Transformers

Synopsis: Transformers! More than meets the eye. Transformers! Robots in disguise.

Take the most sacred treasured artefact from your childhood and hand it to the prince of darkness, the man behind atrocities like Armageddon and Bad Boys 2, what do you expect to happen? Nothing like this. Michael Bay has made a good film. It’s a credulity-stretching claim, but it’s almost totally true. Almost.

First things first, the score to the film is appalling. Someone should take the composer out and shoot him. And there’s not nearly enough of the Decepticons, that’d be the bad guys for those who don’t know their Transformers. But that doesn’t matter, coz all up, this film is great fun. It’d be a four star film if it wasn’t for the music.

Transformers starts with big action, then gives us Sam (Shia LaBeouf), a typical kid who wants a cool car and a cool girl. He gets the car, and he gets the girl too. There’s a great wit at work early in the film as his car, Bumblebee, does a Christine meets Herbie, stalking him and helping him pick up Mikaela (Megan Fox). It’s cute, it works, and then the plot kicks in as the Decepticons discover he’s got something they want and the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) come to protect him and in return, get his help.

There’s such a love for the traditions of the cartoon and the previous (animated) movie. There are so many little references and even direct quotes that it just makes you smile. It keeps everything familiar, even if it’s not quite how you remember it. Megatron (Hugo Weaving) gets to pay out on Starscream (Charles Adler) and Peter Cullen’s Optimus is just awesome, still the noble leader making almost-painfully idealistic speeches about the right of humanity to a future. And even if you don’t know what I’m talking about, the Autobots have all got such vivid personalities that it doesn’t matter. Then there’s there the fact that this is a film about giant transforming robots smacking each other around like a bunch of WWE wrestlers with giant guns popping out of everywhere. Transformers kicks holy arse and it’s a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

Want more about this film?

Want something different?