Myself As Another

I just finished watching the midnight premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Here’s a quick review…

I got exactly what I came for: Explosions. Part-to-part combat. Sexy young movie stars, progressively covered with more sweat and dirt as the movie hurtles forward. One action scene after another. More Turturro genius. Great performances by Shia Labouf, Kevin Dunn, and Julie White. Amazing, other-worldly sound effects (which get old after a while, actually). And camp. Plenty of it. So all of that, I expected. And really quite enjoyed. A packed theater with gasping, cheering teenagers. Not a bad night.

My only criticism is with Michael Bay’s almost total lack of creative vision for the movie. Almost every scene in the first half of the movie feels like an homage to another, easily recognizable film. The scene structure, the plot, the dialogue, etc. Maybe I’ve seen too many movies… but isn’t that who an homage is supposed to be for? But they are soooo obvious as to ruin the effectiveness at all. Instead, it just comes off as stealing someone else’s vision, with little effort to veil it.

It’s tough to explain much without giving away the plot, so let me just say that within the first hour of the film, I had noted obvious references to: Gremlins, Alien (in so many spots), A Beautiful Mind, Terminator, Hunt for Red October, Titanic, Judgment Day, etc.

And also I was bothered quite a bit by the overt (and less than complimentary) African American stereo types of the “twins”: constant good-natured bickering, various language markers, and then the fact that they couldn’t read was not a good choice at all. What the hell was Michael Bay thinking with these two?

So maybe I’m making too big a deal out of those last two points. The movie was really fun to watch. The overall plot was a juggernaut of action, and the constant wall of sound completely surrounds the audience with atmosphere. I highly recommend watching it. But don’t expect it to be something it never sets out to be: a movie with character development, originality, or subtlety. It is excellent as what it is.

I just finished reading The Watchmen. I wanted to read it before seeing the movie. Great graphic novel. Unfortunately, I read it just after finishing Chabon’s Kavalier and Clay. A bit of a let down. But considering when this book was written, what had come before in comic books, and its legacy, truly a must-read book. The heroes really don’t have any superpowers; they’re simply moved by the impulse to do good. That’s inspiring to some extent, but that inspiration is tempered by the fact that most of the novel takes place after our heroes have either retired or been cast off by a society that doesn’t want them any more. A more realistic vision of caped vigilantism, I think. More nuanced. And the heroes are very, very real. They love people they shouldn’t. They don’t get to be with the people they love. They are rejected by a world they’ve sacrificed so much for.

Rorschach is a poor-man’s Wolverine, I think. And he’s really appealing in that way. Willing to treat criminals like criminals to save those who deserve it. But Ozymandias and the Comedian really seem to be cautionary tales of what happens when a hero’s abilities can keep pace with or outstrip his intentions. Nothing to keep their humanity in check. Disastrous. Tragic. So, on some level, this is a comic about the importance of maintaining what’s human about ourselves.

(You’re better off skipping the movie, though. Not much more than a cinematic version of the comic.)

My favorite quote: “I want to give something to the world that isn’t crap. Um… Because I think that it’s a toxic thing to put crap into the world. And all I can do in that regard is to try to be honest. …”