Movie Review: Transformers (2007)
Title:Transformers
Directed By: Michael Bay
Story and Screenplay By: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and John Rogers
Genre: Action/Adventure/Science Fiction
Length: approx. 2 hr. 45 min.
Rating: 8.5/10
The Premise:
Robotic Aliens come to Earth in search of -and to battle over- a powerful alien artifact. Humanity plays its part.
The Good:
-The action
-The CGI
-Megan Fox
The Bad:
-The movie tries to appeal to too many audiences.
-There is too much GM advertising.
-Length (This movie is pretty damned long considering its subject matter.)
The Ugly:
-Memorable lines and phrases such as: "It seems to be surrounded by some kind of... invisible force field..."
Summary:
The movie begins with a brief setup, narrated by the voice of Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen). There's this giant cube, see? It's called the Life Spark and the movie's aliens and namesake, the Transformers have fought an apocolyptic war for this cube. Somehow it was lost, and left floating around in space, until it crash landed on prehistoric Earth.
Cut to the present. The US is attacked and an attempt is made to hack the government network. A teenage boy named Sam (Shia LaBeouf) becomes the center of attention for a lot of strange... er... people. Action and adventure ensues.
The Review:
To begin, let me start by saying: woot! This is one actiony film and boy are the actiony bits done well! I can honestly say that not a single action sequence failed give me a rush, make me shudder with pleasure or simply say: "Damn... that was good."
Whether the action consisted of an Autobot dodging an attack, spinning through the air and unleashing an attack of their own, or a Decepticon simply cutting loose with a chaingun, or even pitiful humans coordinating airstrikes while under fire, it was all done -at the least- very well. Stunt driving, pyrotechnics and CGI were all tied together brilliantly.
The CGI is worth special mention as well as the Autobots and Decepticons, when not disguised as mere vehicles (more than meets the eye, remember?) are pure CGI as far as I can tell, and man, do they look good. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Starscream, Bonecrusher, Barricade... they never looked so good, so gritty, so real.
Speaking of good looking, the aptly named Megan Fox is smoking hot and Michael Bay does a good job of never letting you forget it throughout the entire film. No matter the setting of the scene, no matter the mood, I was always keenly aware of Megan Fox and her raw sexual appeal.
Of course, not everything about the movie is grand and spectacular.
Transformers tries to appeal to many audiences and in so doing, perhaps alienates some. Cheesy lines and slapstick, childish humor mixed with over-the-top action, cuss words and sex appeal is bound to alienate some people. Sometimes, it's just better to pick a specific demographic rather than trying to appeal to everyone, everywhere.
In addition, I understand the nature of sponsorship and the funding it provides for movies, but never should it be so blatantly noticeable in a film. I for one would never have assumed that aliens were such exclusive fans of GM-manufactured automobiles.
Finally, I must express some confusion over the length of the film. Transfomers lasts nearly three hours, total. That's a long time for such a simple story to be told. And it seems the only reason it lasts so long is for the purpose of following a branching storyline involving a signal used by the Decepticons. This signal is in no way important to the development of the plot line, and seems included in the film merely to introduce two characters: Maggie Madsen (Rachael Taylor) and Glen Whitmann (Anthony Anderson).
In Conclusion:
Whether or not you are a fan of the old cartoon, it is very important to remember just one thing whilst going to see this movie: This is a light-hearted action adventure. Go to see this film to be amused by wit and slapstick comedy, bedazzled by CGI and thrilled by fantastic action. Don't expect to acquire some new life-philosophy or to have some kind of epiphany after seeing this film because, quite frankly, this film doesn't take itself seriously and nor should it, or you.
Originally Posted by Eric
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