Transformers (Movie)

Item: Transformers (Movie)
Rating: 3
Author: Kelson Vibber

★★★☆☆

I grew up with the Transformers cartoons, toys and the comics, but eventually lost interest. Still, there’s some sort of primal thrill—at least for anyone who grew up as a boy in 1980s America—in seeing giant robots fighting each other. So I made sure to to catch the movie while it was still in theaters.

It was better constructed than I expected. They had a plausible reason for the Autobots and Decepticons to be on Earth, and they were very good about following up on exposition. Every gun that appeared on the wall was eventually fired, down to Sam’s eBay auctions, with one exception: I really expected them to blow up Hoover Dam.

The effects were good, and I had fun identifying scenery. Flying around LA was nice, because they managed to get a really clear day to shoot, and you could actually see clear to Orange County in one shot. Some of the humor was good (I particularly liked zapping the Nokia, and attendant comments), but too much of it was forced, and some of it was just plain crude. I’m sorry, but Bumblebee “leaking lubricant” over someone was past the line.

Anyway, I’m glad I saw it on the big screen. There were a lot of great moments in it, but a lot of the film was just kind of tedious. It felt like they worked so hard on the details that they managed to miss the big picture. Which is kind of ironic for, well, a big picture.

Comments

West September 7, 2007

I felt a good deal of it was forced, as well, so I was incredibly surprised to see the immensely positive audience reaction.

I must admit, though, that I laughed at BumbleBee’s lubrication scene.

I didn’t think Megatron was dumped to get rid of the evidence, but I could be wrong. I missed a lot of stuff that others mentioned, later.

Although I saw it twice, I think I was looking for different things that most folks. I wanted more nods to long-time fans. Megatron’s line about Starscream disappointing him, once again, was barely a nod. There were others, but there should’ve been more, in my opinion.

I still look forward to the dvd, though.

Kelson September 7, 2007

I remember the Secretary of Defense saying something about “no evidence” in that scene, and there was the news interview at the beginning of the credits with Sam’s parents, where they were denying the rumors of “alien activity.” So I definitely walked out of there with the impression that they were trying to cover up the whole thing. (Of course, that leaves open the question of why they were being interviewed, which may have been explained, but if so, I can’t remember.)

I’m trying to remember other nods to long-term fans, and not coming up with much. Off the top of my head, the only one I can think of is the yellow VW bug sitting next to Bumblebee at the used car lot. Although the US military capturing Bumblebee fits with the first GI Joe/Transformers mini, and having Megatron hidden in a military base fits with the lead-in to Marvel’s G2 series (though in that case it was Cobra, and they weren’t studying him, they were refitting him). Hmm.

Isnogood October 4, 2007

The way I saw it, they dumped the “body” to the deepest part of the ocean too keep it cool, because they could not take it apart, an although it was dead, they didn’t wont to take any chances or what ev’