Transformers

Transformers is a great movie with a pretty good storyline and a decent cast.It is a bit long but the two and a half hours fly by.I enjoyed the action in the movie,although it did go on a bit too long many times,sometimes so much that you would forget whats happening,but it is very well directed by Michael Bay.I enjoyed Shia LaBeouf a lot in this,but,although she is very attractive,Megan Fox is not a very good actress,I feel like she just says her lines and she probably wouldn't have got in to acting if it wasn't for how good looking she is,I definitely think a better actress like Emma Stone or Amanda Seyfried could have put in a better performance as this character.The best part for me is without a doubt the robots themselves,Optimus Prime,Bumblebee and the rest of the Autobots and Decepticons are beautifully animated and the voice work is outstanding.While Transformers has many flaws,its still very enjoyable and I would recommend it to all fans of Michael Bay and the Transformers in general.

A long fighting race of robots,the Autobots and the Decepticons,head to Earth and one young teenager might be able to fix things.

If you want a movie full of explosions and fighting robots, this is the movie you need to see. Although, it would have been a shorter movie if they didn't go slo-mo during a lot of the fight scenes (which is all right, because it's cool).

This movie is ACTION. I say this first because if you think this movie will be anything more than this, you will be disappointed on some level (as I was). Frame for frame this movie screams Michael Bay.

Now that's out of the way, there's a lot of stuff here that works and a lot that doesn't. It's a good thing that the robots do work. Seeing autobots and decepticons in glorious photo-realistic CGI is enough to wring out any childhood fantasy from anybody (not just boys from the 80s). Watching these robots move is to realize a revelation to what is possible with modern movie effects. Whether it's transforming on the move, bashing the living daylights out of each other, or just standing and talking, these guys alone make the movie work. And unlike the other blockbusters that have came out this year, these effects have a sense of weight that adds so much to the visual satisfaction.

As for everything else, well... that's when things start to go downhill. In typical epic fashion, this movie contains a sprawling cast. Along with this however, are a large number of writing and acting issues. With such a large number of underdeveloped characters, names are pretty much luxury. Also, most of the human related humor gags miss badly, which makes it hurt more considering a lot of the characters were unnecessary. Jon Voight's Secretary of Defense character completely baffles me, which makes me think that audiences responded positively to the President in Independence Day doing aerial dogfights. Any positives from the supporting cast (including the strange yet entertaining overacting of John Turturro) are outweighed by the large set of negatives.

However, the cast has got it where it counts. Shia Lebeouf plays an important part in selling the reality of the robots as the lead character Sam, and also carries an easy likability factor. Megan Fox's acting does a reasonable job bringing some interest to her character to beyond her looks. The voice cast also does an overall superb job. Peter Cullen IS Prime, and although his dialogue does border on the ridiculous, he always has a sense of gravity to his lines. Hugo Weaving also does an equally commendable job as Megatron (His booming entrance will forever be embedded into the minds of little kids everywhere). The rest of the transformers don't say much, which is a shame because I wanted to see so much more interplay between them (The taunts that Optimus and Megatron yell as their fighting is great stuff).

Another major gripe I have is Bay's ADD editing. Although it does keep the movie constantly moving, it creates some issues with continuity and distracts from some of the action (probably the biggest crime committed in the movie).

I could go on and on about the good things (Bumblebee, Frenzy) and the bad things (Anthony Anderson and his family, forgotten Barricade) and the downright weird things (Dubya's cameo, Sam's friend climbing in a tree). Overall, the film delivers where it really matters. Although I was disappointed, the amount of potential for the sequel (which just got greenlighted) just gets me giddy (is it too much to ask for a tighter script and better acting?)

(Also, the Autobot Assemble scene is one of the coolest things I've seen in theaters in years.)

No, it is not a smart movie, or a well written one, but this movie certainly has it's goods, and one can hardly deny it is fairly entertaining.

The goods were pretty obvious. Stunning visuals, brilliant editing, mind-blowing set pieces, say about mister Bay what you will, he has always had an eye for the visual. And this is an absolute plus to all his work, basically. But we can also state that Bay's previous work, with a few exception, was nonetheless fairly disappointing. Transformers went further than just the visual shebang.

The movie had a good sense of humor too. It was clear that everyone knew that one can hardly take a few car robots seriously, and so no one didn't. Which is a good thing. It made the movie one hell of a lot funnier. The actor's were cool too. Shia LaBouf is a great lead role, John Turturro, John Voight, Anthony Anders and others had really cool side roles, and they made the movie worthwhile.

The only downs were the ridiculousness that often crawled onto the screen, of course fault to the slightly preposterous script. Usually I cringe with issues like these, but aforementioned points somehow made the movie awfully amusing. A great watch, especially in the cinemas, but maybe somewhat less entertaining to watch on a TV. be warned

I expected this to be an action movie only, but it also has a lot of hilarious jokes similar to American Pie, such as when the robots were making lots of noise, Sam's parents asked him something embarrassing. There is some action, but there is also drama. At least the action and drama aren't so bad. However, the characters weren't so likable. Megan Fox was just eye candy (yes, she was hot, at least) and Shia LaBeouf was not a likable character.

Pros:

• Really funny

• Good action

Cons:

• Characters aren't so likable

Review: 8