Transformers… my review

There’s been a lot of talk about the new Transformers movie and most of it seems to be negative from what I’ve read/heard. People seem to be saying everything from how fake it looked… to how the fight scenes were filmed “too close” to really see them… to how Michael Bay ruined their childhood memories of the show. That said, I went into see the film tonight with some less than great expectations and have to say that those people panning the movie for the reasons above or any other reason are complete idiots. The film was amazing! Several times throughout the show I got chill bumps from the dialog or the situation or a combination of the two. The first time I heard Peter Cullen’s voice echo out of Optimus Prime’s mouth it took me back to my youth and made me remember how sad I was when Prime died in the original animated Transformers movie (and how that was the only part of movie that ever made me well up with tears). All of the other characters they brought back were great as well even if they were now suddenly all a part of the latest GM line of vehicles. And while I was somewhat disappointed in how little we saw of Megatron, I do have to say that his part of the movie was incredible and that Hugo Weaving did a great job of resurrecting his cold and calculating voice. In other words, the Transformers themselves were very well done and even looked “real” most of the time as the CGI work in the film was outstanding.

That said, the human cast of the show was equally well done. Shia LeBeouf as the new “Spike” did a great job of portraying the geeky guy we all were back in the day and Megan Fox as his love interest was perfect since she was the kind of girl we all wanted back then as well (and still do today I’d venture). The way their relationship grew throughout the movie was exactly like all the great movies from the 80’s where the dorky guy ends up winning over the hot chick by doing something brave while still showing his wit and intelligence. Personally I think this was sheer genius on the part of the script writers… bravo! There were also several other bit players in the cast here and there who all did great jobs with their characters but sadly the best character in the film in my opinion (the used car dealer played by Bernie Mac) was utilized far too little while the worst character (the hacker guy played by Anthony Anderson) was used too much. Overall though, the casting and the ensuing acting of said cast was first rate.

The storyline of the film was fantastic and while it didn’t exactly hold true to the old television show it did hold true enough to satisfy me personally. Others may disagree with this but I’m ok with them “rebooting” the storyline if it means making more movies like this in the future (which I’ve heard they plan to do but no one seems able to confirm that so far). The dialog of the characters was dead on for most of them and they even included the classic Prime line of “One will stand… one will fall” during his battle with Megatron. This brought a chill to my spine as I heard it since that was one of the best lines from the original cartoon movie right before Megatron killed Prime. If the script had one flaw though it had to be that the Decepticons got a raw deal and got far less screen time than the Autobots did on the whole. I mean you barely got to see Starscream and he’s Megatron’s second in command! I’m sure this was done to keep the movie “good” instead of “evil” but I don’t agree with that logic. Good needs evil… and evil needs good. Too much good and evil just seems weak and unimportant which ruins the importance of any story in my personal opinion. Either way, the story was very well done and anyone who thinks otherwise is either a purist or an idiot.

In conclusion, GO SEE THIS MOVIE! This will most likely be the best film of the summer in my book… even if many others don’t agree. If you liked the cartoon, go see this movie. If you like a good action film, go see this movie. If you like kick-ass CGI work, go see this movie. In other words, GO SEE THIS MOVIE!