This is the second post in a two article series on Transformers. Read the first post here.

Roger Ebert, in a blog post talking about The Hurt Locker, discuses Transformers and its military ties.

“…in contrast, another current film received lavish aid from the military. That would be “Transformers.” According to a well-researched article in Variety by Peter Debruge, it was the first film ever to receive cooperation from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines. This taxpayer-supported assistance included use of uniformed and armed troops as extras, and a hardware display including, he writes, “Marine hovercrafts, Navy subs and nearly every kind of Army helicopter and Air Force plane in service (from the Frisbee-topped E-3 Sentry to a retired SR-71 Blackbird that transforms into the Decepticon character Jetfire), all coordinated through special arrangement with the Department of Defense.” Some scenes were bankrolled as “training exercises,” including, he writes, “a day at White Sands when a formation of six F-16s popped flares over the set, simulating a low-level, air-to-ground attack.”"

This blurb helps support everything I said in my initial review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.  Every branch of the military had their screen time, with the weapons of war center stage.  I feel federal money could be best spent on other artist projects, one involving people underneath the uniform.  Bay’s newest film brings the minimalization of what the United States military represents to new levels.

Ebert also says…

“It must have been a dream job, being the military adviser on that film. His advice must have boiled down to, “Go for it!” It did, however, achieve one aim of Army recruiters: It made the Army look like fun. For James, Sanborn and their comrades, the Army is a lot of things they would risk their lives for, but fun is not one of them.”

James and Sanborn are the protagonists of The Hurt Locker and star in the kind of films I wish more people would consider as inspiration for joining the military.  People should steer clear of the lesser films of Michael Bay, and instead, if they would like to see films involved in the  military experience, seek out more hard-edged films like the The Hurt Locker. The film may depict details  of the military wrong, but those are budget and resource constraints, not a purposeful misrepresentation of the military.  Although Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen may get the military visuals right, there is such a thin, minimized, glossy coat on them.  A coat that, once again, makes the whole thing feel like a damned Army ad campaign.

Expect a review of The Hurt Locker sometime soon.