at keeping true to the series and the franchise? These plus more topics will be addressed future in the piece.

First off, what is Transformers?

Transformers was based off of a Hasbro toy line where these robots transform into vehicles, animals, etc. to disguise themselves thus the slogan "...more than meets the eye!" They got their own cartoon in the 80's and continued to air the original Transformers cartoon for five seasons showing the Generation 1 characters ending with a movie and the a Generation 2 characters (which are the same characters but with different forms or names). It had many other renditions on spin offs through television shows and comic books. It was and still is a popular franchise with a vast fan base stretching from The States to The Land of the Rising Sun.

Basically, Transformers is about these giant alien robots fighting for the sake of their home planet. The robots are divided into two alliances, the Autobots and the Decepticons. Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots and they try to stop the Decepticons evil plans and find away to get back home and help their planet without cause any harm to Earth. Megatron is the leader of the evil Decepticons. They try to destroy Earth for their personal gain by any means they see fit. Now they each have a team of robots, all in which have special abilities and can transform. Optimus Prime transforms into a pick up truck while Megatron transforms into a gun (yes, a Walther P38 pistol hand gun). Due to controversy issues the toy version of the Megatron gun was frowned upon because of its likeness of a real gun. In other series he is either a tank or an alien flying vehicle. Everyone has special abilities and duties. Because of these attributes this proved Transformers to be a very popular franchise for children.

In the 2007 Transformers movie the Transformers are looking for the AllSpark which fell on Earth a long time ago. The Autobots and Decepticons fight to retrieve it. The Autobots destroy the all spark by combining it with Megatron's spark and killing him in the process. In the 2009 film the Decepticons try to recover shards of the AllSpark to lead the Matrix of Leadership, a key that will activate a machine that can destroy the sun for Energon, an energy substance that the Transformers need for their home planet. Megatron is revived back to life to help his leader, The Fallen, destroy Optimus Prime and retrieve the Matrix of Leadership. They eventually kill (that's right KILL) Optimus but fail to retrieve the key before Sam and the Autobots do. Sam discovers he can use the key to revive Optimus because he is the only one who can stop The Fallen. Sam revives Optimus but the key is stolen shortly afterwards. Optimus combines with a fellow Prime, Jetfire, and gain the power necessary to stop The Fallen, destroy the machine that will blow up the sun, and forcing the remaining Decepticons to retreat. This is what Transformers is about, basically.

Now, on to the dissecting part of this piece.

Sam Whitwicky is the boy that helps the Autobots in the first and second movie. In the movie he is this witty teen with "normal" family problems and is hopeless at getting the girls. He does get the girl but hasn't established a real relationship with the gorgeous Mikaela, the super hot girl with a bad history. Shia and Megan were great for these parts. Shia is funny and is steadily working his way up to being one of the greatest actors in tomorrow's Hollywood. Megan is hot. That is pretty much it. But she does have potential. They played up her hotness in the second Transformers film a little too much. I think the audience understands that she is attractive. Stop flaunting her hotness. In the movie Sam and Mikaela are trying to establish a real genuine relationship while Sam is going to college. Apparently the only thing stopping them is the fact that neither of them said "I love you" to each other yet. This means they can still kiss but they aren't in a relationship. These are the unwritten rules.

Sam's parents were a blast this time around. Sam's parents are the typical embarrassing parents. The parents are sending their boy off to college and having a hard time adjusting to that. The mom is really funny, maybe even too funny. She curses, she throws tantrums, she hits her head, and she eats hash brownies! They truly exhibit outrageous behavior. Speaking of which, there is also Sam's college roommate, Leo Spitz (played by Ramón Rodríguez). Leo is much like Sam but he owns a website that discusses conspiracy theories and the like. He is dragged into the battle by accompanying Sam and Mikaela to get captured my Megatron. He is funny but almost unnecessary in the film. There is of course the military and their troops who also "star" in the movie. The two soldiers from the last movie, Major William Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Robert Epps (Tyrese Gibson), are members of NEST, an alliance team of US military troops and Autobots.

Peter Cullen is the voice for Optimus. He was also the original voice of Optimus in the early cartoons. Hugo Weaving (known for his role as Agent Smith in The Matrix series) did the voice for Megatron. The VA (Voice Acting) cast was colorful, consisting of very talented actors and popular VA's. Cullen was most likely casted for the fan's sake. As for Weaving, who else can play a menacing entity who just absolutely abhors the human race? The Transformers themselves where very interesting characters. Besides the fact that they were giant robot aliens, they each have a personality that distinguishes themselves from the humans. Some of the proof lies in their choice of disguise.

