With Michael Bay at the helm for this adaptation 20 years in the waiting, there are two possibilities - the silliness of Armageddon and emotional violation of Pearl Harbour or the slick slapstick genius of Bad Boys I and II.
The cast comprises of a number of average actors with terrible agents as well as a couple of classics and up and coming stars. Shia LeBeouf, first came to attention in Constantine as Keano Reeves sidekick the hilarious Chas Kramer. He stole the limelight somewhat from Keano in the few scenes he had, swaggering and quipping through an entertaining horror film. He does well in Transformers, convincing as an awkward teen who relies not on brawn but brains to impress the unbelievably gorgeous Megan Fox. Without going into too much detail here we are treated to some solid and well managed performances from the likes of Jon Voight - always relevant and classic, John Turturro - hilarious and weird and Anthony Anderson - just gets funnier.
The cast is led by a really good script that was penned by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman, experienced writers who have worked on the likes of Mi-III, Star Trek and Alias. The dialogue and scenes flow together extremely well, many of the scenes had our cinema audience laughing and clapping. Without spilling over into sentiment the story takes us along at a great pace.
DID THEY RUIN EVERYONES' CHILDHOOD MEMORIES?
No, no and no again! I will distance myself from the constraints of a well delivered grammatically scintillating review to let you know that this was one of the coolest films I have ever seen.
The action was intense, the computer animation was flawless, the Transformers themselves were just awesome. Instead of hiding behind the power of computer graphics the film was shot with them in mind, there was no blue screen haze around actors or bad cut and pasting (see Fantastic Four 2), this was a pure visual buzz.
The film benefited from the investment of character development in the Transformers as well as the actors. There were some really funny scenes with the robots and Shia LaBeouf’s character. When directors ensure that a screenplay and the CGI of a film are good to his vision there truly can be stunning results.
Transformers is an incredibly entertaining and awe-inspiring visual experience which left this reviewer RED EYED from the barrage of visual wizardry. What made this film so good was the way the transformers were designed and put into the film. The act of transforming was celebrated by the director and not hurried in an attempt to ease past a potentially challenging part of the film.
The only reason I cannot elevate this to a classic, (and I was sorely tempted) was because of a few minor problems. The action although intense and exciting was at times a little hard to follow. Fast cuts and shaky motion shots made it difficult to fully appreciate the action. Also a few of the actors were a little too average and got by as a result of a strong director and a great script.
These minor criticisms aside I give it my highest recommendation and am happy to report that it was worth seeing again and reliving those classic childhood memories one more time.
The boy done good.