Film Review: Transformers (2007)

First off, I’m not a fan of director Michael Bay and second…I’m not a fan of Michael Bay. His films are mindless exorcises in human endurance that are easily forgotten right after they’ve been watched. The few good parts of his films can never make up for the other two hours that I have to endure to get to those parts (can anyone say Pearl Harbor or Bad Boys II). That being said, the mega budget Transformers is not entirely bad, it’s just not all that good either. The saving grace of the film comes in the form of Shia LeBeouf (hot off the heels of this year’s surprise hit Disturbia).

LeBeouf plays Sam Witwicky, a young man, who in the tradition of most teenager films, is trying to do everything he can to earn a new car from his father which includes trying to sale personal items of his famous grandfather on EBay. Little does he know one of his grandfather’s items holds the key to the location of a secret weapon that brings a race of war-like robots out of hiding – The Decepticons, who want nothing more than to use the weapon to destroy the benevolent Autobots, who want to save mankind from eminent destruction. When Sam finally gets his car it’s not long before he discovers its more than what it seems when it transforms into the enigmatic Bumblebee who only wants his help to stop the Decepticons from resurrecting the long hibernating Megatron (who crash landed on Earth years earlier).

With the help of an ensemble cast that includes Megan Fox, Jon Voight, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Bernie Mac, and Anthony Anderson, the Autobots have an army of help but will it be enough to defeat the Decepticons?

Transformers suffers from the same thing that plagues all of director Bay’s “epic” films which is the lack of a coherent story that actually involves all the characters in addition to misuse of “humor” that takes away from the film rather than helps it. It’s very obvious that LeBeouf’s character is meant to be the main character of the film but all the sub stories with the rest of the characters seem tacked on just for effect and never seem to go anywhere, especially in the third act when many of the actors become window dressing and nothing more to a plot that has all the human characters take second stage to the onslaught of Autobot verses Decepticon carnage. Only LeBeouf and to an extent Fox’s character are given any substantial screen time and/or character development. This lack of tying everything together in a coherent manner is the same thing that plagued Bay’s Pearl Harbor and Armageddon. Also, the film repeatedly spends too much time on bit parts in the film meant to be funny or places of humor but they really come off as lame excuses at levity.

There are a few exceptional moments in the film, as is the custom with a Bay film, and the CGI and action sequences are some of the best offered in a summer blockbuster all year and at a fraction of the cost of such summer films as Pirates 3 (approximately $300 million) or Spider-Man 3 (approximately $250 million), Transformers (which only costs approximately $150 million) has some of the best moments I’ve seen all summer.

The biggest problem I have with a Bay film is that it never seems as if he’s ever getting better as a director. Even though each of his films seem to be on a bigger palette, it never seems as if he’s advancing as a filmmaker but rather remaining stagnate which means that with his next film I can be assured of one hell of a visual ride that won’t mean all that much and will be forgotten soon after first watched.

Image by Fuyoh!

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