Transformers 2
by tdaxp ~ June 23rd, 2009
Fei and I caught the midnight showing last night / this morning. Very good, especially if you loved the Transformers as children (as we both did), and you are prepared for a script far closer to:
<Insert Cool Visual, Like a T-Rex silhouetted by a nuclear explosion >
Good Robot: Save the Humans!
Humans: Save the Robots!
Bad Robot: Revenge shall be mine!
<Cool Transformer Sound>
<Fight!>
(Repeat for 2.5 hours)
And not that similar to, say,
Salaama Rodriguez des Pari: But I’m a college-educated Nicaraguan bisexual. I don’t even know how to deliver a baby/log timber/balance the federal budget!
Struggling writer who is obviously a thinly disguised representation of the film’s writer: Maybe you can’t do the work, but you can problematize the work!
Salaama: I will dismantle the monolith of imperialistic discourse!
(Repeat for 2.5 hours)
Autobots: Transform!
Update: Manohla Dargis, who accuses the film of not making President Obama as heroic as Optimus Prime and concludes “it’s easy to pretend that you’re not ingesting 2 hours and 30 minutes of warmongering along with all that dumb fun,” would obviously have preferred the film about Salaama.
I think this is your...
June 24th, 2009 at 6:36 am
So I should take the kids to this?
June 24th, 2009 at 6:49 am
Does #2 have the same overt anti-military tone that #1 had?
June 24th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Brendan,
Transformers 2 is very pro-military. Enlitsed personnel are heroes, and officers are shown in a good light. Each of the Services are specifically thanked in the closign credits.
The civilian National Security Advisor is an idiot, but I just imagined he was Tim Geithner, and so I just routed for the inevitable come-uppance!
Lexington,
Depends on their ages and maturity level. There is passing sexual humor. It is designed, I expect, to be hilarious to teenagers, invisible to children, and amusing to adults.
The overall theme is of good v. evil and complacency, and the film celebrates personal bravery and personnel sacrifice. Unlike the first film, the personel agencies of the Transformers is emphasized (though this may be over kids’ heads) — regardless of how the robots are made, it is the choices of the heroes and villains that matter.
June 24th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
All I have to say is: BUMBLEBEE!
June 24th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Don’t forget the gratuitous sexual innuendo (repeated about every 20 minutes by my count), and the campy additions — on both the Autobot *and* Decepticon sides.
J-man loved it!
Navy got shafted in the balance, Army & Marines got cameos, Air Force clearly dominated (esp. with Lennox only promoted from CPT to MAJ, but Epps going from Tech Sgt all the way to Chief Master Sergeant!)
June 24th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
The Navy had the coolest scene in the movie! When they shot the ____ at the ____ !
June 25th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
While in #1 they made the military out to be the hero’s as well… I couldn’t get past the gratuitous and obvious killing of them to a level that was never matched by the amount of obvious (or even loosely implied) killing or injuring of civilians.
When the #2 previews came out my blood was boiling in rage at the sight of the Nimitz being attacked and sinking (not to mention the film makers need to visualize such a thing for the story) and came to fear that they were going to do the same thing again.
Granted though I’ve not seen #2 and may Saturday morning.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Well, I saw Transformers 2 again, the same day I finished The Inheritors [1]. I have a feeling that one will be a classic long after the other…
In the Transformers universe, the US military fights bravely, even against impossible odds, knowing that with determination it will keep at it until, with allies, it prevails. A very WWII/”greatest generation” lesson.
[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2009/07/08/short-review-of-the-inheritors-by-william-golding.html
July 15th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Transformers movie rocks. i am a fan of Transformers ever since childhood. Now i have three kids and they all like the Transformers cartoon series and the Movie.
July 20th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
What is the next cool movie coming up?
July 20th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Opens Aug. 7th. My Bro-in-Law (BroIL) will be in Colorado Springs, so we’re going to see it with the Man-Cub.