I saw Transformers today.
I left the movie theater feeling profoundly more at ease.
That's because nothing is better than giant robots kicking each other's asses.
I would go see it again. In fact, I would've bought myself a ticket for the next availible showing--if I weren't so damn poor at the moment.
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Ok, so here are some more detailed thoughts on this movie. I wanted to do this earlier, but I decided I needed to take a nap instead. Priorities, yo.
I loved this movie. My only disappointment was it wasn't longer...and there were no Dinobots. Maybe next time.
You see, I've always loved Transformers. As a kid, they were my cartoon and toy of choice. My best friend at the time, Zach, and I would have epic battles with our mishmash of Autobots and Decepticons. My favorite was Soundwave and all his little pals (at least until the Dinobots showed up). Optimus was pretty cool too, sort of like a dad out of the Walton's, except with guns and a sword. Megatron's voice always bugged me, like he'd smoked one to many stogie in his day. Starscream was a backstabbing pansy, but cool because he was a fighter jet.
Decepticons for some reason were decidedly more cool than the Autobots (once again, until Dinobots showed up). I mean, they had some of the baddest, meanest transformations. However, I still sided with the Autobots, because really, Megatron struck me as a narrow minded evil leader, not living up to his full potential. I mean, who can take the guy seriously when his second is Starscream?
Anyway--
As an old fan, I had a few concerns as to what might happen to my beloved Transformers when they made their bigscreen debut. I had heard rumors about certain changes and there was the whole Micheal Bay thing too. But I'm not disappointed in this film. I was impressed. And, I want another one. Maybe a few other ones. Lots of them.
Anyone who walks into this film expecting an Oscar calibur film is an idiot. It's not. What it is, is a summer action flick, and it does not disappoint. From the moment the movie starts to the minute it ends, it is nonstop crap blowing up, people getting thrown around, cars squealing down freeways, and badass robots smashing each other. It was pure bliss.
The chuckles were corny, but I laughed anyway because it fit so well with the old show I remembered as a kid. Jazz making stupid jokes, Optimus with his dry sense of humor (often not even realizing he's made a funny). I ate it up. I was impressed that they managed to stay true to the personalities of the characters. Sure, it wasn't a perfect carbon copy of the show, I can't complain.
As for specific changes made to certain members, most notably Bumblebee not being a VW bug, I thought they were all done well. Bumblebee as a camaro rocked. He was still spiffy and cool as ever. And friggen Barricade was just awesome as a cop car. Christ, when he interrogated Sam, I got chills. And Bonecrusher was there, representing the Constructacons, but not as his bulldozer self. That was fine by me, because watching him skate down the freeway, body check a moving bus and then Optimus was beyond any words in vocabulary known to man. A simple bulldozer couldn't have pulled that off. As for Prime, I thought his new look was cool and I really didn't give a crap where his trailer was, because in the cartoon it just vanished anyway. I always thought it was kind of stupid for him to have one in the first place. Megatron was...different. But not in a bad way. He looked scarier than hell and was mean as sin. Actually, I thought he was an improvement of his former self.
My only beef about the whole show are the humans. Sam was ok, not spectacular, but bareable. He was kind of stupid, which annoyed me. And the chick was just pointless. Why was she there again? She did gain points though, when she hooked Bumblebee up to the tow truck. That was awesome, but sadly her only bright spot in the entire show. Thankfully, the main focus was on the robots. Really, the humans were just the extras in this movie.
What it boils down to is the entertainment value in the end. This movie is entertaining. I told my mom to go see it, because I know she'd like it even though she isn't into stuff like robots, crap blowing up, etc. It's a fun movie that doesn't require much thought. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. And with that being said, I really hope they make more of them. I'll be waiting in line, that's for sure.