Transformers: The Michael Bay Extravaganza!
As an avid fan of Transformers when I was a child, I knew when I first saw the ad for the Transformers movie, that I would at some point be plunked down in a movie theater seat watching one of my favorite shows on celluloid. However, when I discovered Michael Bay would be directing, I told myself that without a doubt, The Transformers movie would be awful. For the most part I was wrong.
Now granted, the Transformers movie did have many Michael Bay-istic features which I disliked. For example, characters always seem to yelling throughout every scene in the movie. Bay must have this desire to make the entire film somehow more exciting by having people always yelling at each other.
Another negative is that much of the film plays like a commercial for the Marine Corps and General Motors (Though I must admit the movie is a giant toy commercial). Many scenes involve countless soldiers running to their vehicles with the shimmering yellow setting sun behind them causing a lens flare on the camera. It’s all very emotional and all very reminiscent of many recruiting ads shown on tv. Do we think Mr. Michael “Pearl Harbor” Bay’s film may have been sponsored and/or assisted with by the United States Military? Possibly. Also, maybe corporate sponsorship is probably the reason for all the closeups of GM and Chevy logos on vehicle grills. For some reason, Bumblebee changes himself from a classic Camaro to a 2008/2009 (Coming soon!) Camaro. Hmmm…
Also, let’s just say Jon Voight, at his current age, is not meant to be an action star. I mean, for god sake, he’s playing the Secretary of Defense! Imagine if Rumsfield or Gates were fighting aliens. Come on!
Ok, let’s talk about the good aspects of the film:
Peter Cullen is still the John Wayne of voice acting. His version of Optimus Prime is thrilling and convinces. It’s important to note that they echoed an Optimus Prime from the original Transformers movie. He tells Megatron in both movies, “One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall.”
The effects work done on the Transformers is extremely detailed. Watching the film on the big screen is probably the only way the film should be watched. Seeing the robots so large and being able to make out the minute details in their construction makes watching the film in the theater a rewarding experience.
Michael Bay really made use of the Transformers concept of “Robots in Disguise.” I would even dare to submit, he used the concept more so than even the original Transformers TV show creators. Many of the Decepticons use their vehicular forms as a disguise througout the movie. The most obvious is Frenzy who disguises himself as a boombox and later as a cell phone. However, Blackout, a MH-53 Pave Low Helicopter surprises enemies who think he is merely just a helicopter. Starscream, who is now an F-22 Raptor , is able to slip in and out of a enemy fighter squadron during combat, making difficult for Friend or Foe recognition. All the thought films creators put into using the robots disguised mode really adds to the quality of the film and ratchets up the suspense a notch.
This time I’ll have to give Michael Bay a pass on my film bashing. As I mentioned earlier, I was pleasantly surprised how not bad Transformers was. That still doesn’t get Bay out of the ninth circle hell though. I still remember he did Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, Bad Boys II, The Rock, and Bad Boys.
Anyway, go see Transformers if I’ve piqued your interest or if you just want to hear Peter Cullen’s voice in a movie that’s not about Winnie the Pooh. It’s the best of the Summer Popcorn Movies I’ve seen so far this year.
