Bigger, Badder, and Worser?

As a child of the 80's I grew up with certain staples of childhood. I think our generation is unique in the sense that we had such a diverse set of cartoons and entertainment that inspired many of us that it is helping shape the world of today. We are also unfortunately the generation that is seeing many of these same staples of our childhood being changed and modified for the modern era but in ways that aren't necessarily for the better. I start off this blog by saying this because I want people to understand what I feel about certain movies that came from the cartoons of my youth and how they have often been corrupted into nothing more than a shell of what it used to be in our collective consciousness.

This weekend the sequel to 2007's "Transformers" opens. Entitled "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" it continues the story that began in the previous film and is once more directed by Michael Bay. For those who don't know, Michael Bay is the creative mind behind such films as "Armageddon", "Bad Boys 1 & 2" and "Con Air". His hyper-kinetic style of editting along with mildly sepia-toned scenes interspersed with mega-explosions and the occasional slow-motion montage to convey macho-ness to the extreme is what typefies his style and though his films have not been certifiable classics that will stand the test of time and be mentioned alongside the movies of Kubrick or Hitchcock, they have nonetheless changed the way we look at movies and in particular action movies. Now that being said, it rather makes sense that he would direct a movie about robots from space that come to Earth to do battle with their opponents.

The movie screams action even when its standing still and for the most part in the first movie, the film lived up to expectations. But what usually happens with Michael Bay when he has a moderate amount of success is he makes the next film even bigger than the previous one. Plot can go out the window as they make the film as convoluted that only the most astute of minds will be able to realize there's really no story there unless they sit down and filter out the endless explosions. Now I grant you that most cartoons or shows from the 80's may have been low in plot but at least there was some coherence. I think part of the problem these days is that due to the fact that most people want 'instant' gratification there is seldom any delay between when one action scene ends and the next one begins.

Perhaps I'm being a little overly critical of Michael Bay given the fact that I haven't seen the second movie at the time of this writing but given the reviews I have read so far, I'm thinking I may avoid it entirely until it comes on cable or DVD. Apparently chock full of racial stereotypes (disguised as robots no less) and fouler language than in the previous part, the film is pushing the limits given it's rated PG-13. But there's a reason. Most studios know that kids are a major draw for films like "Transformers" and if they aren't allowed to see the film due to the rating, you will lose tremendous income. Never a good thing. So what do you do? Simple, cut enough language that you don't get a higher rating. But you can leave in the gratuitious violence because it's robot on robot or robot on human or vice versa which is a little harder to classify I guess.

Films like "Transformers" or the forthcoming "GI Joe" film due out later this summer (another that I had high hopes for which is slightly being subdued until I see more than the trailers) are running a fine line. They have to appeal to the core audience, kids, while still appealing to the original audience (those who were kids in the 1980's). It's kind of like what happened with the latest "Star Wars" films or "Indiana Jones" movie. Kids of today enjoyed them and it somewhat reduced their opinion of the earlier films but those who grew up with the originals always felt that those were superior and in many ways they were. After films like "Toy Story" and the like showed that even kids movies could have something for adults it became something that all studios aimed for with varying degrees of success.

I'm sure that while the new "Transformers" film is going to be a fairly decent success at the box office it isn't going to do much for the fans of the films. There will be dollar signs rather than quality control in the decision to greenlight a sequel (and I'm pretty sure there will be a sequel) but I shudder to think of what boundaries that version will push. I'm saddened that so many films and stories that I grew up with are being corrupted in a way to make it appealing to kids while appealing to those of us watching the originals but there's really nothing more we can do. Studio bigwigs who know very little about what the original appeal truly was are still in a dollar mindset. They see profits and losses, we see the original story and concept.