Transformers movie review
A few weeks ago I re-watched the 1986 animated Transformers movie. It was OK, a bit dated, a bit simple, some good animation coupled with some dodgy animation, but overall entertaining, mainly because it's now a nostalgia trip. I was really into the Transformers as a kid, the toys were the "in thing" of the 80's, the cartoon gave you something to watch on Saturday mornings while your parents slept in, but most importantly it led me to reading Transformer comics, and here I am, 20 years later still buying, reading and collecting them.
A few days ago I watched the 2007 live-action Transformers movie. Great special effects, some good use of humour, and while a bit long, it kept moving at a steady pace to make it a very entertaining movie. Of course, after you've watched it, you start thinking about what was good, what was bad.
The robots were great, they were massive and dangerous. The original transforming noise from the cartoon was sometimes used, sometimes not, which was annoying. They surely could have used it (with some mordern sound tweaking if necessary) for all transformations for consistency's sake. I still think the best transformation scene is from the 1986 movie when the Constructicons form Devastator!
The robot designs were over designed, but they were "alien", which is what I think the director was after (more about him later). Optimus Prime was the best robot, probably because he looked very much like his original form. Bumblebee and Megatron suffered from not looking like Bumblebee and Megatron at all. The rest of the Autobots were good, primarily because they were a bit more colourful (Jazz was silver, Ratchet was green, Ironhide was black, Prime was red, Bumblebee was yellow), but the Decepticons suffered from just being big hulking robots, interchangable from each other when in robot form. Starscream was good, especially in the scene when he attacked the other jets, but yet again he didn't look like Starscream. I remember when they were doing the Spider-Man films and they tried re-designing Spider-Man's suit and it just didn't work, so they went back to the classic design, with a few minor cosmetic twists (much like Superman's suit in Superman Returns), and it worked fine. This is what they should have done with the Transformers. Bumblebee should have been a VW, Ratchet a white ambulance, Megatron should have had a big black cannon on his arm etc etc.
One robot that just didn't work at all was Frenzy - he's the boom box that turned into the crappist robot ever. He's the Jar Jar of this movie. Too much screentime and made to be too comical and was thus extremely annoying. I wish Optimus Prime had stepped on him and not the bird bath.
As for the humans, I really liked Sam, his parents and Mikela, but all the others were really unecessary, especially the aussie hacker and the doughnut eating fat boy. The sector 7 guy was also annoying and his role should have been cut down, and just used to get Sam et al to the dam to learn about Megatron and the All Spark. The use of humour throughout the film was very good, and from what I've read online it was down to improv during shooting. There were a few kids under 12 years at our movie and I feel sorry for the parents that have to explain what the "Sam's happy hour" reference was all about. If I was a parent, I don't think I would take a kid under 10 to that movie, which is silly because of all the toys that are now filling the shops.
The director, Michael Bay, best known for big action blockbusters like Bad Boys and Armageddon, did a good job, but sometimes the fast-paced editing and cutting between scenes was a bit jarring. The action scenes especially just kept on jumping around from different shot to different shot, making it hard to work out where you were, where the robot was, or where it came from or what was happening. Jazz's death was also quite confusing and lacked any emotional impact due to this quick editing style.
One last niggling point was when the All Spark energy made other machines transform into robots, why did they go crazy and start shooting things? Surely a robot made out of a soft drink machine would be happy and offer soft drinks to everyone? And what happened to them at the end of the movie?
Anyway, while I am critical about bits of the film, it was a good movie to watch at the cinema and hopefully things can only get better for the sequel!
Transform and roll out!
A few days ago I watched the 2007 live-action Transformers movie. Great special effects, some good use of humour, and while a bit long, it kept moving at a steady pace to make it a very entertaining movie. Of course, after you've watched it, you start thinking about what was good, what was bad.
The robots were great, they were massive and dangerous. The original transforming noise from the cartoon was sometimes used, sometimes not, which was annoying. They surely could have used it (with some mordern sound tweaking if necessary) for all transformations for consistency's sake. I still think the best transformation scene is from the 1986 movie when the Constructicons form Devastator!
The robot designs were over designed, but they were "alien", which is what I think the director was after (more about him later). Optimus Prime was the best robot, probably because he looked very much like his original form. Bumblebee and Megatron suffered from not looking like Bumblebee and Megatron at all. The rest of the Autobots were good, primarily because they were a bit more colourful (Jazz was silver, Ratchet was green, Ironhide was black, Prime was red, Bumblebee was yellow), but the Decepticons suffered from just being big hulking robots, interchangable from each other when in robot form. Starscream was good, especially in the scene when he attacked the other jets, but yet again he didn't look like Starscream. I remember when they were doing the Spider-Man films and they tried re-designing Spider-Man's suit and it just didn't work, so they went back to the classic design, with a few minor cosmetic twists (much like Superman's suit in Superman Returns), and it worked fine. This is what they should have done with the Transformers. Bumblebee should have been a VW, Ratchet a white ambulance, Megatron should have had a big black cannon on his arm etc etc.
One robot that just didn't work at all was Frenzy - he's the boom box that turned into the crappist robot ever. He's the Jar Jar of this movie. Too much screentime and made to be too comical and was thus extremely annoying. I wish Optimus Prime had stepped on him and not the bird bath.
As for the humans, I really liked Sam, his parents and Mikela, but all the others were really unecessary, especially the aussie hacker and the doughnut eating fat boy. The sector 7 guy was also annoying and his role should have been cut down, and just used to get Sam et al to the dam to learn about Megatron and the All Spark. The use of humour throughout the film was very good, and from what I've read online it was down to improv during shooting. There were a few kids under 12 years at our movie and I feel sorry for the parents that have to explain what the "Sam's happy hour" reference was all about. If I was a parent, I don't think I would take a kid under 10 to that movie, which is silly because of all the toys that are now filling the shops.
The director, Michael Bay, best known for big action blockbusters like Bad Boys and Armageddon, did a good job, but sometimes the fast-paced editing and cutting between scenes was a bit jarring. The action scenes especially just kept on jumping around from different shot to different shot, making it hard to work out where you were, where the robot was, or where it came from or what was happening. Jazz's death was also quite confusing and lacked any emotional impact due to this quick editing style.
One last niggling point was when the All Spark energy made other machines transform into robots, why did they go crazy and start shooting things? Surely a robot made out of a soft drink machine would be happy and offer soft drinks to everyone? And what happened to them at the end of the movie?
Anyway, while I am critical about bits of the film, it was a good movie to watch at the cinema and hopefully things can only get better for the sequel!
Transform and roll out!
posted by U2J at 1:54 am
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