It is Amazing!!! But Is This Really Transformers?

Rating: 5/10 (30 June 2009)

What can I say, its Transformers! Of course it's going to be amazing; my only problem with this movie and the entire live action series is that it is not really Transformers. This is an action adventure film using elements and some names from the Transformers universe. This is not the same as Bryan Singer's X-Men or Tim Burton's Batman. In these two films, although modernized, there is a respectful transfer of the mythology that is brought forth into the live action medium that fans, old and new can appreciate. What we have in Revenge of the Fallen and its 2007 predecessor is something altogether different. What if Michal Bay directed Batman and in doing so he made a deal with a clothing company to use only their designs and clothing for all wardrobes in the movie, changing the character designs completely? What if he felt "The Scarecrow" was too childish so he changed it to Alfred to make it more believable? Finally, imagine he dropped the storyline of how Bruce Wane's parents died and created his own interpretation. This would never be tolerated in any other mythology based film.
I get that in Hollywood you need to change certain things and that's the exciting part, to see what you loved in a new medium. What is important to remember is that you need to keep it identifiable so the audience can relate what their seeing to what they know. This is Transformers, not Gremlins or Short Circuit. As for non fans, your not hurting the film by designing the characters to, in some way identify with their 80's original cartoon (G1) counterparts. Hugh Jackman didn't need to wear yellow spandex for me to identify him as Wolverine. Is it such a shocker that Prime and Bumblebee are the most popular characters in the series? They are the only ones who remotely look anything like what we can identify with as Transformers. In Revenge of the Fallen there are two new characters, Skids and Mudflap. These characters are at times entertaining and might even work as background characters, but to give them more screen time than Soundwave, Megatron, Prime and pretty much everybody else is absurd. Could Michal Bay get away with making a Batman movie and take two characters that have nothing to do with Batman whatsoever use them as comedic relief and give them more screen time then both Batman and The Joker? We don't need a complete G1 Transformers movie that's exclusive to fan boys, but wakeup and remember what movie it is that we are suppose to be watching. I will say that in Revenge of the Fallen the human element is toned down and the Transformers themselves have more screen time then in its predecessor Transformers 2007. Although I praise Bay for doing that, it is however still a human movie with robots in the background. I wouldn't want to go and see a Spiderman movie where Aunt May and Mary-Jane were the main characters because the writers and director new nothing about the mythology and thought nobody would go and see a movie about a man in a spider suit climbing buildings. There is no excuse this time because the money and the fan base is there. Although the robots have major screen time they lack interaction time. People say this movie is too long, if the time was spent with the Transformers interacting with other Transformers it would be to short! I can agree that this is a summer blockbuster and all it need is action, great, but put it in the forefront. Although amazing it has yet to surpass the human element. There is no way a giant robot war should be on par with Josh Duhamel shouting and Shia LaBeouf running.
Another element that is wrong with Revenge of the Fallen is the character "The Fallen". This character has no substance and no screen time, invoking nothing for the audience. The only affect that this character has in the film is taking away screen time from Megatron. I am still unsure if he even has any real fight scenes as it's all a blur, no pun intended. If they wanted to go bigger than Megatron then why, why, why, didn't they use Unicron? I don't get it he's cooler, bigger, better, badder and isn't that what this is all about? Another example of this gross ignorance to an amazing mythology is how Bay brought in Frank Welker to reprise his role as Soundwave. Soundwave has a very distinct voice and to no surprise, Bay chose to use his voice of Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget instead of the original Soundwave voice, why? It only upsets fans and as for the non fans, Soundwave's voice is so much more menacing and down right works better, so what was the problem? It's no surprise that movies such as this usually lose their steam around a third sequel. It has nothing to do with running out of ideas, it has to do with changing what works and people losing faith in the possibility that they will actually get to see what they want on the big screen. People are going to see this movie, not for the story or even the effects; it's the name Transformers and all the weight that this carries, that is why people are going to see it. If you can't nurture this then the seats are going to stop filling up no matter how much action you put in it. Don't get me wrong, I would have to be smoking crack to say don't go to see this movie. As a summer blockbuster it's unmatched, amazing and downright life changing in terms of raising the bar in the action / adventure genre, but is it Transformers as it should be? Sadly the answer is no! If Bay is my Schumacher, Batman and Robin, then I hope some day I meat my Nolan, The Dark Knight.