“More than meets the eye,” was the tag line from the old Transformers cartoon way-back-when. Despite the fact that most people went to see the latest Transformers movie simply because of the signature Michael-Bay-massive-cool graphics and Megan Fox, there is more to this movie than meets the eye.
Michael Bay has a penchant for playing a Where’s Waldo social commentary game with many of his movies, like “The Island.” This is no different. While The Fallen is strategizing for his buddy-Deceptacons, the Obama administration (in the film) sends an official (that looks a lot like Press Sec. Robert Gibbs) to the special ops military group working with the Autobots. They are to categorically suspend all activity. The Obama administration (in the film) wants to dialogue with the Deceptacons and send the Autobots away from earth. Yeah … we in the audience see there is nothing-more-here-than-inviting-a-black-eye. The officer-in-charge asks the Obama Administration official, “what if you’re wrong?”
A good question for our own real-life situation. During the heating up phase of the Deceptacon major offensive President Obama is wisked away to a “secure” location, while normal peon “global citizens” must suffer the consequences of his gross miscalculations. Where is Uncle Mordecai when we need him?
During a news conference with the Autobot special ops unit and Optimus Prime, an officer whispers to his friend about Prime: “If God made us in his image, who made him?” The voice-over Prime assures us, like in the previous Transformer movie, that we’re not alone in the universe. Knowing all there is to know in a universe of icy and stale reductionism is a lony place. As a rationalistic and scientifically-precise culture, we have never been more hungry for unexplainable mystery that is bigger. We’re leaving organized, pansy religion by the droves, but we’re hungry for a God, who is big enough to be untamable and is beyond complete explanation. We Christians would do well to take notice that there is more to our God-hungry culture than meets the eye.
