Starring:Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Jon Voight, Anthony Anderson, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Rachael Taylor, Amaury Nolasco
Director:
Michael Bay (Bad Boys, Pearl Harbor)
MPAA Rating:
PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, brief sexual humor, and language.
Release Date:
July 2007
Synopsis:
For centuries, two races of robotic aliens -- the Autobots and the Decepticons -- have waged a war, with the fate of the universe at stake. When the battle comes to Earth, all that stands between the evil Decepticons and ultimate power is a clue held by young Sam Witwicky. Sam and his friend Mikaela find themselves in a tug of war between the Autobots and Decepticons. With the world hanging in the balance, Sam comes to realize the true meaning behind the Witwicky family motto - "No sacrifice, no victory!"
My Two Cents:
It seems that every TV show that was cool during the 80’s has been remade, or is being remade in the near future. One of these shows is Transformers, the animated series from 1984 about giant alien robots that could transform into everyday things like radios, cars, and planes. I was raised with the Autobots and Decepticons so if Hollywood messed this movie for me there would be hell to pay. Luckily for me, I’m a Michael Bay fan so I wasn’t really worried about the outcome.
Yes, I’m a Bay fan, deal with it. I held my breath as Nicolas Cage tried to disarm the chemical weapon in The Rock, I cried when Bruce Willis was left behind in Armageddon and had an adrenaline rush as Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson fled from The Island. Steven Spielberg executive produced Transformers, Michael Bay directed it and Industrial Light and Magic created the robot effects. How could you go wrong? On top of that you have the current almost teenage sensations Shia LaBeouf and the super foxy Megan Fox, as well as established actors like Jon Voight and John Turturro.
The first impression of the robots is one of shock and a bit of anger because they radically changed every robot design from the beloved animated series, and that was a very risky move for Bay and crew. Optimus Prime went from a “flat-face” cab over truck to a Peterbuilt cab. He also has blue flames painted on his body, not present in his original design. Bumblebee went from an old Volkswagen Bettle to a Chevrolet Camaro. Megatron no longer transforms into a gun, he now transforms into an alien jet. Soundwave was turned into a new very small robot called Frenzy that transforms into a boombox. Barricade went from a Formula One race car to a Saleen Mustang police car, which was apparently inspired by Autobot Prowl from the animated series. Blackout is no longer a bomber jet, and is now a big-ass MH-53M Pave Low IV helicopter. There was a Decepticon helicopter called Vortex but I don’t why they didn’t use him instead of Blackout. Jazz went from a Porsche 935 to a tiny Pontiac Solstice. Not a big deal but still worth mentioning. Ironhide was a red Nissan Onebox Cherry Vanette and is now a monstrous black GMC Topkick C4500 pickup truck. Starscream went from an F-15 Eagle jet to a much upgraded F-22 Raptor. Ratchet went from a white ambulance to a greenish customized Search and Rescue Hummer H2. Bonecrusher went from a bulldozer to a Buffalo H Mine-protected vehicle with a customized fork. Finally, Brawl went from being a Leopard 1 tank to a custom M1 Abrams tank. The shitty thing about Brawl is the he’s called Devastator in the film because someone typed his name wrong and even though the writers complained about this twice, the Devastator typo made it into the final theatrical release. Devastator is actually a gigantic robot created by the merging of the six Constructicons (Bonecrusher, Long Haul, Mixmaster, Hook, Scrapper and Scavenger).
Now that I've gotten that out of my chest I can start talking about the film on its own. Don’t forget the movie is based on an 80’s animated series and toy line about fighting robots targeted to young males, so don’t expect any Oscar-worthy acting or thought provoking plot twists. You’ll basically get your eyes and ears bombarded by dazzling special effects and explosions for over 2 hours. The robots look amazing, with insane reflections, lighting and shadows. They interact with humans and with their surroundings in a very realistic way. The sound effects will rape your ears with metallic clanks, laser blasts, machinegun fire, engines revving and Megatron’s scary voice, provided by Hugo Weaving. Having Peter Cullen reprising his role as the voice of Optimus Prime is a real treat.
