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Review #476 of 365
Movie Review of Transformers (2007) [PG-13] 144 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.00
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 2 July 2007
Time: 8:00 p.m.
DVD Release Date: 16 October 2007
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
Directed by: Michael Bay (The Island)
Screenplay by: Roberto Orci (Mission: Impossible III) and Alex Kurtzman (Mission: Impossible III) based on story by John Rogers, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him / Her from):
Shia LaBeouf (Disturbia) • Megan Fox (Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen) • Josh Duhamel (Turistas) • Tyrese Gibson (Waist Deep) • Rachael Taylor (See No Evil) • Anthony Anderson (The Departed) • Jon Voight (Glory Road) • John Turturro (The Good Shepherd) • Michael O'Neill ("The Unit") • Kevin Dunn (Gridiron Gang) • Peter Cullen (Winnie the Pooh: Wonderful Word Adventure) • Julie White (The Astronaut Farmer) • Mark Ryan (The Prestige) • Bernie Mac (Ocean's Thirteen) • Travis Van Winkle (Accepted)
Soundtrack: Download now from 
— or — order the CD below
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Despite being labeled the K-Mart® version of Transformers®, as a kid, I preferred Gobots®. Gobots® were made by Tonka®, and I grew up on Tonka® trucks so sue me. Actually, too, I thought the Gobots® were far more sophisticated in their transformations. Better marketing, however, by Hasbro® eventually led to the winning of the cars-into-robots toy wars by Hasbro® financially empowering it to acquire Tonka® in the early 1990s permitting a folding, pun intended, of the Gobot® line into their own Transformer® line. Fast forward to the summer of 2006, when a mysterious film preview began with some garbled footage from a supposedly lost NASA Mars rover that ended with a transforming logo indicated Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg were going to have a little surprise for the world next Forth of July. And boy is this film ever a huge surprise.
"…one of the most remarkable accomplishments in the fields of visual and sound effects ever achieved in the history of filmmaking…you won't want to miss out on all this groundbreaking film."
As a Gobot® fan, I went in with mixed reservations. I didn't know a lot of the Transformer® mythology. Would I be confused? And would the special effects really work? It's probably good to go into a film like this with a healthy dose of skepticism fermenting in one's mind. After all, if you were not a fan of the toys (either too young, too old, or not 'geeky' enough to have enjoyed them in the first place) will this film measure up and capture your attention? Not since Independence Day released for the Fourth of July in 1996 (gulp…that's 11 years ago), has there been a movie like this. It's got absolutely everything in it:
stunning visual and sound effects brought about by the technowizardry that is Lucasfilm Ltd.'s specialty certain to be among the top nominees if not winners of all of the Academy Awards® for their respective technical categories,
ultra-secret U.S. government facilities and agencies that make Area 51 or the Men In Black seem downright child's play,
car chases—only these cars are "more than meets the eye" as they really are "robots in disguise" that actually do transform and then interact with the real environment in ways that will stupefy even effect gurus,
adrenaline pumping fights and explosions offset by some humorous, sometimes crude, but nonetheless hilarious bits and gags,
and a new leading man in Shia LeBeouf who continues to impress with his third near brilliant performance in a row on the tail of Disturbia and A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.
So, let's start with the beginning, and mention up front that the film does have one fairly major problem that will annoy those capable of paying close and careful attention. Yes, it does have some plot continuity problems. More on that in a bit. The film begins with an attack on a military base in Qatar. A hovering US military helicopter suddenly transforms into a giant robot that takes out the base destroying everything in its path. It's goal? To hack the US Defense computers to locate some highly classified data. Back in sunny southern California, teenager Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) tells his history class on Show-And-Tell Day a tale of his grandfather's mapping of the Arctic Circle (all of this, if you care, is lore from the real Transformer® toy and cartoon history). What he does not know until later is the importance of both this voyage by his grandfather and the artifacts he's trying to unload on eBay, including a very special pair of spectacles, to earn the down payment on a new car. After the presentation, Dad (Kevin Dunn) takes him shopping for the promised car where he unwittingly purchases a yellow Camaro® that turns out to be an Autobot® in disguise sent just to protect him – sort of like Terminator 2. Meanwhile, back in Washington, DC a group of young sound analysts has been brought in by the government to figure out why the Defense Department's computers have been the target of this attack by unnamed sources. One young agent with a deep Australian (?) accent seems to be ahead of the game in her analyses though no one, especially the Secretary of Defense (John Voight), wants to listen to her suggestions that intelligent, DNA computers must be behind the plot. They do eventually figure out, just around the same time that Sam is realizing that his new car is being a little too helpful in getting the long-time object of his hidden affection, one Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) to notice him. After that, the film is a whirlwind of revelations explaining why the Autobots®, led by Optimus Prime® (voiced by Peter Cullen), and their opposing evil Decepticons®, led by Megatron® (voiced by Hugo Weaving), have come to earth, where they're from, what the US Government has been doing in super secret Section 7 hidden under the Hoover Dam, and what the grandson of a famous explorer now living in So-Cal has to do with any of this.
