Movie Review - Transformers

***** NO SPOILERS ******

I went and saw Transformers on Cheapo Tuesday with my friend Kin and there was a mad crush of people. We totally forgot that it was school holidays so all the kids were out in force. And being kids with little money, they were all ready to watch a movie on cheap Tuesday too. However, all the people probably made the Transformers experience even better. A full house always feels different when the movie is also good. The whole audience gets into it and it just improves the movie even more.

When Kin told me that the movie was directed by Michael Bay, the director of Pearl Harbour and Armageddon, I wasn't sure if the movie was going to be any good. I had been to watch quite a few blockbuster flops of late, with Fantastic Four 2 being the worse, closely followed by Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and finally Spiderman 3, which was at least good for a half of the film. However, I'm very happy to report that Transformers is definitely Michael Bay's best film.

Transformers is what I expect of a blockbuster action flick, full of action. Wherease Fantastic Four 2 was so slow and the ridiculous story crawled along, Transformer's ridiculous story flew along, keeping us the audience totally entertained. The jokes in Pirates and Fantastic Four were so obvious and not funny and just seemed so try hard. Surprisingly, there was a lot of humour in Transformers and they were genuinely funny. The lead character, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) does a grab job and carries the movie really well. I've never seen him before but he has very good comic timing, with the jokes very natural and not forced.

I know a movie is good when I was busting to go to the toilet and was waiting for an oppurtunity to make a dash for it. I didn't notice the time go by at all and finally I couldn't hold it any longer and ran for it. When I came back, I quickly asked what I missed and apparently I missed a battle scene where one of the Autobots get into some trouble. The Autobots are the same as from the cartoons that I used to love watching. They are the good guys from another planet that are here to stop the bad guys from the planet, the Decepticons. Don't you love the names. The Autobots are lead by their feerless leader Optimus Prime and the Decepticons by Megatron. Again, don't you love the name, so 80's.

The visuals are stunning, combining real life action and CG seemlessly. When you see battles between the humans and the robots, you are so engrossed by the action that you don't even notice that the robots are computer animated. The shots of the robots transforming are jaw dropping. The various parts changing and the sliding camera angle so that you go under, behind and over the robots are wonderful.

Transformers has all the elements for a great film, good versus evil, boy chases girl, the Earth is about to be destroyed, man has to save the Earth, great battle scenes and cool cars. The story is simple and ridiculous. The Decepticons are coming to Earth to find the All Sparks, which is a cube that gives them the power to turn any object into another virtually indestructible Decepticon. The Autobots are here to also retrive the cube and stop the Decepticons. However, Star Wars was an equally simple story. It's about doing the story well. The audience is kept entertained the whole time and not given time to let their minds wander. Battles follow crisis situation mixed in with Sam's personal problems and adventure. I actually cared for the main characters this time unlike the other blockbusters I mentioned earlier. I cared whether Sam and his family, Mikela (the girl Sam is chasing and who becomes an allie) and the Autobots survive. All this while still driving the story forward and towards a fitting finale.

Overall Rating: **** Loved the film, great action scenes mixed in with Sam's personal story. Lots of humour as well. The story travels at a fast pace and the two hours go by too quickly. I could watch the robots transform many more time. Brought back lots of memories of the old cartoon series. A must watch film.