Rating of
3/4
Transformers - What I Expected to Meet the Eye
Chris Kavan - wrote on 07/07/07
Transformers is pretty much the pinnacle of summer movie season. It has a director who is know more for explosions than exposition. It has the "it" actor and amazingly hot co-star. It has enough eye-popping special effects to keep your head spinning until winter. It has about the perfect mix of comedy, action and drama. But no matter how much you dress up a pig, it's still a pig. Transformers, being the summer blockbuster it was meant to be, is ultimately style over substance and while entertaining, it's still a pure popcorn flick.
Things that work: Shia LaBeouf is a great choice for leading man. He looks comfortable, has a great time with both the comedy and action and even pairs well with the somewhat wooden (though totally hot) Megan Fox. The special effects are remarkable - even if they did take a few liberties with original schematics. It can be a chore for the eyes to try follow everything - especially the robot on robot fighting scenes. Still, overall, it was a veritable feast for the eyes. The supporting characters, especially John Turturro as a snide government agent, Kevin Dunn and Julie White as the clueless, sweet parents.
The biggest knock against Transformers is the story. It seems all it takes to get some giant robots/aliens to Earth is... Ebay. Then, after they go through all the work of locating the most powerful item in the known universe, for some reason they decide that despite an all-out attack from a group of gigantic evil robots, the best way to protect the item is to give it to a flesh bag and have him run around like a chicken with its head cut off. Sure, that always works in Hollywood, but if it was a real invasion by giant evil robots, we'd all be dead.
In the end, Transformers is a great summer thrill ride. It's a great rush, but in the end it didn't leave too much of impression.