As far as the movie goes, this is signature Michael Bay film. It's easy to see why he was probably the only dude alive capable of making it. The number of explosions per second in the last 20 minutes of the film easily eclipses the net total of the last 5 action films released combined—don't quote me please on that figure. The point is that this is the penultimate action film of our time. I remember sitting there in the theatre next to my dad who surprised me and my brother with tickets to see the first Star Wars movie (which actually turned out to be the fourth, but to us it was the first, and yes, I've said this before). Anyway, I remember coming out of that film and thinking I'd just seen something that would push the film industry in a new direction. Even at the ripe old age of 13, my career in film analysis was already in overdrive. Well, don't walk, run to see Transformers and bear witness to the next step in evolution and the rightful heir, at last, to the Star Wars legacy when it comes to the area of effects in film. These guys have taken things in an entirely new direction. It's one thing to animate a CGI King Kong for 2 hours, and quite another to render these two to five-story tall robots transforming from their clandestine cars or fighter jets only to pick up and do battle in and amongst the skyscrapers of down town Los Angeles with hundreds of cars and passersby running around in the thick of things. No one has ever seen anything like this before. And without much time, these Autobots® are given real personality that carries and propels the young Sam to an age of heroism where he is willing to risk his life to save them as they have traveled across the galaxy to protect human kind from certain extinction at the hands of Megatron's Decepticons®.
Despite some great work by Shia LeBeouf who commands the humanity in the film, the rest of the cast is a bit lack luster. Partially, this is due to less than attentive character development, wooden dialogue, too many characters with too little to do, and some minor miscasting the worst of which comes in the form of this nutsy Sector 7 Agent Simmons played by John Turturro. Sadly, he comes across (to steal an earlier analogy) as the K-Mart® version of Jeff Goldblum. His character represents all that is wrong with the US Government in the eyes of Hollywood and takes the same role Mr. Spielberg gave it in E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. He's obnoxious, snotty, ill-mannered, and condescending. Worse, he never really seems at home in the role. And, the role, needless to say, is trite and obvious, and should never have been created in the first place. This is a case of too many villains spoil the plot. Aren't the Decepticons® enough of a threat? Isn't the general lack of preparedness and uninspired thinking present in the military branch of the government in Hollywood's traditional view, enough of an additional obstacle without adding the idiotic Agent Simmons? Also, while a front-runner for technical awards, the film is not likely to get much notice in the writing or the acting categories. Most under-utilized are Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson who spend most of the film running around shouting nearly inexplicable orders to no one in particular—ah the continuity issues. Plot problems, we politely refer to as continuity issues, and there are a bunch. Perhaps scenes were trimmed to cut the running time down to 144 minutes. Maybe it was hoped no one would notice little things like characters inexplicably disappearing for no reason and then suddenly reappearing as happens to the all-important Optimus Prime® near the film's climax. He's in the convoy with the rest of the gang enroute from the Hoover Dam to downtown LA (which by my guess is more than a 3 hour drive), but he's a no show for a while then while the rest of the convoy endures unparalleled damages from the attacking Decepticons®. This is the worst of the continuity issues but not, by far, the only one. Mapping them out could make for a fun little project for a person with lots of time on his or her hands. Suffice it to say that often it is difficult to understand how people suddenly got where they are. But, you know what, I don't even care. There were probably some continuity problems with Star Wars that I didn't notice at age 13. The acting surely didn't win Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, nor Carrie Fisher any awards. Nonetheless, Star Wars changed everything when it came to the bar that all future films had to leap in order to equal or surpass the level of technical achievement. Eventually, this made it possible for films with amazing stories like The Lord of the Rings trilogy to be made and go on to three nominations and one win for Best Picture. Transformers will have a very similar impact on the industry that will now foresee entirely new possibilities for effects in films. As for the action, it's nearly non-stop. I've not been to a film recently through which I could sit still the entire time due to being completely and utterly mesmerized. Transformers is one of the most remarkable accomplishments in the fields of visual and sound effects ever achieved in the history of filmmaking. Love or hate the story, you won't want to miss out on all this groundbreaking film. Meanwhile, the film has made this the optimal time to finally sell your long-untouched, still-in-the-original-package, Trasformer® and Gobot® collections on eBay—who knew?
