The Alternative Review for Transformers
The reviews slammed the show for having no plot whatsoever. They pointed out that it joins the ranks of summer blockbusters that kill grey matter by their sheer budget and amount of hot air.
Well, I caught Transformers nonetheless. I second the opinion that the plot is thinner than a Whisper Ultra-thin (with wings). I groan at the sight of the caricatures; the on-the-ball Secretary of Defence, the actioner Spec-Forces soldier, the smug I-know-more-than-thou secret service agent.
However, Michael Bay knows that he’s catering for the Fanboy/Action crowd, and he serves guilt-inducing portions of just what they want. Within 5 minutes of the show starting, Industrial Light and Magic works a magical transformation of a Pave Lowe. The robots aren’t the same clean, man-shaped ones seen in the cartoons. They look more like the menacing mechs in Mechwarrior, with extensive moving part detailing featured in Matrix Revolutions.
The show also showcases the fruits of USofA’s defense spending: V-22 Ospreys in full-motion glory, F-22 Raptors swooping through dense cityscapes. I might have been watching too many arthouse movies recently, but this is the first time I’ve seen these 2 weapons systems on the big screen, and man, do they look good. Throw into the fray an AC-130 Spectre gunship serving out huge platefuls of 40mm Bofors / 105mm howitzer shells and you have a military junkie’s wet dream.
Take note of the many asides that pay homage to Transformers origins as a cartoon, including a Bumblebee dangly hanging from the rearview mirror of – you guessed it – Bumblebee.
I have certain gripes about the show though. The “raw” look of the robots isn’t what most fanboys would expect. Also, as reviews pointed out, it’s pretty impossible for “a robot the size of a flatted factory to contort itself into a car”. Gone also are the old cars/planes that the Transformers used to mimic. No yellow Beetle. No flatnosed container tractor. No F-15. (At least Megatron looks cooler as a Cybertron jet than as a silly laser pistol.)
While the battle scenes drip with excitement, the action is captured from unusual camera angles and snaps from one camera to another. Most of the time, you only see metal hulks slamming into one another, if you even figure out where the camera was pointed.
As mentioned, the plot is wafer thin, a fact that is not helped by the giant leaps of logic. If Megatron was chasing the Allspark and they both presumably landed near the arctic circle, and Megatron recorded such information right after his crash landing, how could Optimus know that they have both been moved away by reading such outdated information? Or, how could the Autobots learn English from the World-Wide Web if they just crash-landed that same night?
Despite all its shortcomings, Transformers serves up the correct dishes for its main target audience. Girlfriends will probably just be accommodating to their boyfriends and laugh at the silly moments. But boyfriends will go home after the movie and dig up their old toys and sing out, “Transformers! Robots in disguise!” –Jimmy
Well, I caught Transformers nonetheless. I second the opinion that the plot is thinner than a Whisper Ultra-thin (with wings). I groan at the sight of the caricatures; the on-the-ball Secretary of Defence, the actioner Spec-Forces soldier, the smug I-know-more-than-thou secret service agent.
However, Michael Bay knows that he’s catering for the Fanboy/Action crowd, and he serves guilt-inducing portions of just what they want. Within 5 minutes of the show starting, Industrial Light and Magic works a magical transformation of a Pave Lowe. The robots aren’t the same clean, man-shaped ones seen in the cartoons. They look more like the menacing mechs in Mechwarrior, with extensive moving part detailing featured in Matrix Revolutions.
The show also showcases the fruits of USofA’s defense spending: V-22 Ospreys in full-motion glory, F-22 Raptors swooping through dense cityscapes. I might have been watching too many arthouse movies recently, but this is the first time I’ve seen these 2 weapons systems on the big screen, and man, do they look good. Throw into the fray an AC-130 Spectre gunship serving out huge platefuls of 40mm Bofors / 105mm howitzer shells and you have a military junkie’s wet dream.
Take note of the many asides that pay homage to Transformers origins as a cartoon, including a Bumblebee dangly hanging from the rearview mirror of – you guessed it – Bumblebee.
I have certain gripes about the show though. The “raw” look of the robots isn’t what most fanboys would expect. Also, as reviews pointed out, it’s pretty impossible for “a robot the size of a flatted factory to contort itself into a car”. Gone also are the old cars/planes that the Transformers used to mimic. No yellow Beetle. No flatnosed container tractor. No F-15. (At least Megatron looks cooler as a Cybertron jet than as a silly laser pistol.)
While the battle scenes drip with excitement, the action is captured from unusual camera angles and snaps from one camera to another. Most of the time, you only see metal hulks slamming into one another, if you even figure out where the camera was pointed.
As mentioned, the plot is wafer thin, a fact that is not helped by the giant leaps of logic. If Megatron was chasing the Allspark and they both presumably landed near the arctic circle, and Megatron recorded such information right after his crash landing, how could Optimus know that they have both been moved away by reading such outdated information? Or, how could the Autobots learn English from the World-Wide Web if they just crash-landed that same night?
Despite all its shortcomings, Transformers serves up the correct dishes for its main target audience. Girlfriends will probably just be accommodating to their boyfriends and laugh at the silly moments. But boyfriends will go home after the movie and dig up their old toys and sing out, “Transformers! Robots in disguise!” –Jimmy
posted by Jimmy at 5:52 PM
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