The Transformers

Category: Action  |  Tags: the official transformers review action

posted by: lordodin 426 days ago          

I will start this review by saying that I usually watch movies with no expectations so that I will not have a built in bias and thus enjoy it or despise it accordingly. However, I am a product of the Reagan-era 1980's where cartoons were king; Remember those days? Remember The Thundercats, Voltron, Bravestar, Thundaar the Barbarian, G.I. Joe, G-Force, the Go-Bots, the list goes on and on. One cartoon however, stood far above all of which I have mentioned: It was called the frickin' Transformers! Before I knew that a live-action version of the cartoon would be made, I thought, "Would it not be cool to put the Transformers in live action". CGI took off and audiences around the globe soon discovered that "anything" could be adapted for the screen. So my wish has been granted and the Transformers are here. Referring back to my opening sentence, I "did" have expectations going in to this film. I expected lots of fighting between the Autobots and Decepticons, state of the art special effects, at least 2hours running time, corny speeches from Optimus prime, equally corny rule-the-world mumbo-jumbo from Megatron, and a close likeness to the cartoon. All of my expectations were met and exceeded. This movie was just as ridiculous and corny as the cartoon. All the save the world, human life should be respected and cherished, I'll get you next time Optimus, you're the last hope for humanity quirky silliness from the cartoon was seamlessly transferred to the film. Moreover, I am a bit of a fan boy and I know that within the film lied many inaccuracies. But I will not bother mentioning them because half of you will have no idea what I am talking about, and the other half could not care less. Besides, does it really matter? No, I expected the general concept of the Transformers to be represented and it was. The action scenes were done so well, that I was literally a gasp, thinking," how in the world did they do that?” And there were even a few laugh-out-loud moments that took place among the audience and me. The romance between Shia and Meagan was incredibly weak. She was as shallow as they come, and he came off as a tongue-wagging pubescent teenager. I wish that the Autobots were depicted more seriously. The film did them a disservice by making them "too" clownish. The cartoon’s Optimus Prime would never say "my bad". Nevertheless, my complaints are few, as I stated before, mission accomplished. Now, is this a good movie? I would have to say yes, it is a good movie. However, Transformers enthusiasts may find the movie disagreeable. Stuffy old critics who would not know how to have a good time to save their lives will find this movie shallow and half-baked. Many will experience "battle weariness" after the first hour and a half (there are probably more explosions in this movie than WWI, and WWII combined). And lastly, for the women out there who are lifetime network aficionados, this is a film made by guys, for guys, there's no romance, no love story, no good relationships, in fact it is difficult to care for a single character in the entire film; well maybe Bumblebee and he's a freakin' robot! That aside, no this is not The Lord of the Rings, Spiderman I, or any of the other highly acclaimed action-based films. It is the Transformers, so just deal with it.