stunning visual and sound effects brought about by the technowizardry that is Lucasfilm Ltd.'s specialty certain to be among the top nominees if not winners of all of the Academy Awards® for their respective technical categories,
ultra-secret U.S. government facilities and agencies that make Area 51 or the Men In Black seem downright child's play,
car chases—only these cars are "more than meets the eye" as they really are "robots in disguise" that actually do transform and then interact with the real environment in ways that will stupefy even effect gurus,
adrenaline pumping fights and explosions offset by some humorous, sometimes crude, but nonetheless hilarious bits and gags,
and a new leading man in Shia LeBeouf who continues to impress with his third near brilliant performance in a row on the tail of Disturbia and A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.
So, let's start with the beginning, and mention up front that the film does have one fairly major problem that will annoy those capable of paying close and careful attention. Yes, it does have some plot continuity problems. More on that in a bit. The film begins with an attack on a military base in Qatar. A hovering US military helicopter suddenly transforms into a giant robot that takes out the base destroying everything in its path. It's goal? To hack the US Defense computers to locate some highly classified data. Back in sunny southern California, teenager Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) tells his history class on Show-And-Tell Day a tale of his grandfather's mapping of the Arctic Circle (all of this, if you care, is lore from the real Transformer® toy and cartoon history). What he does not know until later is the importance of both this voyage by his grandfather and the artifacts he's trying to unload on eBay, including a very special pair of spectacles, to earn the down payment on a new car. After the presentation, Dad (Kevin Dunn) takes him shopping for the promised car where he unwittingly purchases a yellow Camaro® that turns out to be an Autobot® in disguise sent just to protect him – sort of like Terminator 2. Meanwhile, back in Washington, DC a group of young sound analysts has been brought in by the government to figure out why the Defense Department's computers have been the target of this attack by unnamed sources. One young agent with a deep Australian (?) accent seems to be ahead of the game in her analyses though no one, especially the Secretary of Defense (John Voight), wants to listen to her suggestions that intelligent, DNA computers must be behind the plot. They do eventually figure out, just around the same time that Sam is realizing that his new car is being a little too helpful in getting the long-time object of his hidden affection, one Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) to notice him. After that, the film is a whirlwind of revelations explaining why the Autobots®, led by Optimus Prime® (voiced by Peter Cullen), and their opposing evil Decepticons®, led by Megatron® (voiced by Hugo Weaving), have come to earth, where they're from, what the US Government has been doing in super secret Section 7 hidden under the Hoover Dam, and what the grandson of a famous explorer now living in So-Cal has to do with any of this.
As far as the movie goes, this is signature Michael Bay film. It's easy to see why he was probably the only dude alive capable of making it. The number of explosions per second in the last 20 minutes of the film easily eclipses the net total of the last 5 action films released combined—don't quote me please on that figure. The point is that this is the penultimate action film of our time. I remember sitting there in the theatre next to my dad who surprised me and my brother with tickets to see the first Star Wars movie (which actually turned out to be the fourth, but to us it was the first, and yes, I've said this before). Anyway, I remember coming out of that film and thinking I'd just seen something that would push the film industry in a new direction. Even at the ripe old age of 13, my career in film analysis was already in overdrive. Well, don't walk, run to see Transformers and bear witness to the next step in evolution and the rightful heir, at last, to the Star Wars legacy when it comes to the area of effects in film. These guys have taken things in an entirely new direction. It's one thing to animate a CGI King Kong for 2 hours, and quite another to render these two to five-story tall robots transforming from their clandestine cars or fighter jets only to pick up and do battle in and amongst the skyscrapers of down town Los Angeles with hundreds of cars and passersby running around in the thick of things. No one has ever seen anything like this before. And without much time, these Autobots® are given real personality that carries and propels the young Sam to an age of heroism where he is willing to risk his life to save them as they have traveled across the galaxy to protect human kind from certain extinction at the hands of Megatron's Decepticons®.
