The motionless Mikaela, though later shown running in slow-motion with brassiere oft askew, is generally relegated to merely reacting to events which are set in motion by often larger (they are giant robots, after all) and always masculine agents. First, the REAR WINDOW scene establishes both Lisa Fremont’s sexuality and her agency (she moves, Jeffries and the camera remain static) which will be fully demonstrated later when the daring Fremont sneaks into a murder suspect’s apartment. The TRANSFORMERS scene radically departs from REAR WINDOW in two ways. We are being shown the lips of Grace Kelly the buttock of Megan Fox. It is almost inappropriate to refer to “Mikaela Banes” or “Lisa Fremont” because the real-life celebrity/sexuality of the actors in both cases overwhelms their characters. Her shadow crosses his face before a series of static shot-reverse-shots depict Fremont’s ethereal visage as she leans in to silently kiss her lover.īoth directors seem to be acutely aware that they are filming the most sexually appealing women of their generation. Jeffries (James Stewart) sleeps while his girlfriend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) quietly enters his darkened apartment. It’s one of the most famous depictions of women in cinema. Thus informed, I will lastly consider the film’s climactic dream-battlescape which to me captures “Michael Bay” better than any other moment committed to celluloid. Second, I will examine the Michael Bay aesthetic which is simultaneously acutely self-aware and yet bafflingly inept. Relying upon the old form versus content warhorse, I will first examine the two most critical (and controversial) areas of content in the film: its treatment of sex and race. So, my apologies to the reader, if this review seems to jump from one thought to another I assure you this is only reflective of TRANSFORMERS’ own on-screen logic.ĭespite these challenges, I will attempt to map out the following argument. However, the complexity of this expression makes a linear review difficult to achieve. As such, if a viewer were (forced) to watch just one Michael Bay film, I would wholeheartedly nominate TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN. For me, I can merely begin by labeling the film “expressionist.” It is, even more so than Bay’s other films, an expression of the Bay mind/film-catalog/universe (three terms perhaps synonymous). TRANSFORMERS: ROTF might be referred to as an action/comedy, a summer blockbuster, a feat of sheer marketing, even an art film. The discrepancy between the relatively straightforward plot and the long run-time produces an effect of convolution in the film that makes it hard to pin down. Sam and his entourage of hacker roommate, lover, former secret agent, Autobot bodyguards, and parents are chased around the globe by the Decepticons before facing off in a climactic desert battle between, well, just about everyone. The location of the key/trigger to this weapon resides only in the brain of college-bound Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf, reprising his role from the first film). This time, a Decepticon known as The Fallen has hatched a plan to unlock an ancient weapon that will destroy Earth’s sun. The film runs for 150 minutes and yet the central plot can be summed up thusly: Despite the events of TRANSFORMERS, the war between the Autobots (good) and Decepticons (evil) is far from over. TRANSFORMERS: ROTF is a film as long as it is big as it is empty of “content” in the traditional, story-driven sense. I even brought a notepad into the theater with me. I actually bought concessions: the largest caffeinated soda the greasiest popcorn. For these reasons I approached TRANSFORMERS: ROTF as seriously and faux-professionally as I could. The oeuvre of Michael Bay (if not the director himself) became a punching bag for all that was “wrong” with the film industry. My review of the original TRANSFORMERS (2007) marked the beginning of CA’s style of relatively serious, politically-minded reviews of schlock films. The release of TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN is of some historical import to Camp Academy.
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