The humans also shine thanks to pretty funny dialog and awkward situations. Bernie Mac and Anthony Anderson’s small roles provide much of the laughs, but Shia and his nutty parents are also amusing. John Turturro plays a guy you love to hate and Jon Voight plays a military man for the 100th time in his career.
Watching the Autobots fall to Earth from space, hiding out as vehicles, befriending humans and then fighting the Decepticons transported me back to my childhood and made me feel like a 7-year-old again. I watched the movie with my wife (24), sister (38) and niece (7), people who didn’t care about the animated series or weren’t even born by then and they all liked it, so there’s something here for everybody. No wonder it grossed over $706 million dollars worldwide, not including DVD sales. I would have liked more robot on robot action, but perhaps they saved the best for the inevitable sequel. There’s definitely more to this movie than meets the eye. (Ha! No one saw that one coming…)
Score:
9 Comments:
I'm still waiting for my copy to come in, unfortunately, so I still haven't seen it....But yeah, a lot of people really wanted, and expected, more robot action, as you did. Critics have made similar statements saying that the Transformers are more less 'guest stars' in their own movie, and people want to watch a Transformers movie ABOUT the Transformers, not people. Thus, a lot of people were not happy.
Also, I have heard a lot of complaints that the movie has too much 'product placement'. First of all, whenever I see a product in a movie that happens to exist in real life, I either don't pay much attention to it, or I don't care. I have no idea why so many criticizers did...Why is it 'bad' to use things that exist in real life in movies? Secondly, I told that one to a co-worker of mine and he made the point that uh, the whole MOVIE is product placement; it's the Transformers. Touche, critics. :P
I'm really, really unhappy with how the Transformers look....I mean....I was pretty angry when the first images were leaked. I almost didn't believe it. I sure didn't want to. Even if the movie is good, I still don't like the designs. I have no doubt that the effects are great and well-done though. That was never a concern. But I'll reserve my own real comments until I see the movie. I'll let you know. :I
Actually, Frenzy is one of the original Transformers. He was one of Soundwave's tapes. Why they....made him into a boombox instead of using Soundwave, who already was one, seems pointless...You also make a good point about why didn't they use Vortex, a character who was already a helicopter, instead of making up an all-new one who also became a helicopter. Weird.
Yeah, I did hear that Barricade was more or less an evil Prowl. That's also...kind of weird. But I think it is an interesting idea for a Decepticon to become a police car; there actually were never any. In fact...very few Decepticons were ever cars.
That Brawl to Devestator mistake is really, really weird.
So you watched this one on HD, right? :P I'm sure it looks gorgeous.
So Frenzy wasn't made up for the film? I don't remember him from the animated series. I do remember Ravage, Laserbeak and Rumble. The movie Frenzy is sort of a comic relief, but is also deadly and pure evil.
I don't really care about product placement is movies or games. Who gives a shit? I actually enjoy spotting as many as I can, at least the less obvious ones. In Transformers there are two cool ones to watch out for. They're obvious, but still fun to watch.
The new designs slowly grew on me, but it's still weird seeing Optimus Prime moving his lips when he talks. I don't remember him removing the shield that protects his mouth in the series.
A Decepticon police car is an awesome idea. Sam Witwicky gets scared shitless by it. The scene between them is very tense and fun.
I did buy the HD DVD version and it looks much better than on the big screen. CG looks fantastic in almost all HD movies, and this is no exception. You can see all the different textures, scratches, moving parts and I'm not even talking about the transformations. I hope you get to watch it in high-definition.
Frenzy was basically Rumble's 'twin'; they looked the same and had the same piledriver ability, except on the show, Rumble was blue and purple, and Frenzy was red and black. But..the funny thing is, in the original toys, it was the other way around; Frenzy was blue and Rumble was red and black. Weird.
Lazerbeak also had a 'twin', Buzzsaw, who only appeared in one episode that I remember. He was gold and black. But the original Soundwave toy actually came with Buzzsaw and not Lazerbeak, which is kind of weird..Several Soundwave re-releases did give him Lazerbeak though.
