Robot Jox II: The LaBeoufening
Posted by Shannon
Transformers, 2007
Dir: Michael Bay
[rating:3.5]
I have one word for this film: “Wheeeee!”
I won’t go into too much detail. We know the “plot.” Giant robots that turn into vehicles. Explosions. Uh… I know I should think of a third item in order to comply with the rule of three, but… I know! Shia LaBeouf! He’s great in this. It’s been said many times before, but LaBeouf is going places.
Anyway, yeah… This movie is big and gloriously dumb. It’s an adaptation of a Saturday morning cartoon/line of toys, and it wears that pedigree on its sleeve. Underneath all of Bay’s trademark camera jiggle, hyperactive editing and patina of “grittiness,” this is the kind of movie where the lead bad guy wakes up from a 100,000 year sleep, immediately roars, “I… AM… MEGATRON!” and proceeds to destroy whatever the hell is within reach. Keep in mind that the name of the giant frozen robot had been firmly established by this point, so he identifies himself in such an overly dramatic fashion because… well, because that’s the sort of thing that overly-dramatic-giant-robot-bad-guys do when they wake up.
Transformers is an odd mix of thrill ride and camp. When a bad-ass Camaro screeches into frame, pops into the air and assembles into a kung fu posing ‘bot before it hits the ground, you “whoop” and pump your fist at how bad ass/ridiculous it is. Then it opens its chrome-plated mouth and you laugh at the cartoon dialogue.
I think this movie shows what Bay is capable of when he’s not being self-important (Pearl Harbor) sadistic (Bad Boys II) or sappy (Armageddon). It’s just giant robots doing what they do best.* It also seems that Spielberg’s involvement had a tempering effect on Bay’s oft incoherent visual style. This is good.
A final note on the visual effects: hells yeah. It’s very easy for animated robots to turn out like clusters of geometrical shapes. The animated characters here sport some great texture work and some genuine heft, the later of which is rare for large CG characters in movies. Other than an ill advised break dancing scene, the Transformers seem physically real. To see what I mean, check out this exclusive clip from the movie.
*Fucking shit up.
July 10th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
It definitely has a girl and a gun. I can’t say enough about the product placement, or whatever you would call the brand interplay going on with the Camaro and the Mustang. Although it’s sort of a bummer that Bumblebee wasn’t a Volkswagen bug, there’s probably some marketing genius in yelling out to the Ford vs. Chevy crowd. At first I thought it was odd to play favorites and risk alienating the Ford boys by making their ‘Stang the bad guy, but then there’s some appeal to that, now, isn’t there.
Just one note about the visual effects. I thought one of the coolest things was the way Optimus Prime transformed — somewhat ponderously. It was cool, I should say, in and of itself, but in context it should have been speeded up just a hair.