Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen - made me cry
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https://blenderdumbass.org/reviews?page=4 : 👁 1
https://blenderdumbass.org/articles/I_Have_Finished_Animating_Moria's_Race : 👁 1
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by Blender Dumbass
Aka: J.Y. Amihud. A Jewish by blood, multifaceted artist with experience in film-making, visual effects, programming, game development, music and more. A philosopher at heart. An activist for freedom and privacy. Anti-Paternalist. A user of Libre Software. Speaking at least 3 human languages. The writer and director of the 2023 film "Moria's Race" and the lead developer of it's game sequel "Dani's Race".
It is infamous at this point that the production of the Michael Bay's second Transformers movie was troubled. Not really written, but due to the writer's strike of 2008 quickly assembled into something from which a good script could be written. This movie started production without a script, only a rough idea of the story, which is not a bad rough idea. But all of the little details were not there at all by the time of production, leaving Bay pretty much at the helm of coming up with stuff on the spot. ↩ Reply
There is a very strong emotional core to the story, the relationship between Sam and Michaela ( Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox ) ( which I theorized are representation of Steven Spielberg ( who's Jewish name is Shmuel, or Samuel ) who was a producer on the picture, and Michael Bay ). The cute core concept is that both of them are afraid the other will leave them, so to keep each other interested they both refuse to say the L-word ( "I Love You" ) to each other, which in the same time creates a sort of conflict between them. Good setup for interesting things. And not a bad payoff in the end of the film. ↩ Reply
On the other hand, the film attempts at expanding the lore of Transformers. If in the first movie, the oldest one was Megatron found by Sam's great-grandfather in the beginning of 20st century, this movie already suggests Transformers were on earth at cavemen times. A trend that will continue in later films, culminating in the 5th movie, where the core of the Earth itself is a transformer of sorts. ↩ Reply
There is a scene I had an issue with ( and a lot of people have an issue with ) toward the end of the film, where Sam goes to Transformer's heaven before being resurrected. This is kind of stupid, yes. But thinking about it more made me actually kind of like this scene this time around. Those transformers that meet Sam in the heaven are the same ones that sacrificed themselves to seal the magical MacGuffin thingie thousands of years ago. If we take Transformers seriously we understand that those aren't AI. Those are living creatures made out of metal. And therefor they have souls and can die. When Sam meets those soles of those early Transformers that sacrificed themselves, it is kind of poetic in a way. It was perhaps a bit random, because the writers didn't have time to finish their script properly. ↩ Reply
There are other ideas in the story that would be expanded upon and made more use of if the writers finished the script. For example: the parents are kidnapped by the bad guys to manipulate Sam. This is very under-utilized. It was probably somewhere on a checklist in Bay's hands. So he did technically do something with it, but in a hands of a good writer it would have been much more successful. There is a great setup there. Very weak payoff. ↩ Reply
Then there is the whole concept of transformers turning into humans like the character of Isabel Lucas. This is interesting stuff. It could be used very well for some sort of "The Thing" kind of paranoia. But after that one character it is quickly forgotten. ↩ Reply
I think there was a possibility for a better film and if the executives at Paramount were a little less pushy with their deadlines and allowed the strike to be over, so proper writers could write a proper good draft of the film, maybe the movie would have been actually good. Like as a writer I see so much potential in the stuff already in the film. It was just kind of not realized really. Which is a bummer. ↩ Reply
The Visual Effects are fucking cool though. And Michael Bay sure knows how to shoot a beautiful image. So even with all of the stupidity of the story-line, the films is still a fucking marvel to look at. ↩ Reply
For example, the Devastator scene ( the big robot that comes together from a lot of smaller robots ). This thing in 2009 was insane. If not James Cameron with his little Avatar movie, this would have been the greatest achievement in visual effects ever. Not just in 2009. But then again, there was James Cameron with his little Avatar movie. ↩ Reply
In any case, Bay still made a hugely enjoyable movie, and if you take care to understand the poetry of that heaven scene, this movie has a strong potential to make you actually cry. ↩ Reply
Happy Hacking!!! ↩ Reply
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