You would think a movie about 2 warring factions--one on the side of good, the other evil incarnate-of mega-machines, who bring their battle to Earth, would get lost in a sea of special effects...Thanks to very engaging young stars though--the human story keeps the viewer very much involved--and that's why it works.
As the Decepticons, followers of the malevolent Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving), plot to take over our world and its vast resources, the Autobots, led by the valiant Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen), are intent on protecting humanity. When young Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) discovers that his new car is really the Autobot Bumblebee (voiced by Mark Ryan), he soon finds himself in the middle of one ginormous showdown. In fact, through some wild twist of fate--Sam may indeed possess the key to the survival of mankind...
Whether you love or hate his style of filmmaking, you can't deny, director Michael Bay knows how to make glorious "Popcorn Movies". Everything audiences have come to expect from a Bay flick is here: Loud explosions, intense and thrilling action set pieces combine with dashes of both drama and romance. Transformers, like Armageddon before it, also boasts a huge cast of characters--each getting a chance to shine in the film...Josh Duhamel, Rachael Taylor, Anthony Anderson, Jon Voight, the always great Kevin Dunn playing Sam's Dad and Julie White playing Mom bring a lot to the table... There was an extra sotra something that's usually missing from a Bay flick--Chemistry between the leads.
For my money it's the performances of both LaBeouf and the lovely Megan Fox, who plays Sam's Gal Pal Mikaela Banes, that keep the "human stuff" afloat. I was as much into the story when they were on screen as I was when the "robots" were locked in combat. The pair made all of the fantastic stuff seem believable. Not an easy feat. I assure you says this cynic of a film-goer...
Given the film's animated origins, screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman did a solid job adapting the history for the big screen in a live action format. As a non-fan of the TV series and the line of toys, with just a passing familiarity of the backstory, every memory gap I had was filled in to my satisfaction. That said, I could have done without the typical action film writer crutch of "let's have the law enforcer guy in charge look really dumb for the sake of comic relief" (John Turturro)...Still no one plays smarmy quite like Turturro. I have heard some fans grumble that certain Transformer abilities were missing and so forth...As for me, I guess that's where my unfamiliarity over a lot of that stuff would come in handy.
Finally. What can I say about the CGI and special effects? Spectacular and stunning! Really exciting to watch . Whenever 'Bot shared screen space with human it looked flawless. Again no easy feat. Hands down the best on screen action of the summer!
Hats off to all involved-but most of all to Bay, who amidst all of its great eye candy, made the humans just as watchable. Perhaps the movie's greatest WOW of them all.
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