So I went to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen over the weekend, and good movie or not, the Transformer series continues to be one of the best advertisements for the United States Armed Forces – damn near every shiny toy we have, and some we do not, was put on display beating on, and being beaten on by, really big robots. Apart from that, the movie was comprised of amazingly detailed battles, a questionably-coherent storyline, and material that was far from suitable for the 4-year-olds who were in the audience with me. For me, though, the movie worked.
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I did some searching online to get the skinny on “questionable material” in the movie to see if I’d want to take my kids to it or not. From what I could read, it seems there’s far too much questionable material for young kids. The PG-13 rating tipped me off, but I wanted to be sure (e.g. tons of action that just might overwhelm a little kid, not a big deal).
I’m just amazed tho that with some of the content in there that the movie is being marketed to little kids… the Burger King kid meals, all the spots on Nickelodeon… all “under 12″ demographics for sure.
Anyway, I opted to skip the movie. Oldest was bummed, but he understood. Besides, I’ve heard the movie isn’t that great. Visually stunning (Megan Fox included, despite her being batshit crazy), but otherwise meh.
The biggest “questionable content” thing that jumped out at me (apart from the rampant, scantily-clad females in college) was the more in-your-face handling of death. Apart from two notable deaths in the movie, a lot of US soldiers bought it, and obviously on screen. Granted, their deaths were not blood-and-gore, but they were deaths none-the-less, punctuated, quite poignantly, by flag-draped coffins coming off a transport.
But, yeah, this movie was definitely targetted at the wrong demographic, and a lot of parents obviously bought into that targetting without checking for themselves. Good on you for doing so.
The movie was… ok. The plot holes were big enough to drive the Ark through, but it went at a pace that you did not have the chance to think about them until afterwards, thus maintaining the suspension of disbelief. Not bad if you can see it for cheap, especially on the big screen, but I would not blame you for waiting.
I read this summary in comments on Fark:
” Here’s my breakdown of Transformers 2: sh*t, sh*t, b*lls, sh*t, b*lls, scrotum, sh*t, college sex, sh*t, underage drinking, college sex, sh*t, b*lls, pointless US military casualties, blowupblowupblowupblowupblowup, Giza is in Jordan?, Giza is on the beach?, blowupblowupblowupblowupblowup, The End.”
All in all, the research I did online about the movie is fairly consistent. Sure everyone focuses on different things, but in the end I feel I made the right decision, both by my children and by my wallet.
This is why I just don’t see many movies. Most of it is crap. Pixar movies, happy to go see, never been disappointed. Anything else, we’ll see…
Yeah, that summary sounds about right… though, I have to admit, the ’scrotum’ part was actually somewhat amusing, though in a vulgar kind of way. Honestly, a lot of the movie was a lot more vulgar than it needed to be, especially with two Autobots who were stereotypically ghetto-black, to the point of being incapable of reading, and having a gold tooth. Hm.
A lot of movies are crap, but I go just for the escapism. That said, the newest Star Trek was honestly pretty damned good, and, if nothing else, this Transformers will distract you for two hours or so. Not much else to be said for it, though.