The majority of movie critics have offered their opinions on Michael Bay’s latest cinematic garbage and, as one would expect, the conclusion is that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is, indeed, cinematic garbage. Even fanboy apologists who make excuses for Michael Bay have folded their cards and proclaimed Revenge of the Fallen a pathetic movie. No real surprise.

One element of the reviews that is consistent, besides the obvious roasting of Bay’s weak directorial abilities, are the charges of racist undertones. Specifically, two characters are singled-out for criticism: Mudflap and Skids.

Here are some examples:

Collider Review:

But of all the “humor”, the most non-spectacle element that would garner the most controversy (I say “would” because I imagine there are those people who are patting themselves on the back for shutting off their brains) are “The Twins”.  Autobots Skids and Mudflap are two of the most racist caricatures to come along in mainstream cinema in quite some time and nothing can really prepare you for how they embrace the stereotype of young, under-educated, superficial African-American males.  I almost wanted to call the NAACP in the middle of the movie to let them know.  And I’m not a PC-guy.  But when you see characters that are more racist than the crows from “Dumbo”, a film that came out before desegregation, then you have to take note.  Oh, and just to make it even better, their voice actor is a white guy.  You’re welcome, Race Relations.

Aint it Cool News/Massawyrm:

Then there’s the Joepecicon – a terrible GOODFELLAS joke gone awry in the form of a small Decepticon who cracks wise…incessantly. And worst of all, the frightening sidekicks of the film and the mistake this film will most likely be forever known for: Mudflap and Skids, the Stepin Fetchbots of the film. It’s as if Michael Bay looked at Jar Jar Binks and said “Oh, fuck no. Really? People find THAT offensive? Fuck that, I’ll show them a fucking stereotype they’ll never fucking forget!” And he does.

Oh. My. God.

They speak in clichéd urban slang, tossing around phrases like “I’m gonna pop a cap in your ass” while fist bumping and mumbling unintelligently in a voice that sounds like a bad Chappelle Show sketch. Then you get a close up. And they each have bug eyes and a gold tooth. Then there’s this jackass comment about them not being able to read. My jaw was on the floor. I mean, if you’re gonna toss out a bad stereotype, at least have the courtesy to make that stereotype a complete badass so as to deflect complaints that this is a deliberately negative portrayal. These mother fuckers are incompetent, bumbling and never, EVER, cool.

Aint it Cool News/Harry:

The film will make a mint, undeservedly so. Steven Spielberg should be embarrassed to have his name on shoddy storywork like this. Shame on you Steven. Kids will be lining up for this – and they’ll be met with dog fucking, cussing, racial stereotypes and more. I seriously wonder if Spielberg was thinking of Mudflap & Skids as he watched the inauguration of Barack Obama – because he’d read the script at that point, he knew what his name was bringing, and yet he still had the gall to attend.

The filmmakers, studio and toymakers behind this film should be ashamed. To spend this type of money to bring this sort of hurtful and repugnant work to screen – it is an insult to every DREAM that so many have WORKed for, for years.

CHUD:

“Simply put they are offensive beyond measure, and if their names were Stepin and Fetchit I could maybe argue that they were a joke or a bit of meta-commentary or anything except horrible, horrible racial stereotypes.”

Scott Menderson/Film Threat/Huff-Post:

…giving the spotlight instead to Mudflap and Skids (both voiced by Tom Kenny), two bickering robots who look like monkeys, talk in the most stereotypical Ebonics jive possible, and apparently can’t read. To say that these two are the most astonishingly racist caricatures that I’ve ever seen in a mainstream motion picture would be an understatement.

Movies @ MSN:

And I haven’t even begun to talk about the racist-caricature robots of “The Twins,” who speak in thug slang and “aren’t much for reading” and talk about getting “up in that ass,” and one of whom has, I wish I were kidding, a gold tooth.

The New York Times:

That disconnect only deepens with the introduction of two new Autobot characters, the illiterate, bickering twins Skids (Tom Kenny) and Mudflap (Reno Wilson), both of which take the shape of Chevrolet concept cars. The characters have been given conspicuously cartoonish, so-called black voices that indicate that minstrelsy remains as much in fashion in Hollywood as when, well, Jar Jar Binks was set loose by George Lucas. For what it’s worth, the script, by Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, also includes a crack about Simmons, who’s coded as Jewish, and his “pubic-fro head.”

The Boston Globe:

Still, what are we to make of Mudflap and Skids (both Kenny), a pair of shuck-and-jive Autobots who talk in ridiculous gangsta-speak. The insultingly unfunny comic relief of “Transformers,’’ they’re Jar Jar Binks times two and the first known example of robot blackface.