Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 23

The robots we grew up to know and love have finally hit the silver screen, with the possibility of spawning a sequel already. They’ve have come back to make our 2.5 hours of watching well worth the money.

As a director, Michael Bay is best known for action movies. We know he handles car chasing scenes better than anyone in the business right now, so it fits perfectly in this movie. He brings the fast-paced, non-stop action to us at 100 MPH, and never letting up once. Like he said, “I wanted it to be f-ing loud.” Believe me, Mike, it was loud. He can very well add this somewhere to his “Best Works” list, if not at the top.

Shia had to get away from Disney at some point. He plays our humorous, horny teenage protagonist: Sam. Full of spunk and energy, the guy always has something to say, regardless if it’s to his crush, the robots, or his oddball parents. Let’s not forget the fate of the world is in his hands, which is somewhat clich, but it worked nicely during the plot’s progression. And, in the end, he got the girl. We all knew he would. That’s his prize for saving the world. Needless to say, I’m sure we hope to see him in a possible sequel. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Let’s not forget some other cast members, like Jon Voight, Tyrese Gibson, Anthony Anderson, and the others. They each played their roles nicely. And Anthony, of course, sticked to being the funny man. Jon shined with his role as Secretary of Defense Keller by barking out orders, planning out the defenses, and even aiding in the butt-kicking Frenzy long-awaited throught the film. Tyrese always fits the macho types of characters, and that’s all there is to say about it.

If the Decepticons get the AllSpark, mankind is screwed. Okay, that’s cool, but did this plot sit too well with viewers? Surprisingly, yes. For me, it was rather mediocre. “Find {this}, or the world is doomed!” sort of plots are overused in movies, video games, and even books. Of course, like every title, this movie twisted it up a bit. It didn’t completely throw me off, though. All other elements included in the movie fit into the plot fine, nearly overshadowing its presence.

Autobots vs. Decepticons. This is the main reason Transformers exists today. People want to see the robots duke it out, regardless of the cause or place. We see Autobots being led by the legendary Optimus Prime, who’s voiced by the prized Peter Cullen, an original voice from the first movie, and Decepticons led by Megatron, voiced by Hugo Weaving, or who we know better as Agent Smith in “The Matrix” trilogy. The humans are barricaded in the middle of it all, suffering throughout the movie’s entirety. The battles between the ‘bots are extraordinary and memorable, but we do lose a good guy or two. Nobody cares about the bad guys, though.

Mix everything in with a top-notch special effects team, and the ‘bots actually look as if they’re transforming! Heck, nothing was off by even a pixel. Let’s give a pat on the back to these guys, as I’m sure they worked hard to make it all look as realistic as possible for the rest of us.

Fans of the series will love it, and newcomers will be amazed. Michael Bay didn’t ruin the series one bit, as many fans had said he’d do, but brought us a new look at the “new generation”. This is just the beginning of it, too.