Transformer Movie Toys Shun the Others
Originally uploaded by JasonCross

Let’s get everything out of the way. Michael Bay is still the poor man’s James Cameron, the way Pearl Harbor was the poor man’s Titanic (which isn’t to say I have that favourable an opinion of Titanic). The human characters besides Shia LaBeouf (a favourite of UsDudes thanks to his role as Louis on the Disney Channel’s Even Stevens) are almost entirely superfluous, leading one to believe that the money saved on skimping on the human scenes could have easily added a few more minutes of the Transformers, particularly for the Decepticons who get an unfairly small amount of screen time. The plot is a bit of a mess since there are certain elements that don’t quite go anywhere and while unlike some of the Generation 1 naysayers I was a supporter of giving the movie Transformers a distinct look some of the design flaws show up, particularly with so many of the bots being silver or grey it’s sometimes hard to tell who’s who in crowded battle scenes.

None of this actually stops the movie from being a lot of fun and quite watchable.

It’s flawed, but entertaining. It’s funny, there’s a lot of action and despite being more than two hours long the movie just moves along without being too draggy or self-important the way some of the sequels that came out this summer were. We laughed,we heckled and we had fun. Sometimes that’s all you ask from a movie. The Autobots are given sufficient characterisation and memorable voice acting, although naturally Optimus and Bumblebee get the bulk of this (Jazz is a cliché from the first time the audience sees him till the end of the movie, you’ll understand when you watch it). Bumblebee in particular is highly entertaining, and the fact that he ‘talks’ using his radio is a blast especially when Sam (Shia LaBeouf) is trying to pick up Mikaela (Megan Fox).

Rating: ★★★☆☆

***

The kind of reactions that certain sections of Transformers fandom had in the run up to the movie was crazy. Michael Bay came out just before the movie was released to say that people were sending him death threats and threatening grievious bodily harm and what not, and I believe it. I don’t remember what it was like for any of the big franchise films that have been released in the past few years (I remember a big fuss being made about Spider-Man’s organic webshooters, but nothing on the level of this) but the closest comparison I can think of is when Kyle Rayner became Green Lantern and Hal Jordan fans just went crazy. Kyle Rayner had been Green Lantern for ten years and people were still making noise.

And to think about it, I finally get the outrage. Optimus Prime circa G1 (that’s the classic Transformers for those unfamiliar with the terminology) was meant to be the epitome of courage and incorruptibility, just like Hal Jordan (at one point) was supposed to. Any changes made to well-loved characters is bound to meet with some opposition given their popularity.