ReelFriction » _Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Jun 28, 2009 - 6:52 pm

transformers2 Michael Bay, USA, 2009, 150 min.

The internet is full of reports of how bad Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is. It is a bad film. The plot is full of holes and is only there to get from set piece to set piece. The characters are one-dimensional. The action is loud, big and confusing.

Everyone seems to blame Michael Bay. He is the director. He makes movies that everyone seems to hate. Transformers, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor. These are films that got lambasted by critics and movie-goers.

The thing is, his films make lots and lots of money. Transformers 2 is going to make lots and lots of money. So Michael Bay is not at fault. It’s all of our faults. Everyone who went to see it and is going to see it know exactly what the movie is going to be like. Yet the crowds still line up. LCD and I knew we wouldn’t like it, but will still went opening night. If all of us didn’t go to the film, then it wouldn’t make any money and we wouldn’t have to have this same situation happen for Transformers 3.

Bottom line: I respect Michael Bay. I don’t like his films, but they are technical achievements and have a unique signature that only he can deliver. He does what he does, and everyone goes to see it. He enjoys making his movies and they make lots of money. The studio is happy so the cycle continues. Is that his fault?

1 Comment

Chris • Jun 30, 2009 @9:34 am

There is no question to the fact that the movie is a technical achievement. Every movie of this type invents new technology and destroys old technology (I read that some of there computers “blew-up” during hard number crunching for the effects). The one true positive thing about movies like this is that they set the playing field for the “one out of a million” director to create a masterpiece.

Perfect Example: George Lucas created a lot of new ground breaking technology for the Star Wars film Phantom Menace, especially for CGI character animation. This movie made the most than any other Star Wars movie* and is arguably the worst of them all. But it’s new technology set the foundation for greater films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

So, it really comes down to this: Let Hollywood release the Michael Bay movies, let them make millions and millions of dollars. Once in a while, we will get treated with an excellent movie. We just have to wait for that moment.

* A New Hope technically made more domestically, but it had to be re-released to achieve this. But if you count worldwide totals, Phantom still beats them all.

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