I still remember watching the first Transformers movie. It was in a packed theater, one of those screenings put on by radio stations. This usually results in an audience skewed towards the station’s demographic rather than one composed of movie fans but in this instance, a quick look up and down the aisle revealed an audience packed with Transformers geeks. Optimus Prime t-shirts were in heavy evidence along with the usual geek accoutrements present at any special nerd-friendly event. And when the movie played, there was an audible reaction. They laughed at all the obscure, inside jokes. They applauded in all the right moments. The first time Optimus Prime rolled on screen there was a gasp, a ripple of emotion which seemed close to collapsing into tears as thirty year old men relived that moment when as a kid, Optimus Prime died on screen and left them there all alone.

Shortly after that screening Transformers debuted to mainstream audiences and powered by incomprehensible special effects it became huge. The film transcended any and all possible boundaries of fandom to become something loved not just by fanboys, but by everyone who likes to buy a ticket for spectacle.

Enter Transformers 2, an inferior film by any measure yet one, inexplicably loved by audiences while utterly loathed by nearly every type of film critic. It’s on it’s way to becoming the second biggest film of all time and, those who reviewed and hated it are looking for scapegoats. How to explain this impossible success? How to explain the determination of audiences to like something which is, so obviously, a pile of dreck? Never before has the divide between audience and critic been bigger, and that’s left us all looking for answers. The one landed on most frequently by pundits is this one, espoused by Roger Ebert: “It has little to no appeal for non-fanboy or female audiences.” The implication here is that the film made $60 million dollars purely on the money eagerly handed over by nerds who, of course, will watch anything featuring robots without discrimination.

I beg to differ. more...