OK, here's what disturbed me about the movie.
In terms of advertising, it wasn't so much the product placement or the military propaganda in and of itself. It was the fact that it was all way overdone in many areas.
I'm not an extremist. I'm not going to be unrealistic and say that there shouldn't being any product placement or military advertising. But when you have to show the brand names of everything over and over again... When you have to show not just the military or their jets and vehicles, but closeup shots of them with their names over and over again... I don't mind brief glimpses of products or the military. But the movie just went too far.
I actually thought the movie's portrayal of the military soldiers was respectful for the most part. Whether it was realistic was another question. But, for the most part, the soldiers were not portrayed as unrealistically stupid and bloodthirsty like they have been portrayed as in other films. The movie might have been portraying them in an equally unrealistic positive light, but that's another story. And I say for the most part, because not all the soldiers were portrayed in a respectful light.
What bugged me the most about the movie was the over-the-top, nonstop, and out-of-place humor, racism, sexism, nationalism, and the over-empowerment of the military at the expense of the Autobots.
This movie had to throw in corny and cheesy humor in just about every scene, including scenes that required complete seriousness. The human characters themselves, especially Glen and Sam, greatly contributed to the over-kill of cheesy humor, especially in all the wrong places, with their over-acting. Sam and Glen would have been much more believable and convincing characters if they just acted a little more like normal people. Was Sam banging his head on Bumblebee's hood and talking like a goofball throughout much of this film really necessary? Same with Glen's characterization? Did that really add to character development and contribute to the overall movie? I don't mind some humor. But not overly cheesy and immature humor in all the wrong places like this movie had. It seems as if Bay and company were trying to tell the audience the whole time not to take this movie seriously insteading of leaving the audience to make that decision itself. And yes, there was WAY too much time devoted to the human characters, who, for the most part, did not really get any character development at all being corny stereotypes at best. The Autobots and Decepticons got very little time and development. And they too were made into cornballs. Prime saying "my bad" was totally out of character for him. Spending 20 minutes hiding and not being smart enough or quiet enough to not destroy Sam's parents' yard? Come on? Prime not wanting to attempt to rescue Bumblebee? Yes, I understand that Prime did not want to hurt any humans. But Prime in G1 at least considered, and was smart enough to come up with, alternatives. This Prime seemed like all he did was grunt and groan throughout the movie with the word, "Cuuuuube". He didn't seem to care whatsoever about Jazz after being torn in two by Megatron. Yeah, he says, "Oh Jazz", towards the end. But then dismisses him by saying something to the effect of, "We lost an old comrade, but it doesn't matter. Because we gained some new ones in the form of the human soldiers." This is not the Prime I remember. Yes, Prime cared about humans. But he equally cared about his fellow bots. This movie Prime just acts like an insensitive jerk! He'll even sacrifice is most honorable fellow Autobots for the most evil and twisted humans.
I'm wondering if Bumblebee choses to live with Sam, because he's angry that Prime didn't give a crap about him?
So if some evil and twisted humans, like Cobra Commander, had Elita 1 in their possession, and were threatening to kill her, would he refuse to go after her to, putting the welfare of those evil humans above the love of his life? As a human, I know what my choice would be. I would rather save any noble bot over any evil human! Hey maybe that's why Prime needs the human military!
The movie's disturbing American nationalism showed in the treatment of the hispanic soldier. I've worked with many hispanic men and women. And I can tell you, that unlike this soldier, they only spoke spanish to someone they knew understood the language. This guy just speaks it to everyone and is then told to stop. Sounds like a jab at anyone who doesn't speak the national language, English. So is this movie saying that all immigrants are supposed to completely assimilate and forget their language and roots? Do those behind this movie, including Michael Bay, have a beef with Hispanics.
And the treatment of the Indian Call Center employee was disturbing as well. Yes, many United State's jobs have been transported overseas and that has become a problem here. But the life of these Indian employees is no cake walk. I have read about the long hours they have to work and the abuse they have to take under their employers. Maybe this Indian employee should have been treated in a more humane and sensitive manner instead of as an obnoxious and uncaring person?
I am very disturbed by how black people, especially black women, are portrayed in this movie. Bobby's mother and Glen's grandmother are both portrayed as stereotypical "mammies" and/or just as "bitchy old ladies". And what's more disturbing is how Bobby and Glen treat them. Again, Bobby calls his mother by the insulting title, "Mammy". Glen tells his grandmother to just "Shut up!" What is this movie promoting? That older black women deserve no respect from black men, let alone men of other colors? That black women are not even human? So many other women, including Makaela in some scenes, are treated as nothing more than shallow objects and sex objects at that. Except for the older black women who are given the most revolting image of all because they are not the young attractive white women, but instead, older and black.
And let's have a look at three main black male characters in the movie: Epps, Bobby, and Glen. Bobby is a successful or somewhat successful business man as a used car salesman. But he is not portrayed as respectable. Instead he is portrayed as shady and somewhat of a crook and con artist. Glen is portrayed as a genius. He is smart enough to unlock the Decepticon code. He is extremely intelligent, but portrayed as a "loser" who lives with his annoying grandmother, acts corny, and eats junkfood all the time. Now let's look at the black man who's in the military: Epps. He's portrayed throughout the movie as mostly heroic and respectable. So what is this movie with its racism and military propaganda implying? That though black men have the ability to be extremely intelligent and successful economically, if they do so on their own, they will only wind up not respectable in any way? That in order for a black man to be really respectable, he should not strive for more education and intelligent endeavors, nor try to open a business and improve his economic standing? Instead, if a black man wants to become a decent and respectable human being, he should join the military instead? Oh yeah, what a great message to send to all black males and other males of color, especially in light of the fact that military recruiters greatly target poor performing schools in poor areas that oftentimes have large minority populations! What a great message indeed!
Let's go tell that one to all the parents of color who bought their children Transformers toys!
And yes, the military's heroism was portrayed at the expense of the heroism of the Autobots and Optimus Prime in particular to promote more military propaganda. While Prime was basically getting his ass handed to him by Megatron, the military was there backing him up with their fighter jets bombing the hell out of megatron. I guess Prime, though he handed Bonecrusher his ass, just couldn't hold his own against Megatron for any length of time. If it wasn't for the military interviening, would Megatron have defeated him? I'm sorry, but Prime and the Autobots, not the military and Sam, should have been the true heros of this movie! I don't mind Sam and the military assisting the Autobots, but not at the expense of the Autobot's heroism.
If the sequel is to be a decent film, it needs to rid itself of all the sexist, racist, nationalist, and propagandizing mistakes of the first film as listed above.
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