Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 39

There was a period during the eighties when Steven Spielberg backed some of the most imaginative, exciting and best pure entertainment Hollywood had to offer. Back to the Future, Goonies, Poltergeist, Gremlins and so many more proudly carried Spielberg’s name as a producer. Together these films set a new pinnacle of escapist fantasy. Now nearly two decades later, Spielberg has again put his name on a film that will capture the attention and child-like imagination of audiences everywhere, guaranteeing that Transformers will inevitably be this summer’s biggest blockbuster.

Based on the beloved Hasbro toys, Transformers has been shrewdly adapted into a feature film by screenwriters Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, creating the blueprint for what is definitively Michael Bay’s best film to date. Simple, yet undeniably effective, when an age-old war between two alien forces, the heroic Autobots and their nemesis the Decepticons, erupts on Earth, the primitive human race is left helpless at the hands of these monstrous, giant robots.

With the sheer number of dazzling action pieces in the film, no one was better suited for this project than veteran spectacle filmmaker Michael Bay. Coming off perhaps the director’s strongest work, the box-office failure The Island, Bay continues to improve as a filmmaker, easily besting his previous efforts with Transformers. Bay’s trademark machismo style and slick visuals are ever present, but it is the story that makes Transformers so gratifying.

Of course credit for this can’t go entirely to Bay though. Steven Spielberg’s mark can certainly be felt throughout the picture. Bay pays homage to the previous films that shared the Transformer’s producer name, notably Gremlins and Jurassic Park, but it is the relationship between Sam Witwicky and his guardian Transformer, Bumblebee, that is perhaps the film’s best nod to Spielberg. Like Elliot and E.T. before them, Sam (Shia LaBeouf) and Bumblebee have that special, touching bond between a boy and his giant, mechanical alien.

The fact that the character of Sam plays such an integral role in why the Transformers have come to Earth could have easily caused the film to implode upon itself, destroying any ounce of credibility. Credit has to go to Shia LaBeouf for giving the film a touch of humanity that without it would have made Transformers an implausibly dorky film filled with nothing more than fast cars and big explosions.

Any fan of the franchise should easily relate