Rewind Review: TRANSFORMERS

The summer movie season has come and gone, leaving numerous lasting impressions (Dark Knight, Step Brothers, etc.), and satisfying movie-goers with more fun on the silver screen. Now, after deciding not to see The Rocker, the truth has set in: a truly dull month and a half lays ahead through the end of September. There are a few movies I want to see, Burn After Reading and Eagle Eye, but besides those…there isn’t a hell of a lot at all. It’s like those early months of January and February when you’re itching for May to come. So as stated in my “mission” for this site, I want to somehow review every movie I see. And I realized there was no better opportunity to look back at summer fun than to review a true “summer blockbuster”, a popcorn thrill ride: Transformers.

This movie had quite a few things going for it: the teaser trailer in 2006 was extremely well received and bloggers across the web were going nuts; I myself remember the goosebumps after watching it. A perfectly done trailer should leave you wide-eyed, excited beyond belief, and with your hands in your face as the actual release date on the screen is about 8 months away. This trailer did all of those things. It also had an executive producer you might have heard of before in Stephen Spielberg. With rising star, but still mostly unknown actor Shia LaBeouf in the lead role, he couldn’t make or break the film right off the bat, which is a good thing.

But, some people moaned and they groaned, and said the movie was bound to be a disaster. Why? Director - Michael Bay. They all expressed the same concerns: the guy uses explosions too much, the love scenes are cheesy, Pearl Harbor really sucked, and on and on. I’ll agree with you that the guy is a bit predictable in some of the aspects of his films, here’s an example:

A Michael Bay films’ aspects: unnecessary slo-mo’s before an action sequence, ridiculously lame love scenes, explosions a plenty, a sentimental moment in the middle of the final action scenes, and corny one-liners that miss more than they hit.

Lay off the Bay-bashing, this isn't the first film he's succeeded on (Photo: collider.com)

One last thing before the actual review: I do think people crucify Bay far, far too much. Yea, the guy has weaknesses in his films, as do just about every director. If you don’t like a ton of action, don’t go. And lastly, this guy did give us Bad Boys, The Island (which I’ve heard was actually quite good), and The Rock, a very good movie. So I had my reserves about this film, but not too many to outweigh my excitement.

In the first few minutes of this movie I was given a few bright rays of hope that Transformers would be the unrelentingly fun movie I wanted it to be instead of the flop I dreaded it could become. One good thing was the first scenes LaBeouf had in the movie which took place in his classroom as he bargained off his grandfather’s artifacts during a class presentation. Much like in Disturbia, which I’ll hopefully get to review soon, LaBeouf possesses a remarkable talent at such a young age to carry a scene when it can easily falter. His quickness and wittiness in both films, but mainly in this scene carry the film to a good start. It gets better when another scene Bay choose for an injection of humor was with the car salesman who sells Sam (LaBeouf) Bumble Bee..or, his first car: the salesman is the late, Bernie Mac. Although on screen for just minutes, his humor is good, especially that laugh of his.

The use of humor in this movie is indeed hit or miss; but it does succeed far more often than when it crashes and burns. It fails when Josh Duhamel’s character, one of the main soldiers, has to spew out those one-liners right in the middle of huge action sequences (he also got stuck with the cheesy romance, but there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of that). I almost feel sorry for him as an actor in this movie, but that’s what Bay had for him in the script. What worked however were Sam’s constant fast talk and wit, John Turturro as a buffoon of a government agent, and Sam’s parents: let’s just say they walk in something that isn’t quite Sam’s “happy time”, but it becomes just as embarrassing.

Shia LaBeouf carries the film with humor and action (Photo: Dreamworks/Paramount Pictures/scificool.com)

The special effects in this movie and the action sequences, hell..and the cars themselves, are all fantastic, and they had to be. When your budget is seemingly endless and you attach Spielberg to your film, the effects and action had better be good. The Transformers themselves are devilishly cool to watch as they go back and forth, but even more exciting when they tangle with each other. Shots of two giant robots wrestling each other while falling off a highway bridge in Los Angeles is pretty amazing to watch. A downtown street filled with US army soldiers, aircraft firing from above, Transformers battling each other and the humans, and the main character caught in between all this…that’s really, really cool to watch. Nobody said this was a thinking movie, and if you went in expecting something deep, that’s your fault. This film is a success in what it was made to do most: blow you away with action. Bay’s love of explosions is effective while we watch tanks, buildings, people, cars, and lots of other things get blown to smithereens.

But the key aspect to the film’s success isn’t the unrelenting action of which I noted. It’s not even the solid co-star performances of John Turturro or Sam’s parents. No, it’s Sam, Shia LaBeouf. He may look like he’s 18 (so he fits the part well here as a high schooler), but his acting chops are far beyond that. As we all know by now after Disturbia and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he has become a full fledged star. But this was his first true break out movie, his coming out as a Hollywood star. Disturbia would come later in the calender year, and his last previous few roles in movies like I,Robot and Constantine were co-starring roles, at best. In this movie, he carries the ability to move the action forward all the while keeping that witty humor, and fast talk comedy at a prime, making his character likable and making the scenes charge forward.

Transformers features top of the line special effects and action (Photo: Dreamworks/Paramount Pictures/Yahoo Movies)

Overall, this movie set out to stun audiences with special effects. While Michael Bay tried to use his romantic scenes, or horrifyingly “done before” jock v. geek scenes, or even too many explosions, even the so called “anti-Christ” of Hollywood doesn’t ruin this one. He is saved in his comedy routines for the most part thanks to the late Bernie Mac, his main man LaBeouf, and John Turturro. The effects are mesmerizing and the action doesn’t stop. Is the script or plot perfect? Not really, but it’s good enough to wrap your head around. The trailer made me want the movie right then, and when I finally saw it, it lived up to expectations: something a lot of movies can’t claim. This thrill ride is indeed a typical Bay film, but it’s also a hell of a lot of fun from beginning to end, so…you decide. Perfect summer movie.

Oh, and guys…Megan Fox is in it.

TRANSFORMERS: (out of 4 stars)