I just came back from watching the much anticipated Transformers movie. It was highly entertaining, if I do say so myself. Michael Bay executed this film in a way that will connect the audience to the characters, no matter if you were an avid watcher of the 80s cartoon, or never heard of Autobots before.
The film starts of action-packed, set in the scorching deserts in Qatar, and from there we are introduced to Sam Witwicky (played effectively by Shia Lebeouf), an ackward teen coming-of-age with passion for getting a car and the girl (Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes). Top secret government files are stolen (as they often are in these types of films), and people are seeing strange things… machines… transforming (and a lot of stuff blowing up, all Armageddon-like).
Here’s where the Autobots come in. With Optimus Prime at the head of the pack (including Autobots’ Bumblebee, Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet), they are sworn to protect human life from the evil Decepticons. The $150 million budget and collaboration with Hasbro was clearly put to use, as the humanoid machines looked very realistic.
The action is well balanced with the ‘humanized’ storylines, but personally, I loved seeing Optimus Prime and his crew beating up Megatron (voiced by Matrix/LOTR alumni, Hugo Weaving) and his evil minions. Lots of comedic moments in this film as well as some heart-felt moments. If there’s any summer blockbusters on your list this season, this is one to check out (even if the plot seemed kind of ‘meh’… the action and comedic moments makes up for it). It’s a lot of fun to watch. I’m definitely looking forward to the sequels.
For some strange reason, I feel like leasing a yellow and black Camero now…
Here’s a clip from Robot Chicken doing a little parody of the popular 80’s cartoon:
Oh, one more thing: Make sure you reach the theater before the trailers start rolling. There is one in particular that will take your breath away. I won’t spoil it for you, but if you like action/sci-fi/thriller flicks, you’ll be racing home after Transformers and head to the Internet, trying to figure out what the untitled, top-secret, J.J. Abrams-produced trailer is all about. All I can say is that it’s release date is 01.18.08, and it’s one of the coolest trailers I’ve ever seen…
I liked it but i think the camera-work left a bit to be desired for. Too much panning and obstructed fight scenes. It also suffered from a bit of the Star Wars prequel syndrome in that a lot of the people going to see it were huge Transformers fans as little kids, but now they’re going to see the movie as mid-to-late 20-somethings and may not appreciate the deliberately immature script. Sort of how the script for the Star Wars prequels was unbelievably corny and borderline ridiculous, but then, wasn’t it the same for the original three too? It just sounded a lot better when you were a kid while your parents likely rolled their eyes while waiting for you to go to bed so they could watch Godfather.
Now let’s talk about Cloverfield :D