I was born in the 1970s and spent many of my formative years in the '80s. So it should go without saying that my favorite cartoon memories revolve around Transformers, G.I. Joe, and He-Man (somehow I missed Robotech). I can remember tuning in and watching them for hours. The adventures contained within those 30-minute commercials held my rapt attention so many years ago. Sure, I never really pieced together the big pictures of their tales, but I never really needed to, as my imagination would run wild and build stories around the pieces of the shows that stuck in my head. Now we have Hollywood attempting to take those tales of decades past and bring them to vivid life on the big screen. Unfortunately, all of them have missed the mark thus far. In particular this new Transformers sequel fails to hit the mark with any type of success. I am not asking for much, and not to reach that is just sad.
Before going into Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen I went back and re-watched the original 2007 film. As I sat there watching the transformations and explosions and contemplating the tale, it dawned on me just how much of this makes no sense, is just flat-out silly, and how forgiving I was of the project as a whole at that time. Now, I still enjoy it for the attempt and the fact that it really is kind of fun. However, the story of the All Spark, the Cube or whatever you want to call it is just flat-out goofy. Beyond that, the movie contained a lot of out of place humor, including much of the parents' role, "Sam's special time," and Autobot Jazz being more hip hop than jazz.
With that viewing out of the way, I was completely prepared for what was certainly going to be a mind-blowing experience. After all, it is a new Michael Bay movie and who knows more about blowing things up than him?
There I sat, watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with my mouth agape, chin clanking off my chest, mind reeling from what was going on up on the gigantic IMAX screen in front of me. No, none of this was in a good way. Sure, there are some positives, but this effort falls well short in key areas, not the least of which is the story. I know that some will make the excuse that it is a summer popcorn movie that exists more for the whiz-bang than any sort of intellectual enlightenment, but seriously, is it really too much to ask for something that makes sense and at least pretends to have a brain? I am capable of shutting down the thinking part of my brain, but some movies take my willingness to do so a little too far.
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