REVIEW: Transformers

Summer 2007 is becoming quite dismal at the cinema with its pop and circumstance of anticipation, and its lack-luster ability to actually turn out anything worthy of such anticipation, or the audiences $11. Director Michael Bay continues the trend of disappointing summer fair by delivering a somewhat solid summer popcorn flick with his much anticipated TRANSFORMERS.The story is somewhat simple, aliens both good (Autobots) and evil (Deceptacons) come from their desolate world to Earth in search of a galactic energy source known as the Allspark. This energy source governs power over all mechanical life in the universe and can be used to both create and destroy such life depending on whose hands it falls into. The aliens come to our planet in the form of TRANSFORMERS, larger than life robots with ultra strength and power that can morph into a variety of technical machinery such as cars, trucks, helicopters, jets, cell phones, even boom boxes. The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, and voiced perfectly by Peter Cullen, find there only hope in a young man named Sam (Shia Lebouf), who holds the secret to finding the Allspark, though he doesn’t know it. Sam’s initial introduction to the transformers is through Bumblebee, a transformer that happens to be his newly purchased used Chevy. The Autobot's mission soon becomes one desperation and survival as they search the world for the Allspark, at the same time protecting Sam from the Deceptacons who will destroy anything in their path to achieve their ultamate mission of carnage and destruction.

While I did find Bay's film fairly enjoyable, it was defiantly not without its major problems, the biggest being the director himself. I simply have never been much of a fan of his films which include ARMEGEDDON, THE ROCK, BAD BOYS, and THE ISLAND. For me, Bay simply places a higher regard for style over substance. He would rather have blistering explosions, pervasive language, non-stop action, and card board characters over a story with any real sense of meaning, inspiration, or value. Not to say that pure entertainment doesn’t have its place in American Cinema, I think the first PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN played the role of pure popcorn entertainment excellently. However, the difference being that PIRATES was not without its charm, intelligence, and comical whimsy, all while telling a fun and family-friendly tale that fit perfectly within the scope and nature of its source material, which happened to be an amusement park ride. While PIRATES brought its ride to life clearly and effectively, TRANSFORMERS takes its humble beginnings as a Japanese inspired action figure which was later picked up by Hasbro, a major action figure manufacturer, and befuddles itself with mediocre characters, an action centered plot, and the director’s trade mark egoistic flurries.

Also, the quick-cut editing in the film, which kept a lot of action scenes unclear as the viewers are thrown into countless skirmishes of Autobots fighting Deceptacons where only hunks of twisted metal can be seen thrashing around, was at times headache inducing. Throw in several moments of cheesy dialogue, and an overall lack of character development in which I found myself not really caring about the humans or the transformers, and you get muddled action with little emotional resonance. Furthermore, Bays lack of sincerity with the horrific subject matter by choosing cheap laughs over more gritty and heart warming drama only cheapens the overall sense of the characters, making them more like cardboard cut-outs then real people, and lessons the audience’s ability to invest. The transformers themselves, which should have inspired us with breathtaking awe at every on-screen appearance, seem more like politically correct pop icons then towering symbols of heroism. And did anyone sense the similarities between TRANSFORMERS and INDEPENDENCE DAY? Secret bases that the Secretary of Defense (Jon Voight) doesn’t know about, a frozen transformer that crash landed years ago, embedded codes in the transformer signals to each other, and the fact that the government is so deeply involved in the plot.

One element that is hard to miss is the overwhelming amount of product placement seen throughout the film. GM especially makes its mark in that all of the featured Autobots are GM models. I am willing to cut the filmmakers a little slack in that a movie which so adamantly involvs cars and trucks is bound to have some product placement, but it is at times embellished beyond what's reasonable.

Shia LeBouf (HOLES, DISTURBIA) does a fine job as the films central human character, but his co-star Megan Fox, in her tight miniskirt, perfectly tanned body, and skimpy outfit, doesn't quite fit Shia's more ordinary, yet dorky personality and is simply there for looks and sex appeal, another common trait of Bay’s films. I will say that the films strength does lay in that it boasts some of the best visuals yet to be seen this year, expect ILM to win the BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Oscar for this film. However, have we come to the point in cinematic history when visuals out way story? The magnificence of TITANTIC and LORD OF THE RINGS was that they boasted exhaustive visuals, but never at the expense of the story being told. But it seems that directors these days feel that pushing the limits of CGI effects, and the number of actions sequences are more important then the characters being enveloped by them, or the story being told. What has happened to story, or is it itself in danger of becoming a thing of the past. The most discouraging factor is that audiences eat it up left and right. We have become a society that purely wants to be entertained, and could care less about substance, sophistication, or excellent art.

Overall, TRANSFORMERS is a decent summer film which is lacking in many areas, but still contains a mostly enjoyable ride. Do I smell sequels or a FRANCHISE in its future? Imagine that... One thing I still ponder is what this film would have been like in the hands of Executive Producer Steven Spielberg? I guess we will just have to hope and pray for great things to come next may, when Indiana Jones 4 takes the big screen by storm.

GRADE: C+

RECOMMENDATION: See it for its sheer visual splendor, but don't expect much story.