Transformers: Pure Summer Fun at the Movies

I once walked down a toy isle the summer the Star Wars prequels were coming out and noticed half of the action figures were dedicated to lightsabers, chess sets, board games, and action figures, promoting every aspect of the movie for a buck. The secret to advertising is by making it subtle, not over the top. Casino Royale with Daniel Craig playing Bond had the Sony (it was made by Sony Pictures) brand name on every 007 gadget, cellphone, and laptop, an effective use of subtle advertising. Star Wars wasn't going to the movies for the toys, but Hasbro producing Transformers is pretty close.

However, the reasons for making the movie is not what determines the movie's worth. Transformers begins with a diseaster scene of sorts. A rogue helicopter lands at an US Air Force base in Qatar, only to suddenly twist its shape into a walking metal monster of mass destruction and unstoppable power. As the politicans and fleeing soldiers try to make sense of this, a teen with a smart, alive car is somehow related when the other machines (good and bad) come to find him. Everything revolves around the AllSpark Cube, which is like the ring in Lord of the Rings, where it doesn't do much except have everyone fight for it while a random person keeps it. Insert one side will kill all humans and the others will die for humans and you get the Decepicons (evil) and the Autobots (good).

The story is as cheesy as it sounds. Not much strategy is involved, as the storyline doesn't build suspense or climax, only the fact both sides of the war get closer and closer and fight more and more until all of them meet up in a single city to duke it out. Nor is CGI particulary a plus (more later on that). For all that this sounds bad, the film actually delivers for what it is aimed for: fun for the kid and child at heart, espically boys.

The movie is aware of its cheesiness, as it points out at one part. Sam (Shia LaBeouf) with a transformer for his new car, has to repeatedly attempt to explain his actions because his car is alive. This includes chasing his car in the belief it was stolen, as well as being chased by the car afterwards. When asked what he is arrested for, Sam (Shia LaBouf) answers, " My dad bought a car that happened to be an alien robot." Other scenes poke fun at the Autobots learning English from the internet and mistaking pet dogs as "rodent infestations."

CGI is impressive here, and I won't understate the achievement. In Spider-man, the special effects where cheap, making it obvious when it was a dummy or CGI-made spidey. In Spider-man 2, they blended the live action with CGI so the transitions looked real. It made all the difference in why Doc Oct is a great bad-guy. The same is true for Transformers. The detail of effects lets us see the windshield wipers and arcs where sand is still on the windshielf even after they've transformed. Their talking faces are more than muppets with simple mouths, but moving parts that follow the pronouncation of each syllable. The computer characters appear just as real as the anything else.

Although the CGI is well-made, it is not well-used. Car chases are effective. The first action scenes were beautifully done, giving us clear pictures and geography of where massive robots are moving and where the fighting is occuring. For example, when the heroic leader Optimus Prime fights evil-on-skates (no joke, he rollerblades down the highway) Bonecrusher, the camera shoots from far away, letting you see them roll off the highway, hang from the railsides, and deliver kicks, swings, and uppercuts. However, when the fight goes into the city, you can't tell who is who, and are suddenly lost in which one is winning in a wrestling match of gears and wheels. When it expands to gangs of Autobots fighting against gangs of Decepticons, you don't know who is where in the city, and each one coming around the corner appears as random coincidence of convience.

The climax was the waiting for a clash of the titans, but we feel left out when we see only small parts of it.

For entertainment, it relies on the cheap jokes of how odd the situation is, but these are well-executed by LaBeouf, and the visuals keep you going for what would otherwise be pointless action. All of this compensates for any lack of traditionally "good" writing.

For marketability, it's more than the toy lines that are making a killing. After the disappointments of the much anticipated Spiderman 3 and Pirates 3, audiences may be looking for more. Where other movies took themselves too seriously in their epic standards, Transformers is laid back and gives just the right amount of seriousness with Optimus Prime's speeches on how he leads the Autobots and why. Fans will crowd the theater, as it blends teen romance comedy, sci-fi, and action all for the sake of fun over glory. It released itself a week prior to Harry Potter, but it chose the biggest week (July 4th) to come out.

For memorability, only the special effects and a milestone in Shia LaBeouf's performance will keep people coming back for more. It will recieve its cult following as it stays only so true to the original to make it equally appealing to fans of both sides. Shi LaBeouf presents he can effectively play the role of the shy teen in the awkward situation, a step towards diversity in rising actor of Disturbia who will be in the fourth Indiana Jones soon enough.

Although the biggest goal of action may have been missed towards the end, the movie delivers on many levels of simply being one-of-a-kind, entertaining joy that tries to be exactly what it is.

I approve of this movie