Hey U Guys

Michael Bay has outdone himself. Transformers 2 is the biggest, but definitely not the best, film I've seen in a long time; it is a step up from the first Transformers film in almost every aspect and the anticipation of the premiere crowd was palpable as the cast left the stage in Leicester Square's Odeon as the lights went down.

Before I give my opinion let me explain: I am the perfect demographic for this film. The toys were a big part of my childhood, I bought the comics, blu-tacked the posters on my wall, I endured Roland Rat on TV-AM just so I could watch the cartoons on Saturday morning TV, I loved the original cartoon movie and, despite my finely honed cinematic perspective I enjoyed the first Michael Bay Transformers film.

The first film then was big robots fighting other big robots for the sparky-something or other while small town small fry Sam Witwick...blah, wait. Didn't you hear me? It's BIG ROBOTS FIGHTING OTHER BIG ROBOTS. There was no bigger message; no time was wasted in social commentary, the only philosophy was 'I transform, therefore I kick ass.' Moral codes and character studies were blown aside by screeching rock soundtracks and military hardware zooming across exotic landscapes in the blaze of an oversized sunset; the balance between man and machine was weighted vastly in favour of the big huge robots. And that's why people enjoyed it. But how would Bay elevate these superficial elements to succeed a second time?

 

So, with the sun setting in the distance and rousing music playing in the background, strap in and prepare to open your eyes and disengage your brain. It's the spoiler free HeyUGuys review of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

As stated, this is Michael Bay's follow up to his hugely successful 2007 film which bought the concept, characters and mythology of the popular 80s toy range kicking and screeching to a new audience in a new century. Bay cast everyman and woman of the moment Shia LaBoeuf and Megan Fox as the humans who try to avoid being stepped on as the enormous robots spend a good hour's of the film run time pummelling and chasing and then pummelling each other over and over, transforming back and forth as the Autobots (good, big robots) try and stop the rescue of Megatron, leader of the Decepticons (evil, big robots).

The first film was a visual feast which irritatingly descended into a food fight at the end as each scene of robot fighting melded into the next, but it looked exactly as it should, If a company starts making Transformers for real, Bay is the guy you want directing your commercials.

In essence Bay gets what Transformers is about as a concept. It's all about warring robots which can become vehicles, which for a kid is up there with an x ray cameraphone or a jetpack you can fold up and put in your pocket. As such the human characters get nothing more than the most basic of motivations: buying a car to impress girls, worry about their fledgling relationships, stopping a robot the size of a house from winning an intergalactic war and destroying the world - that sort of thing. If Spielberg (who produced both films) had any involvement at all then perhaps it was helping Bay keep the human angle a vital part of the original film. This is the first instance of where the second film lost its way.

I won't deny that in the two films La Boeuf, Fox, Jon Voight and John Tuturro put in performances worthy of its cartoon heritage - this isn't Cloverfield or Threads, but while this felt exactly right for the first film I had hoped Bay would keep the human side in the spotlight and not half in the shadows.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, to give the film its full title, expands on the first in every superficial way. There is a bigger budget, most of which blows up in a rolling incendiary cascade of explosions, larger, more complex and destructive robots and the humans? Well, despite the well worn themes of maturity, responsibility and commitment the main purpose is still to run in slow motion (if you're a civilian) or shout and shoot (if you're military) and there's very little in-between.

What Bay doesn't play on is the alien nature of the robots, and the introduction of a new character, Jetfire (think Alan Moore and Metal Mickey's offspring with a dash of Groundskeeper Willy) with a potentially interesting extension of the Transformers mythology you are left with the distinct feeling that amidst the explosions and running there's only a perfunctory glimpse at a larger story at play. And that's a problem.

Like the first, ROTF feels a little like a collection of set pieces with thin threads of plot linking them. Freeing himself of the shackles of having to establish an origin story Bay could have constructed a far tighter story. Instead the plot revolves around the devastating potential of a new character whose reality and impact never quite matches the reputation the film builds for him, and through a macguffin (which reminded me of the plot device used in the Simpsons Who Shot Mr Burns episode) the titular robot doesn't feel consequential enough.

In fact, there no point in the film where you are afraid for any of the humans, who bounce like ball bearings in a collapsing car factory, nor are you in any doubt which side will triumph. As such, when a huge and unexpected moment happens in the middle of the film pertaining to a particularly popular character you do not for one second believe that we are done with him - and you can practically hear the word sequel in amongst the grinding gears of the transforming machines.

It's not the smothering of CG or the fact that we're watching a host of robots (as Wall-E had more emotional connection than most of Hollywood's collective output last year), perhaps it's the feeling that we've seen this before and there's scope to do more with this world.

At times it is the visual equivalent of a panic attack, and though Bay made the sensible decision to slow the action down once in a while there was still confusion as to who was fighting who. The CG has improved and Bay's decision to focus on the faces of the robots pays off in the brief moments they aren't dashing each other's metals heads against prominent landmarks, but these moments are few and often feel as mere gestures to the audience's intelligence.

To not be overtly negative I am pleased to say that the film looks amazing. France, Egypt and Jordan are the standout locations here and look glorious under Bay's signature setting sun, but there is such an urgency to get to the next action set piece that at no time is there a sense of wonder or place - it could have been set anywhere. The characters could really have been anyone. Never has a genre been so faithfully adhered to.

So, what else was there to like?

Action is what Bay does best, perhaps better than anyone else and whether it's an aircraft hanger chewed into fiery cinders by a meteorite or a motorway ripped to pieces under the wheels of a giant robot Bay charges the film with a kinetic jolt again and again until you can't take it anymore and have to go and lie down. Compare the explosions in this film to the poetic blossoming fire in Apocalypse Now, compare the soundtracks of the two films and the fear you feel for the characters. Transformers 2 is not Bay's Apocalypse Now - it is ROBOT BOOM - the movie.

Pleasing the fans Bay's bigger budget allows him to bring in a couple of fan favourites omitted from the first film. Soundwave makes his first appearance, not as an ipod (which would have suitably updated his 80s status) but as a rogue communications satellite (and yes - they do get the voice pretty spot on but sadly he never got to trade blows with the Autobots ((puttup))...), his spy Ravage is also present as a canine robot, adding real menace in his scenes.

The introduction and pay off to Sam's college stalker (Alice - played by Isabel Lucas) is a treat though, and could provide real nightmares for any kids watching. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson are painfully underused though their dispatching of a higher ranking government suit is quite fun.

But in the end it feels too much and too little. It will thrill you if you can keep up, and really disengage your brain. And there are many films out there that will satisfy a need for human stories; films which offer a dissection of life's rich circus - harsh films, intelligent films, affecting films - better films. This is the closest we'll get to a live action cartoon, and you know what you're getting here. This is a heavy metal ballet set to a cacophony of rock riffs with aircrafts humming on runways and the rapid fire of guns while all around the world is torn up by BIG ROBOTS FIGHTING OTHER BIG ROBOTS!

If you're a fan of the first film then see this, maybe you'll love it as much as the first, but you may also be surprised at how much you wanted to see an advance on the original. This felt like a difficult middle part of a trilogy whose third act is hiding behind the sun on a not too distant horizon.