The Autobots took the forms of cars and trucks while the Decepticons took the form of Military vehicles, construction vehicles, and other odd objects (RC toys, Microscopes, scorpions, and big cats just to name a few):

Optimus Prime- A Peterbilt Truck

Bumblebee- A 1976 Chevrolet Camaro but upgrades to the 2009 model

Ironhide- A GMC TopKick C4500

Ratchet- A Search and Rescue Hummer H2

Jetfire- A SR-71 Blackbird

Arcee (and/or Chromia for all the Transformer aficionados)- pink: Ducati 848, blue: Suzuki B-King 2008, and purple: MV Agusta F4

Mudflap- A Chevrolet Trax

Skids- A Chevrolet Beat

Sideswipe- A Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Concept

Jolt- A Chevrolet Volt

Megatron- An alien flying tank

Starscream- An F-22 Raptor

Sideways- Audi R8

Grindor- A CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter

Demolishor- Terex O&K RH 400 hydraulic mining excavator

Mixmaster- Mack concrete mixer truck

Long Haul- Caterpillar 773B dump truck

Rampage- Caterpillar D9L bulldozer

Scrapper- Caterpillar 992G scoop loader

You see the pattern here? The Autobots (excluding the motorcycles) gets to be these American made vehicles, which say a lot about them, especially Optimus. He is red, silver, and blue and he is a vehicle that travels coast to coast in America. He is as "All American" as Captain America. Bumblebee was seen as a hotshot always trying to prove himself in the television series. A hotshot needs a hotshot appearance. Ironhide fits well with its big ol' pick up truck disguise. Even in vehicle mode it looks like it will shoot you. Ratchet, being the robo-medic of the troop, fits well as a rescue vehicle. It's interesting that they would choose GM cars (if they search the web they would know that GM isn't doing so well and their cars have a history of being poorly made). If they knew that then wouldn't they want to pick up some Toyotas or something? But GM cars are American tough and the good guys would have to have that type of image. While the enemies are the vehicles that are used to build American cities and corporate offices and vehicles that are used to fight for our country. Isn't that backwards? But if you look at those vehicles again you can see how menacing these vehicles can be. They look mean and scary like a bad guy. It is also interesting that the only Decepticon in the movie happens to be a Audi R8. He is wasted effortlessly, beautifully, and graciously by Sideswipe, the GM made Chevy Corvette. What is that saying? Who knows why Michael Bay decided to do that? But this is great movie material.

Speaking of movies many say that TFRTF was a bad movie. Could it be the fact that it was too long or the fact that Mudflap and Skids were racist caricatures? Maybe it was the fact that it was too funny for a Transformers movie? There were many reasons why this movie could be donned as a bad movie.

The movie was very long but it had a lot of entertaining bits in it. It was just delivered in moderation. Some of the parts in the movie could've been cut off. Like some of the intimate scenes between Sam and Mikaela, a lot of the college scenes, Sam leaving home, some of the searching Egypt parts, there is a lot that can be cut off. But have you notice the things mentioned were not Transformers related? The original Transformers had about a minute and a half of human anything in each 23 minute episode. Transformers should've been about Transformers and not Sam. Shia did a very good job and Megan is very attractive, but the movie is called Transformers not The Humans featuring some Transformers

Mudflap and Skids could be seen as very offensive. From the way they looked to the way the spoke, they were a little hard to take in. It could be seen as "black face" offensive! They were walking, talking, transforming stereotypes. But it added a lot of character to the movie. They were the comical relief and they were hilarious. The fact that they were funny could help overlook the misrepresentation of urban African Americans but not significantly.

One could say that TFTRF was too funny. The movie is an action/sci-fi film but it probably had too much humor in it for that type of movie. Shia, for one, is a funny guy to begin with so whatever non serious thing he says will be even remotely funny. Then there are the parents. The mother was hilarious. She was the typical embarrassing mother with an over the top flare. Then of course Mudflap and Skids and then there is former agent Reggie Simmons, played by John Turturro, who was terminated along with Sector 7 from the first film. He was the other comical relief, much like he was in the first film. These should be the only funny things in the film, but it wasn't. There was a lot of dirty toilet humor. Testicle references and humping robots probably does the humor level for this movie no good. In other words too much of a good thing could be bad.

Then there probably were the occasional inaccuracies that a movie like this will receive. This piece is not going to cover those because this is not a review. But what a lot of people and fans alike do not realize about making movies based off of comic books and cartoons is the fact that it is a movie. Movies are made by people who have something to say or display. This is Michael Bay's interpretation of Transformers. If someone asks two people to draw a tree those people are not going to come up with identical pictures. Saying this movie is a bad movie is like calling the Mona Lisa a bad painting. This is why there are two Hulk movies, several Batman movies, several Superman movies, and many movies with a vampire named Dracula in it. One thing many can all agree on is the fact that this movie is better than the first.

Enclosing, I personally loved this movie. I am a Transformer fan. I watched the shows and played with the toys in my younger days so I can relate to this movie. The CGI in this movie are a spectacle in its own right. My only gripe is the whole human to robot action ratio, too much human screen time. But this isn't my film so I'll take it for what it is. Others should take note and do the same. This movie did a good deed by giving people a show. Times are tough and people do need escapist films like TFRTF. What is being discussed around the cooler in the morning shouldn't be about bad news. It should be like:

"Hey, did you see that new Transformers movie? I hear it's great."

"Yeah, me and the kids went to see it this weekend. We loved it! My son would not stop talking about it!"

"How is your son?"...