Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 5

Transformers, the live action movie. The very idea had gave me a roller coaster of emotions. On the one hand, this was the movie I had wanted to see since before I could walk, on the other hand, this was the movie I had wanted to see since before I could walk. It was a movie that could go very very well or a movie that could go very very bad.

It ended up somewhere in between. It was surprisingly good, but it could have been better.

The movie is about the Transformers quest to find the Allspark, a power source which can give life to random machines (Vector Sigma in a handy cube form, for fans of the original). The Autobots want to use it to restore their dying home world, Cybertron, the Decepticons want to form an army to conquer the Universe. A fairly typical Transformers type plot.

The film starts with a sceen showing some army guys talking and straight away the crucial error is made. The focus of the movie lies far too much with people. Regular guys.

Almost imediately this sceen is followed by a Decepticon attack, which is incredibly cool to watch, but no detail is ever followed up as to the Decepticon’s background.

*Spoilers*

Apart from Bumblebee, who despite not saying anything still manages to be cool, the other Autobots do not arrive until an hour into the film. They are then given a few sceens, but nothing major. Only Optimus Prime and, to a lesser degree, Ironhide come across as having any character at all. When Jazz is brutally murdered, it’s very difficult to care. His character is not even slightly developed and he’s different enough from the original cartoons so that not even hardcore fans will feel connected.

The Decepticons are recieve even less character development. Megatron and Starscream don’t appear until almost two hours into the film, Megatron spending the entire time in a giant freezer. The whole Megatron – Starscream love hate relationship, a very key feature of the original cartoons, is given only one line, when Megatron announces Starscream has failed him “Once again.”

Presumably, when doing a live action, it’s just alot easier to focus on real people than imaginary robots. But it’s the imaginary robots we came to see. No one cares about some girl working for some computer type people and her friend the hacker.

On the positive side, the transformers are incredibly cool to watch and certain moments will make real fans incredibly happy, no matter how much they want to hate it. For example, anyone with any claim to being a fan could not help themselves at bubbling up with glee when Optimus Prime announces,

“One shall stand, one shall fall.”

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 2

This movie was definitely “more than meets the eye!” Sorry, I had to do that. In all seriousness, I was not overly enthused about seeing Transformers, but I am glad that I did. The movie was incredible, and I was very much into it.

The Acting:

Shia LaBeouf was great as Sam Witwicky, the loveable, nerdy guy who gets sucked into the Transformers’ world. Although he plays a nerdy character, he is cute enough that you want him to get the girl, Mikaela Banes (played by Megan Fox). It was refreshing to see a strong female lead. Megan Fox’s character was well developed. She knew about cars and could kick behind. I’d bet on her in any fight. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to act that convincingly when all you have is a blue screen to go by, but these two actors did amazingly well.

The Special Effects:

The special effects were incredible: lots of explosions and action. It was amazing what vehicles the Transformers mimicked: Porshes, Hummers, Helicopters…and wait until you see the main Transformer as a sweet Camaro. I can’t imagine any guy who wont love this movie, just based on the special effects.

Miscellaneous:

The soundtrack was all hard rock and fit well with the action scenes. The personalities of the Transformers themselves were well-developed. The Decepticons were so evil, they almost gave me goosebumps, and I felt as strongly connected to the Autobots as the human characters. The plot was very good, and the movie left no questions unanswered (but also left itself very open to a sequel, especially if you watch through all the credits). My only criticism would be that a few scenes could be edited. It went a little long.

Bottom line: Go see it, if you haven’t already!

Cybertronian Civil War

Transformers are robots from the planet Cybertron divided into two powerful groups namely Autobots led by Optimus Prime and the Decepticons led by Megatron. The story began during the Cybertronian Civil War. When all transformers search for the Allspark, a large cube of energy that grant eternal life to mechanical objects and where the source of of all Transformer’s lives. And finding out that the cube landed on the planet, Earth. Later it was discovered by the U.S Government and the built a Dam making it as a research facility for it. Megatron later on found out that it was there on earth but as he went to earth, accidentally he crash-landed in Artic Ocean and was frozen. Years had passed and he was found and brought to the same facility where Allspark is located. Autobots were dispersed throughout the entire universe. Optimus Prime’s group traveled to earth in search of the Allspark. However, Decepticons follows. Transformers can change in an instant from the body of common objects usually vehicles to physically grown robots.

There are many characters of Transformers and i apologize that i cant include them all because Transformers change quite several times since it was first aired decades ago.
Here are the lists of the Transformers The Movie(2007) directed by Michael Bay:
Autobots
Optimus Prime-
Peter Cullen voices Optimus Prime. Disguised as a Peterbilt truck. Leader of the Autobots, dedicated himself to stop the Decepticons wherever and whenever they attack.
Bumblebee -
Mark Ryan voices Bumble Bee. Disguised as a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro, and upgrades into the 2009 model.
Cliffjumper-
1982 Porsche 924. Impulsive. Optimus Prime usually gives him advice about precaution.
Ironhide-
Jess Harnell voices Ironhide, a modified GMC TopKick C6500 . Autobot weapon specialist.
Ratchet-
Robert Foxworth voices Ratchet. Medic of the Autobots. Transforms into Search and rescue Hummer H2.
Jazz-
Darius McCrary voices Jazz. Second in command of the Autobot forces. A modified Pontiac Solstice in disguise.
Arcee-
Female Transformer once a member of a squad lead by Bumblebee on Cybertron.
Prowl-
1979 Nissan 280ZX Police Car . He operated Optimus Prime’s right-hand man in early episodes.
Decepticons
Megatron-
Hugo Weaving voices Megatron. Decepticon leader. Optimus calls Megatron his brother.
Starscream-
Charlie Adler voices Starscream, Megatron’s second-in-command. A Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor jet in disguised.
Frenzy-
Reno Wilson voices Frenzy. Decepticons spy who transforms into a boombox, and eventually into a mobile phone.
Barricade-
Jess Harnell voiced Barricade. Disguised as a Saleen Mustang police car.
Bonecrusher-
Jim Wood voices Bonecrusher, he attacks Optimus Prime along the highway to Mission City. Disguised as a Buffalo H Mine.]
Blackout-
Transforms into a MH-53J Pave Low III helicopter with his minion Scorponok.
Transformers became the highest grossing movie in the year 2007 all over the world. The film won number of awards and nominated several times for Academy Awards. Children and Adults were really into it and proven to be the “Must-Love Movie” of the year worldwide!

Transformers: Less Than Meets the Eye