The tyranny of Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The Transformers franchise and its impresario Michael Bay have a dual gift: a way of making tremendous amounts of money, and a way of infuriating large portions of the population. The Transformers films manage to be so abhorrent that they spark analysis and criticism of such a high calibre that the existence of the films seems justified, if only as cultural objects to be critiqued. These movies either leave the audience embalmed in a neon, celluloid haze of dazed indifference, or provoke a fire-and-brimstone torrent of rage. Thus:
Walter Chaw (filmfreakcentral.net):
“[TF3] holds the distinction of being the first movie this year I’m actually ashamed of. In it, I recognize every failing of we the people, paraded before us as though they were virtues. The country represented by this film is bellicose and ignorant. Comparing the projected grosses of [TF3] and Tree of Life highlights just how clearly Bay and his legion see things as they really are.
It’s unspeakably depressing. “
Charlie-Jane Anders (io9.com) with an auteur interpretation:
“After a few hours of seeing Shia get dissed, overlooked and mistreated, the message becomes clear: Shia, as always, is a stand-in for Michael Bay. And Bay is showing us just what it felt like to deal with the ocean of Haterade — the snarking, the Razzie Award, the mean reviews — that Revenge of the Fallen unleashed.”
The Last Psychiatrist interviews Michael Bay in “My name is Michael Bay, and I just fucked your girlfriend”:
“…my movies exist because of women, because they’ve driven men batshit crazy into ‘man caves’ and Call Of Duty XI. Did they have giant robot movies in the 1930s and 40s? No, all of those movies had dance numbers. Back when a guy could punch a dame for overcooking a chicken there was no shame in watching some fool tap dance his way through WWII. Now these bitches expect you to change a diaper and shave your balls? Fuck that. Giant robots.”
