The Robots Return

Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opened Wednesday with an estimated $16 million in midnight ticket sales. Reviews thus far of the film have been slightly on the negative side, with an average 21% on Rotten Tomatoes as of today. That's not too surprising since critics typically don't look too favorably upon action/sci-fi movies, especially when they involve Michael Bay, who has a 7% average rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite the drawbacks of the director (who I generally despise), I was a huge fan of the first film and loved ROTF even more. The film picks up two years after the events of the first Transformers with Sam Witwicky going off to college and the Autobots working with the military to protect the planet from the Decepticons. The Decepticons are searching the planet for Energon, their life force. Megatron is resurrected by followers of the Fallen, he goes after Sam and Megatron, and madness ensues. Just describing the plot of the movie makes me feel like a nerd, but if you can take it for what it is then it's a fantastic film.

Shia LeBeouf delivers a fantastic performance and probably displays more range in his acting than he has in any other role to this point. Other returners from the first movie are Megan Fox running around and looking hot, Josh Duhamel shootings things and looking hot, and John Turturro acting like a doofus and not looking so hot. Sam's parents also have an extended role in this film, due in large part to their popularity in the first (After all, who didn't love his mother when she said "I'm sorry, it's just been a weird night. I've had a little bit to drink"?). But the real stars of the movie are the Transformers themselves. Bay dedicates a lot more screen time to the autobots this time around, focusing particularly on Megatron, Bumblebee, and the newly introduced Twins, Mudflap and Skids. One of the more heartfelt moments of the film is when Bumblebee confesses to Sam that there is no one on the planet that he cares about more than him, made even more touching with quotes from Forrest Gump.

Films like Transformers draw criticism for their blatant product placement, and I will admit that it basically is a two and a half hour GM commercial. With movie admission dropping every year, producers are having to accept product placement as a necessary means of financing for their films. Most of the time, product placements are awkward, completely interrupting the flow of a film or television program. Michael Bay's 2005 The Island is probably the best example of product placement overkill with over 35 different products, including gratuitous close-ups of Michelob Lights and Aquafinas. But not all product placement is bad. Some programs have found a formula for success. Take NBC's 30 Rock for example. While the product placement on that show is blatantly obvious, it is written into the creative storyline (The slanket episode, anyone?). In my opinion, Transformers can get away with their advertising because the cars are a focus of the film. The autobots have to transform into something, so why not make it the Chevrolet Trax or Beat? If you have to have a certain type of product in a program, you might as well make some money off of it and make it a branded product. So, despite the criticism, at least Transformers isn't having Optimus Prime pop open a Vitamin Water in the middle of a battle. Yes, I'm talking about you Gossip Girl. Shame on you.