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First, let's get a couple of things out of the way. I am a Transformers fan - I have been since the 1980s. Given that, I am also a skeptic and a cynic. I'm what you might call a "glass is half full of bilgewater" kinda guy. Hopefully that gives you some kind of idea about how I approached this movie and what I was expecting.
I'm sure you remember the first time you saw the Matrix in the movies. I know I do. I left the theater thinking, "This is going to change how we think about movies." I'll bet you also remember the first time you saw the Fellowship of the Ring in the theaters. I'll bet right after you said "Holy sh$t!!" you said, "This just raised the bar for movies to the point where everything after this will be a dissapointment."
Suspension of disbelief is a key factor in a good movie. If, at any point, you sit back and start commenting on the production value of the movie rather than feeling immersed within the movie, the movie is a failure. Despite the unbelievably groundbreaking special effects in the Lord of the Rings movies, they broke suspension of disbelief several times... Remember that scene where the cave troll bursts through the door and starts roaring and swinging? I was like "holy sh$t that's an awesome troll special effect...but the skin is too smooth and the joints are all wrong."
So let me be clear when I say this: In the entire running time of the movie of 144 minutes, there is not one single minute where you don't believe the people in the movie are not interacting with giant transforming robots. As ridiculously far-fetched as the concept may be, there wasn't one minute where it felt like one of the special effects had too much or too little mass, there wasn't one minute where it felt like any of the decepticons or autobots were computer generated. Not. One. Minute.
They have distinct personalities, speech patterns, mannerisms, and even walk differently when in robot form. You find yourself identifying with them as if they were human characters in the movie. I felt Optimus was a little too personable, actually ... but that's the Transformers fan in me.
Shia LeBouf deserves a freaking Oscar for acting alongside thin air and making everyone in the audience believe that he spent the entire movie hanging out with alien robots. The only actor in the movie that I felt was wrong was John Turturro. I won't provide spoilers, but let's just say Jar Jar Binks is back...and he's pissed.
As for the action scenes - OMG OMG OMG. MORE! I want MORE MORE MORE! I want them in slo-mo, fast-mo, any-mo-I-can-get-mo... just GIVE. ME. MORE. ACTION. SCENES!!! At no point during the movie did I ever doubt that any of the action was taking place... In fact, it was so awesome and so freaking amazing that people in the audience were cheering during the fights (there's one battle scene in particular... you'll know it when you see it, but it involves Optimus...and a sword...). Rather than wondering "wow, how'd they pull that effect off?" I found myself thinking, "Holy crap, Ironhide KICKS ASS!" The movie was 2 hours 2 minutes long and I could have sat through another 2 more hours of fight scenes. If you are Michael Bay or one of his worshippers - pass this message along: Director's cut. HD-DVD. Make it happen.
Product placement is rampant in this movie. Thankfully, the viewers are blissfully unaware of it save for a few blatant moments during the movie. Another thing that I loved in the movie is that Peter Cullen actually utters the classic phrase that I still remember from the original animated movie, "One shall stand! One shall fall!" ... freaking priceless.
So my final verdict on this movie: 95%. I deducted 3% for John Turturro completely ruining an otherwise useful character (I don't care if it was his decision or the writers...shame on them). I deducted 1% because of product placement, and 1% because I am now addicted to the action scenes from that movie and must go back and see this movie until my eyes bleed.
Bottom line - I used to think I had a really firm grasp on what an unbelievably good action film looks like. This movie completely shatters that definition. It's freaking insane and you MUST see it, even if you're not a Transformers fan.
Awesome, I'd seen the trailer over and over again and felt that it looked
good, your review is good and I think I'll be going to see it. (The film
not the review).
I don't think we saw the same movie. I would rather suffer through a real
life version of "My Little Pony" than see this again. Except for Shia
LeBouf, the acting was horrible. They made the Hayden Christensen aka
Anakin Skywalker look like an oscar winning actor. And the story line, let
me rephrase that, what storyline! I came up with better plots when I was
10 and playing with Transformers. The ultimate insult, is Megatron kicks
Optimus butt. In fact Megatron kicks all their butts. If you want to see
a movie that is on par with such classics as 'Godzilla', 'The Next Karate
Kid' or 'Son of the Mask', then add this to your collection
I never said the movie had a fantastic plot... quite the contrary, I
mentioned that I didn't expect it to have much of one... I expected just
enough "plot glue" to get from action scene to action scene, which was
perfectly fine with me.
