Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review

Full of Racism, Sexism, and General Stupidity

If you wrote the script for the new Transformers flick, raise your hand: you should probably be shot. Let's pretend I'm just kidding, because clearly you had a lot to kid about in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Going into this movie, I knew from the preview I'd be seeing more of Megan Fox's butt crack than I'd like to see in a lifetime. I understood that some of the humor would be adolescent and childish—but this was simply over the top and insulting. If this movie was supposed to be endearing in a South Park/Family Guy "we offend everyone so it's okay" kind of way, it missed its mark. It was just plain offensive and I'm horrified it's in any way associated with Hasbro or toys marketed to children.

Let's start with the plot, also known as what Michael Bay might have learned from George Lucas and how he offended people with certain Star Wars characters and historical connections. Bay might have learned that people are really tired of learning about how aliens can save or destroy our civilization mostly because they have some innate tie to our ancient cultures, who couldn't have been intelligent (or cruel) enough to build pyramids using the available resources.

However, that's a faux pas of plot, ultimately. What Bay seems to have missed learning from the Lucas School of Mistakes was that it's really just not okay to include potentially racist characters in a major epic motion picture, particularly if you are making a trilogy. Remember Jar Jar from Star Wars? Meeso clumsy and stupid? Meeso called a black stereotype? All around goofy and much-hated character? Bay didn't learn. Instead, he let two even more offensive characters slip into his film.