Transformers: talking alien robots that transform into cars and other human driven machines who want to destry/save mankind. Seems like a weird premise for a movie, or television show for that matter. But just as the TV show entertained millions in the eighties so, I am certain this movie will make millions of fans and new comers alike weep with delight this summer. This is a real action movie folks, the action is throughout and in great abundance, ithis is one three hour movie that will keep your attention
First off I must say that having Michael Bay come out before the movie and let everyone know that he was going to make sure that they keep the sound up “really fucking loud” was a plus, always nice to see the director sharing his joy and excitement by making our listening experience just a little better. Glad he did because the sound is INCREADIBLE in this flick. They get the Transformers language perfectly. Everything has this super cool robotic voice feel to it.
Here is the plot description:
Dueling alien races, the Autobots and the Decepticons, bring their battle to Earth, leaving the future of humankind hanging in the balance.
There is so much more than this to the movie of course but I want to stay far away from any spoilers so I’m not going to go into too much plot details here.
Since Transformers is a kick butt, amusement park on acid, weep for joy kind of movie I will make my complaints brief and then get onto the good stuff. In my opinion the one area that has room for improvement is the soldier story line. One of the first scenes in the movie has a bunch of soldier shooting the breeze in the desert talking about their loved ones. This scene frightened me for a moment or two into thinking that this movie might be a sappy lemon, of course then some amazing, freaky action started up so I relaxed. The movie continues on in fine form but these soldiers pop up every now and then and each time they do I am slightly bothered. They are one of three human stories in the movie and while the other two are well thought through and properly written the soldiers lack proper ammunition. The dialogue is pretty lame and the story predictable, even the quirky funny soldier leaves me wanting. Luckily for us they have the smallest amount of screen time and the other two human plotlines more than make up for it.
Now onto the good. Where do I start? Ok for the special effects nuts this movie is IT. Total perfection. I am not a big fan of special effects, because, just as with a facelift something always looks a bit off to me, the smile isn’t supposed to meet the ears. But if Michael Bay was arrested next week for harboring illegal Autobots I would no be surprised. I kept forgetting that these giant, kick ass robots in disguise aren’t real, my mind would try and guess how expensive these shape shifting robots must have been to build. The effects are really that fantastic .
Next are the characters. I’ll do humans first; Looks wise the romantic lead Megan Fox is hard to ignore, I am very curious if there was any CGI on that girl’s eyelashes because they are crazily perfect in length, Rachel Taylor impressed me as the young up and coming linguistic code breaker, without too much back story she was able to portray an intelligent woman with some very interesting friends. Shia LaBouf (playing Sam, the kid who gets Bumblebee as his car) is a great comedic actor, I noticed him last year in the wonderful film Bobby and just as with that movie he is able to be awkwardly funny without being uncomfortable to watch and although he may not be instantly likable he soon becomes a beloved character. John Turturro is hysterical as an anally retentive special agent Simmons. Sam’s parents are hilarious, and hit a home run with both of their performances. If everything else about Transformers had been crap these two odd and nosy parents would have made this movie bearable.
As for the Autobots and the Decepticons…well…they may be robots but they still manage to steal the spotlight from any human who is on screen with them, and it isn’t just their impressive size that does it. They get almost as many laughs as the humans for their behavior (my favorite is when one of the Autobots urinates on a special government agent) and their dialogue is written and delivered perfectly. Bumblebee rocks in this movie, he is simply the most lovable character, human or robot, and the marketing works. The Camero looks great, I want one (or at least park with someone who owns one).In the Decepticons corner the stand out robots are a bunch of weird little Decepticons assistants that complain under their breath, very funny passive aggressive little things and you can’t help but laugh at them.
All in all this movie is great. Michael Bay has made his best film to date. There is the perfect helping of humor, sprinkle of romance and blasting of action to make everyone completely entertained and satisfied. As an added bonus they have left the door slightly open for more Transformer movies. On a scale of one to ten I give this a nine out of ten. For a no, go or routh I say routh, this is the full package my friends
Little helpful hint to those who are not familiar with Transformers, apparently there can be some confusion over who is an Autobot and who is a Decepticon. So, very simply, just like with rabbits, red eyes robots are the bad guys, blue eyes robots are the good guys.
