OK, I’ll admit it- I was one of those fuddy-duddy critics who hated the original Transformers two summers ago, and I was dreading the release of the sequel. Yet watching this trailer, a funny feeling came over me- in short, I didn’t hate it. In fact, I think I was finally able to see what others enjoyed so much about the 2007 blockbuster. This is due in no small part to the fact that I could legitimately see what was happening- in an uncharacteristic move for the infamously antic Michael Bay, there are actually half a dozen or more shots in this trailer in which the audience actually gets the chance to appreciate what’s happening onscreen (and the efforts of the FX team) for several seconds before an edit. The other thing I appreciated about this trailer was the absence of the goony humor that made the non-Transformers scenes in the original such a chore- we don’t see Shia Labeouf riding a pink girl’s bike or have to suffer through still more shots of one of the Transformers “urinating” on John Turturro. Also, Megan Fox’s dialogue is kept to a minimum, almost certainly a good thing. What’s left is basically 2 ½ minutes of wholesale destruction and Transformers action- talk about playing to the director’s strengths. Whether all the lame crap that made me hate the 2007 movie will be present in this one too remains to be seen. But for me, Revenge of the Fallen has gone from a must-skip to a wait-and-see, which I hadn’t imagined possible. So that’s a start.