Transformers Review
by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)July 8th, 2007
"Transfomers" - More than Meets the Eye
by Homer Yen
(c) 2007
In the mid-1980s, Hasbro Inc. launched a set of
unique toys that, when twisted and turned,
transformed into alien robots. The Transformers
lore told of good aliens called Autobots, led by
wise Optimus Prime (voice of Peter Cullen who was
the original voice in all of the Transformers
cartoons from the 80s), who battled against evil
Decepticons, led by the malicious Megatron
(voiced here by Hugo Weaving). Like all
cataclysmic wars, theirs eventually ripped their
home planet apart, and the reason for the war, an
amazing energy cube, was lost to the stars. This
seemed to happen many eons ago. From various
seemingly unrelated scenes that happen early in
the film, we can surmise that the cube found its
way to our planet and the power-hungry Megatron
was not far behind.
For some like me, the Transformers was as
synonymous to my childhood as baseball is to
American sports. And watching a film with
blockbuster ambitions replete with special
effects that boggle the mind, I was reminded of
my younger years when I was just thrilled to have
a Matchbox car where the doors and the engine
hood would open. But with the exponential
improvement in digital technology as well as the
increasing expertise of today's filmmakers,
three-story tall alien robots can convincingly
share space with six-foot-tall human
counterparts. The special effects wizards at
Industrial Light & Magic have taken it to a whole
new level as they use computer magic to transform
these aliens with 10,000+ moving parts into all
sorts of vehicles. Frankly, I marvel at the
genius that goes into how a simple piece of
corrugated cardboard can be folded into a fully
enclosed box. Here, we have robots that leap into
the air and then start transforming into
vehicles. We have airplanes that plummet towards
the ground and then transform into robots before
hitting the asphalt. That means, oh man, I'm in
boyhood heaven.
The Autobots befriend a
not-quite-ready-for-prime-time teenager, Sam
Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) who can aide the good
guys in finding the energy cube. Sam, unaware of
his mythical responsibilities, is instead trying
to catch the attention of schoolmate hottie,
Mickaela Banes (Megan Fox) and trying to dodge
around his overly inquisitive parents. Sam's
growth as a friend to the Autobots, as a love
interest to Mickaela, and as a responsible son to
his parents goes above and beyond what we'd
expect from a film like this. The romantic and
comedic elements are oddly appealing.
And yet, there is also a fair amount of action
and suspense that one would expect from a July
4th release. Outside of this summer's final
"Pirates of the Caribbean" installment,
"Transformers" has some of the most eye-popping
action sequences this year. Autobots want to
live peacefully and will protect humans, but
Decepticons want to destroy Autobots and consider
loss of human life as collateral damage.
There are lots of characters, and each one gets a
good 15-minute's worth, although as a whole, it
never develops very much dramatically. And it's
heavy on special effects. If you consider all
the stuff that happening on screen, including:
smoke rising, people running around, robots
transforming, combat, and things getting
destroyed (all in one shot), you could easily
find this experience chaotic. But the project
knows what it wants to accomplish, and it does.
While not a great film, "Transformers" holds your
attention and is what the summer moviegoing
experience is all about.
Grade: B
S: 1 out of 3
L: 0 out of 3
V: 2 out of 3
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