Awe the Transformers. If you were born between 1976 to 1990, there's a good chance that the transformers came across your life in one way or another. And even if you were born later than that, the toy market was still mass producing the colorful autobots. It didn't matter how you came to know the transformers, whether it was through the comics, the T.V. show, or their wonderfully imaginative toys, the Transformers were unique in every way. The idea of the Transformers sounds almost childish. As if some little kid thought it up. "Hey, let's just have a bunch of gigantic robots fighting each other." And then every other executive in the room is thinking "genius." Putting that aside, it's not that surprising that a live action Transformers movie was made, and that director Micheal Bay was the perfect choice.
(THE FOLLOWING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS, Although there isn't much to give away. the storyline is kind of obvious. Optimus Prime = Good guy. Megatron = Bad guy. They fight. Good Guy wins. If your looking for a deep and twisted plot line then your missing the point altogether.)
Synopsis: The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, have come to Earth to protect the humans from the Decepticons, led by Megatron. Megatron has learned that theres a cube that crash landed on Earth that would turn all of Earths electronics into evil transformers. (At several points in the film they shamelessly use product placement to show an Xbox 360 and a Nokia phone get turned into tiny transformers) If Megatron gets a hold of the cube, the Earth and the Human race is Doomed, yadda yadda, standard storyline. Optimus Prime fights to make sure that happens. How are th humans involved? Well the huge Robots don't know where the Cube is, but Sam Witwicky (Shia Labeouf) does. It's location is scripted on a pair of old glasses that were left to him by his great grandfather. Thus both sides of the Robots hunt Shia down for the first half of the movie. Luckily the autobots beat the decepticons to him, and the rest is, well, action.
The Good:
Optimus Prime
There really isn't a whole lot to say about Optimus Prime that the world doesn't already know. He's one of the coolest leaders of all time. He fights the good fight, and in the movie, they even kept the same voice actor. Peter Cullen, from the original 80'scartoon show to do Optimus' voice. Keeping the continuity of the character was a strong move by the studio.
Sound Effects
Like the way they kept the same voice actor for Optimus Prime, they also kept the same sound effect for when the Transformers 'transform' from cars, trucks, etc, into their true form. Another smart move by the studio to keep the nostalgia effect alive. Also, the score to this film was pretty well done. The music in the background was generally fitting to almost every scene.
Shia La
beouf
He's a young actor (actually hes only two years older than me, which makes me feel like an unaccomplished loser) but with the success of
Disturbia, the
Transformers, and his upcoming role alongside Harrison Ford in the new Indiana Jones sequel, Shia Labeouf seems to be taking Hollywood by storm. He was the only actor worth noting in this film, which is good, cause he's the only one who had a significant part. Megan Fox was the prototypical hot girl, and Jon Voight was the prototypical old man in the government. Shia was the only one who shined in the movie. He's come along way since
Even Stevens, an underrated TV show in my opinion.
The Bad: Product PlacementAgain, I know I already noted this earlier, but I can think of several just full blown products placed int his movie. When the cube was turned on, they showed am Xbox 360, a new Nokia phone, and a Mountain Dew soda machine all get turned intro transformers. All that being said, product placement is not surprising to see in this kind of movie. I mean, after all, the Transformers ARE the most successful toy line ever. In fact, in the opening credits, I believe the movie said "In Production with Hasbro." Hasbro being the company that produces the famous autobot toys.
The oblivious nature of everyone outside of the cast...
Okay, let me explain. These robots, their huge. I mean gargantuan. Optimus Prime is as tall as a two story house, and at one point, Optimus and his crew are standing outside of Shia's house, and no one else notices these gigantic robots standing outside. Shia's character is trying to hide the robots from his parents, who are downstairs, and the robots are stomping all around the back yard. The parents, of course, never look out the back window, and again, they don't have neighbors who are smart enough to see this either. This isn't the only occasion where no one sees these robots either. When Shia first sees one of the Transformers (in which case it was Bumblebee) he's the only one who witness' it despite the fact that Bumblebee is shooting the Transformers Logo directly in to the night sky.
Overall the movie was a successful summer blockbuster that kept me well entertained through out the entire movie. There was tons of action, tons of thrills, and nothing beats watching giant robots fight each other. This is a great movie, as long as you don't think to hard about it's plot or it's depth.
Rating: 8.5/10
ge does the same for Harlem. If they use this approach better than the movie Daredevil did, this could end up being a worthwhile film. That of course is all depending on how they handle the origin of the character.
