Film Review: Transformers

With the recent resurgence of eighties franchises and their silver screen updates, it is no surprise that the eighteen-wheeler-robot-led Transformers was chosen to get a modern retelling. Though the cartoon and action figure collaborative took place almost twenty years ago, the concept of robots in a Michael Bay disguise was just appealing enough to receive a 150 million dollar budget. Is there more than meets the eye?

The answer is quite simply, “No,” but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The story of the Autobots and Decepticons coming from Cybertron in pursuit of their mystical cube is nothing more than a mediocre fan-service. The human elements of the tale involving Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), as well as the various government and military threads, do not add up to much. The dialogue is hilariously cheesy. The soundtrack is a generic MTV rock song on repeat that fades under the scrapes of titanium pistons folding into arms.

But as for the eyes, what a visual feast it gets to behold. Transformers has some of the most impressive computer-generated footage to date, including every robot step, punch, and the wholly common conversion into a vehicle. The action scenes are intense and chaotic, but always entertaining (especially the Bumblebee chase scene). The Transformers themselves are an incredible sight, but sometimes the camera is noticeably too tight for the audience to enjoy the robots fully.

Time is another downside of the movie. Firstly, there is not enough time for all the robots to be showcased. Other than Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, the robots receive little character attention. On the other side of things, too much time is spent with this movie. Between worthless side stories and scenes that go on far too long, at least thirty minutes could (and should) have been cut without the film missing a beat. Just like the original cartoon was used to sell toys, Transformers the movie is a commercial enterprise; expect plenty of advertising placement. But, if Mountain Dew and eBay want to help pay for one of the most expensive movies in history, more power to them.

Transformers is a big-budget action movie—nothing more, nothing less. Entering with the right expectations leads to a wonderfully entertaining explosion extravaganza, with fire, metal, and even laughs around every corner. If you don’t believe me, just check out the feedback for LadiesMan217.

7/10