<ro>Film Review
"Transformers"
Plot: A war re-erupts on Earth between two robotic clans, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, leaving the fate of mankind hanging in the balance.
<hd>Transformation of Power
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Brace yourselves, dear readers; we might be in the midst of the greatest week in action movie history. With "Live Free or Die Hard" (see review at www.connectionnewspapers.com) coming out last week and "Transformers," a movie that will soon be listed with "The Matrix" and "Spider-Man" as films that help define a genre, debuting this week, it’s hard to imagine a time when blow-em-up cinema had it so good, especially in the case of "Transformers" (Rated: PG-13; Running Time: 144 min.)
Director Michael Bay, the master of blowing stuff up real good, has completely redeemed himself for basically everything he has done since "The Rock." Not only does the movie crash, destroy, transform and speed along with typical Bay quality, it’s also incredibly entertaining — fun and far from as stupid as it could have been.
Funny where it needs to be and jam-packed with massive transforming robots from space, "Transformers" stays incredibly faithful to its source material: Hasbro action figures. The story still revolves around the Autobots and Decepticons (take a guess who the bad guys are) — adversaries in an age-old war but resets the storyline with the two sides landing on Earth in modern day in search of the Allspark, a massive cube with great power. Turns out that Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), a typical high-school nerd trying to get the girl, Mikaela Banes (Meagan Fox), has the key to finding the fabled Allspark and thus his life is interrupted by giant robots battling it out.
It’s the contradiction between the strikingly faithful aspects, like Peter Cullen reprising his cartoon role as Optimus Prime, and the updated ones, like the more realistic forms when the Transformers transform, which puts "Transformers" on an elite level for action films. The beautiful digital effects from Industrial Light and Magic can be overwhelming, but the feeling of the classic cartoon remains the same. When Optimus Prime rolls up and transforms for the first time with the same voice that spoke to children every week for years (myself included), it's as perfect as a live-action "Transformers" can get.
This all may sound like the ravings of a man far too interested in having his childhood repackaged and sold back to him, but "Transformers" truly stands on its own outside of the nostalgia factor. LaBeouf plays off the robots perfectly, as the Transformers interact like a true group of soldiers, not a bunch of oversized tin cans.
Bay keeps the action tight, consistent and surprisingly realistic for a film about transforming cars. The human backstories, although ridiculously cliche, are strong enough to entice but never overwhelm the main plot of Autobots vs. Decpticons that everyone came to see.
"Transformers," a movie that could have been one of the greatest disappointments of the year – a Michael Bay film based on toys – turns out to be the greatest triumph of this and possibly any other summer.
It may not be any "more than meets the eye," but the fact is that you don’t need anymore than that.