Despite some great work by Shia LeBeouf who commands the humanity in the film, the rest of the cast is a bit lack luster. Partially, this is due to less than attentive character development, wooden dialogue, too many characters with too little to do, and some minor miscasting the worst of which comes in the form of this nutsy Sector 7 Agent Simmons played by John Turturro. Sadly, he comes across (to steal an earlier analogy) as the K-Mart® version of Jeff Goldblum. His character represents all that is wrong with the US Government in the eyes of Hollywood and takes the same role Mr. Spielberg gave it in E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. He's obnoxious, snotty, ill-mannered, and condescending. Worse, he never really seems at home in the role. And, the role, needless to say, is trite and obvious, and should never have been created in the first place. This is a case of too many villains spoil the plot. Aren't the Decepticons® enough of a threat? Isn't the general lack of preparedness and uninspired thinking present in the military branch of the government in Hollywood's traditional view, enough of an additional obstacle without adding the idiotic Agent Simmons? Also, while a front-runner for technical awards, the film is not likely to get much notice in the writing or the acting categories. Most under-utilized are Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson who spend most of the film running around shouting nearly inexplicable orders to no one in particular—ah the continuity issues. Plot problems, we politely refer to as continuity issues, and there are a bunch. Perhaps scenes were trimmed to cut the running time down to 144 minutes. Maybe it was hoped no one would notice little things like characters inexplicably disappearing for no reason and then suddenly reappearing as happens to the all-important Optimus Prime® near the film's climax. He's in the convoy with the rest of the gang enroute from the Hoover Dam to downtown LA (which by my guess is more than a 3 hour drive), but he's a no show for a while then while the rest of the convoy endures unparalleled damages from the attacking Decepticons®. This is the worst of the continuity issues but not, by far, the only one. Mapping them out could make for a fun little project for a person with lots of time on his or her hands. Suffice it to say that often it is difficult to understand how people suddenly got where they are. But, you know what, I don't even care. There were probably some continuity problems with Star Wars that I didn't notice at age 13. The acting surely didn't win Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, nor Carrie Fisher any awards. Nonetheless, Star Wars changed everything when it came to the bar that all future films had to leap in order to equal or surpass the level of technical achievement. Eventually, this made it possible for films with amazing stories like The Lord of the Rings trilogy to be made and go on to three nominations and one win for Best Picture. Transformers will have a very similar impact on the industry that will now foresee entirely new possibilities for effects in films. As for the action, it's nearly non-stop. I've not been to a film recently through which I could sit still the entire time due to being completely and utterly mesmerized. Transformers is one of the most remarkable accomplishments in the fields of visual and sound effects ever achieved in the history of filmmaking. Love or hate the story, you won't want to miss out on all this groundbreaking film. Meanwhile, the film has made this the optimal time to finally sell your long-untouched, still-in-the-original-package, Trasformer® and Gobot® collections on eBay—who knew?
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Transformers (2007)
Cast Members
Shia LaBeouf
• Megan Fox • Josh DuhamelTyrese Gibson
• Rachael Taylor • Anthony AndersonJon Voight
• John Turturro • Michael O'NeillKevin Dunn
• Peter Cullen • Julie WhiteMark Ryan
• Bernie Mac • Travis Van WinkleDirector
Michael Bay
Writer
Roberto Orci
| CD Soundtrack | DVD | VHS |
Transformers (2007) Review-lite [150-word cap]
You've never seen anything like Michael Bay's Transformers as they are the next evolution in mesmerizing CGI film effects and destined to win awards in all of the technical film awards. The film tracks the life of teenager, Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) as he uncovers a plot to destroy the world by transforming evil robots called Decepticons®. Only the loyal Autobots® led by Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) can save the planet. While the acting and writing for the dialogue left much to be desired, nothing can compare to the visual and auditory sensations this film packs into a powerful, adrenalin pounding action thriller. Not since Independence Day has there been such a great Fourth of July weekend film, and not since Star Wars have the grounds of technical achievement been elevated to a whole new era.
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