Transformers

One of my earliest memories involving movies is me sitting infront of the TV crying because I just witnessed Optimus Prime die at the hands of Megatron. So, as you can tell, I've been very much invested with how this movie would turn out. I've been following all of the news on this movie ever since the first teaser trailer was released (which is explained in this movie). So did Michael Bay fuck this movie up?

NO WAY IN HELL! This has been the single best movie of the summer so far, and the 2nd best movie of the year so far (Grindhouse still number 1). It was a kick ass movie and was the perfect groundwork for what can end up to be an incredible trilogy. There were so many things that I had wanted to see since I was about 3 years old, and they were all brought to life perfectly to make a great Transformers movie.

The story is basically this: The Allspark, which created life for the Transformers, fell to Earth about 100 years ago after the fall of Cybertron (the Transformers home planet). Since Cybertron has been destroyed, Megatron followed it to Earth, just to end up trapped in ice. So now all the Autobots and Decepticons are coming to the planet to find the Allspark cube, which the directions to are inscribed onto Sam Witwickey's grandfather's glasses. Basic plot. There is a lot more going on with the military and a romance, but it is, at its heart, all about the robots.

LeBeouf gives a very likable performance here as Sam Witwicky, the boy who unknowingly holds the key to the location of Allspark and thus, gets sweeped up into the war between machines. He is, of course, on the side of the Autobots and his car is Bumble Bee, at first a crappy beat up Camero, and then a freakin' awesome Camero. Le Beouf brings a lot of charm and comedy to his role and never feels faked. The way that he interacts with the Transformers helps to tell the giant robots 100%. In some reviews I've read, people have knocked Turturo for being so over the top in his role as a Sector 7 agent, but truthfully, I loved him. He was exciting and you never really knew what crazy thing he was going to say/do next. He is crazy and a total asshole in this movie. Oh, and Megan Fox is fucking HOT AS HELL! Damn. At the same time she made herself very approachable and it wasn't a GIANT leap to believe that she would go for somebody like Sam. But this acting paragraph would be nothing without Peter Cullen, the one, the only Optimus Prime. Shivers were sent up and down my spine right from the beginning as he gives the history of Cybertron and the Allspark. If there was anybody else voicing Optimus, it just wouldn't have worked. He is still the great moral role model for children that first taught me about doing the right thing. Even when other Autobots are doubting why they are helping humans, Optimus stands strong and tells them how it is. Of course, my personal favorite line of his in the movie was "Autobots- roll out." That is the line I have been waiting for since I first heard this was greenlit. I just have to say that while Hugo Weaving was good as the voice of Megatron, because of how much they clearly put it through a computer, it might as well have been Frank Welker doing the lines. Don't get me wrong, Megatron is big, bad and awesome, but it would have been nice to know that Welker was the one we were hearing and not a way to put another name on this movie.

The effects in this more are truly mindblowing. This is the first time in years that the effects have actually been special. The first transformation that we see in the movie is great as is the following action sequence. The big moment in the film though comes with the unviel of all the Autobots. Bay takes time from this fast paced movie to slow things down and show us the transformations in all their glory and introduce each character one by one. You have not seen anything until you've seen giant robots transforming during a giant fight scene on the highway, changing back to cars, then back to robots and keep fighting.

A lot of people have bitched about Michael Bay as the director for a long time, but I've said it from the beginning: Bay is the perfect director for this, and you know what? He was. Bay's movies are usually cheesy with great action. Know what the Transformers cartoons were? EXTREMELY cheesy with great action. In fact, while there are cheesy parts of the movie, he nails every little beat of this and delivers a movie that all fans should like (but not all will because they are stubborn). The final act of this movie is one of the greatest action sequences ever put to film. I never thought I would see some of the things that are in this movie because of how only fans know about them (don't want to give what the main thing I'm talking about is, but it is a weapon that one of the Autobots use).

There are cheesy moments in the film, but they work in this. In fact, there was only one thing that bothered me in this movie and it was not enough to detract from the entire movie for me. It was one little comedic moment in the film involving Bumble Bee and John Turturo which was useless and didn't fit with the rest of the film, but it got a big laugh.

Don't wait to see this movie on the small screen. If you do, you will regret it. The explosions, the transformations, the granduer, everything is a must see on the big screen. The action is unlike anything you have seen before and frankly, I loved this movie. In a summer of disappointments so far, this movie stands far above the rest.