I don't see why anyone would care so much about product placement, but again, that's what this movie basically is anyway. :P But so what? Now, if they make 'Diet Coke: The Movie' then...yeah, I WILL object to that. Otherwise, who cares?
As far as I always knew, the...plate (I always called it a 'muffler' when I was a kid) on Optimus's face IS his...uh, mouth, and there's nothing behind it. Nope, he never...removed it or anything. It was part of his face. :P
Well, my copy from work will just be DVD. We actually don't have any of the HD formats. Yet. But I don't have an HD or BR player anyway. :P But perhaps someday I'll see it in HD. I'm sure it looks great on standard, too. =/
I wonder if we WILL see the Constructicons in some future movie...One of the production crew members did say last year one of the ideas they are thinking about for the next movie is...the Constructicons AND the Dinobots....You know....I'm not so sure that would actually be a good idea.... -.-
I don't have anything against the Dinobots, but they don’t make much sense to me. Earth has no dinosaurs, so why transform into one? Scorponok doesn't make a lot of sense either, but he’s mostly underground anyway, and he kicks plenty of ass in the movie.
I'd like to see Devastator in the sequel, so bring on the Constructicons. They'll have to replace Bonecrusher, though. Hopefully you'll soon know why. Look at the image below the DVD cover for a hint.
Well, there is no definite origin of the Dinobots, since TF has no unifying, definite continuity. So the reason for them being dinosaurs varies. If they do show up in a future movie, they'd have to just...think of a good enough reason. I'm not so sure they would think of a good reason. Auy...
Yeah, I guess in this movie, Scorponok doesn't make any sense...Why is he the only one who didn't become a vehicle? Now, Scorponok was a Transformer in the original series, so they didn't just make him up. But...they didn't really use him efficiently, it seems.
Well, if they'd have to replace Bonecrusher, I'd say that's no good. But the Decpticons actually had a lot of combining teams; more than the Autobots did, so they have options. They could use the Stunticons, who become Menasor; the Combaticons (of whom Brawl was a member), who form Bruticus, the Predacons (although these guys are animals, too...) who form Predaking, the Terrorcons (ficticious beasts..) who form Abominus, the Seacons (sea beasties) who form Piranhacon, and these smaller monster guys who form Monstructor.
I'd immediately guess the Stunticons might be most likely, unless they do decide to...replace Bonecrusher. Auy...
Scorponok looks insane in the movie, as in awesome, but seems more like a pet than a real Decepticon. He rides with Blackout and gets left behind in Qatar when Blackout's mission there ends. Poor Scorponok.
You definitely know your Transformers. I don't remember the names of many of the giant robots made out of less giant ones, like Devastator. I do remember seeing the toys and wanting them really, really bad. I never got enough of the smaller ones to build me one. *sniff* I did, however, get to own Ultra Magnus. He was awesome! I would love to see him on the big screen.
Talk about TF geniuses. Anyway, the reason why they didn't do much more in the movie, is because they had already gone WAYY over budget, thus the reason for product placement, and Arcee's dissapearance. Great movie though, I also enjoy product placement. It gives me ppl shit urges to buy the item for no coherent reason.
I do indeed still know some of my Transformers. :D But there is also the magic of the intarbutt, of course.
Seibertron is a great site: http://www.seibertron.com
Ultra Magnus was pretty keen, yes. I liked him. And in the original movie, he's performed by Robert Stack! :O
Also, like probably all kids, I was confused as all Hell as to why on Earth a...white Optimus was PART of Ultra Magnus. That...just made no sense. The common explanation now though is well, if you take the toy literally, Ultra Magnus's 'real form' is a...white Optimus-looking robot, and the rest of his body is a 'shell'. This is why these days you see A LOT of Optimus products repainted white, and they call it Ultra Magnus. :I
We're all ppl shit sometimes. And yes, if you see an Xbox 360 Decepticon you should definitely feel the urge to go to Gamestop and buy one.
I never owned Optimus Prime, but since I had the white Prime-like Ultra Magnus I didn't really need to. I still don't know what the deal with that clone is. You're probably right about him, but to me Ultra Magnus will always be the full set, white Prime and its shell combined.
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