Transformers
Directed by Michael Bay
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Dunn, Jon Voight, John Turturro, and the voices of Peter Cullen and Hugo Weaving.
Backstory
Nostalgia for the 80s has proven to be very profitable, especially in this era when brand names are more important at the box office than fresh, new ideas. Really doesn’t matter for me. I grew up with the Transformers, and when I heard that a live-action movie was coming, I was all “Oh my God!” And then I heard Michael Bay was directing, and I was like, “I’ll still give it a chance.” Were my childhood expectations answered?
Plot
A US Army base in Qatar is attacked by a mysterious black helicopter that turns into a mysterious black robot. As the US Department of Defense gets to work analyzing this new threat, teenager Sam Witwicky is getting ready to buy his first car. Sam gets stuck with a beat up old Camaro that has a mind of its own. It’s not too long before the Camaro is revealed to be Bumblebee, and Sam is drawn into the centuries-old conflict between the Autobots and the Decepticons. And it seems that, somewhere in Sam’s past, is the key to finding the Allspark, the Transformer Holy Grail. Will Optimus Prime and the Autobots find it before Megatron can use it to conquer the universe?
What I Liked
Holy crap, the special effects are amazing. And the final half of the movie just doesn’t let up, as it become this never-ending series of robot carnage…. And I got all the geek-out moments, with my favourite being the all-too-brief flashback to a war-torn Cybertron.
What I Didn’t Like
We really didn’t get to know any of the Transformers as characters. The plot is very, very slim. Some of the dialogue is cheezy. And the end felt kind of abrupt.
Final Assessment
I think this is what they mean when they call a movie a “thrill ride,” because I walked out of the theatre with the exact same feeling I get when I step off a rollercoaster.