Explosions, giant robot fights and special effects are spectacular
Optimus
Prime,
the
leader of the
Autobots.
Josh Duhamel as
Captain Lennox, U.S. Army.
TRANSFORMERS
Bonecrusher clashes with
Optimus Prime on a busy highway.
Photos courtesy of Dreamworks
Megan Fox plays Mikaela Banes.
A series that many children of the 1980s grew up with has returned to the big screen.
Transformers is the latest incarnation of Transformers series of action figures, television shows and comic books. The new bigscreen version, brought to life by Dreamworks, director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg, features a new plot to go with a slew of new, computer-animated, giant transforming robots.
The film opens showing Captain William Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and his Army Ranger unit returning to their base in Qatar. Soon after their arrival, a helicopter thought shot down some time ago arrives at the base, making no contact on radio. The helicopter then unexpectedly transforms into the Decepticon, Blackout, who leads an assault on the base in an attempt at hacking into the U.S. military's computer network.
Then Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) narrates the back-story to the movie. Optimus leads the Autobots, the good Transformers, against the forces of Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving) and his Decepticons. In order to stop the civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons, the Autobots launch a powerful relic, the All Spark, into space. Both sides search the galaxy for it until tracking it down to Earth.
Transformers then moves to Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), a high school student whose father is taking him out to buy his first car. He ends up buying an old yellow Camero with black racing stripes. The car ends up being Bumblebee, an Autobot. His new car, and the story of his great-grandfather's expedition to the Arctic soon embroil Witwicky in the inter-galactic war between the Autobots and Decepticons.
The story continues to jump between the movie's various protagonists, eventually coming together near the movie's climax.
The overall plot of the film is fairly well thought out, but becomes redundant at times. The characterization for the human cast is average, though they did a good job giving the various Transformers their own unique personalities. They did an especially good job with the hyper-active little Decepticon, Frenzy.
The dialogue is good, with plenty of laugh lines sprinkled through the action.
Where the movie really shines is the action. The movie contains as many explosions and giant robot fights as one could fit in a two-hour movie.
The special effects in Transformers are spectacular. The robots are monumental in size and complexity and fit convincingly in the real world settings.
The film features 13 Transformers in all. The five Autobots feature fan favorites such as Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. The eight Decepticons include great Transformers villains such as Megatron and Starscream.
Transformers makes for good summer viewing. It's action-packed and contains a tinge of nostalgia for those who grew up watching the Transformers. And it leaves plenty of room for a sequel.