Transformers: Age of Extinction - Analysis and Review

^^This is the only second I liked in this movie^^

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh! What the? What the ****? WHAT THE ****? WHAT THE **** WAS THAT???

The Plot

Five years after the battle of Chicago from Dark of the Moon, wannabe inventor Cade Yaeger (Mark Wahlberg) struggles to make ends meat to support his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz). When opportunity comes in the form of a beat up flat nose truck, Cade unknowingly puts himself into a large government conspiracy that is tied into an intergalactic manhunt that is also tied into a plot to cause mass extinction the likes of which have never been experienced since the dinosaurs.

Analysis

I'll just leave this portion to the review.

Review

For a long time I've laughed at G1 fans who protest with signs that say "DAMN YOU MICHAEL BAY FOR RUINING MY CHILDHOOD!" Yes, I was a fan, but even my criticisms of Revenge of the Fallen did not make me want to rally behind them in chanting "Death to Michael Bay!" I've always been the guy who said, yes Revenge is bad and I hate it but there are some things that are enjoyable. I've also been the guy who said I really like Dark of the Moon because the action was clearer and the forced love story is actually more believable. But for this one. The fourth time. You'd think that by the fourth time and a break from these movies would actually make it into something fresh and exciting.

WROOOOOONG!

I really don't like this movie. I really don't. I hate it. I hate the fact that it sucked me in with promises of maybe a more interesting cast of characters played by mostly class actors. The likes of Kelsey Grammer and Stanley Tucci. And yes when he's given good material Mark Wahlberg is an amazing actor. But no. Just no. They all sucked. Their characters sucked. And I'm not going to criticize their acting because I sure as hell know they were directed to act a certain way, and with the direction given them they act accordingly to the material. Which makes them all suck! Because the material they're working with just sucks so much!

You'd think by now that they've done three of these movies already one would think that to get fans to stop complaining about the human story is to make a better story! The fact that the human story in here starts out simple: a father wants to make money to put his daughter to college by whatever means necessary, is a great starting point! But that gets completely derailed the minute the big government black ops guys show up to cause shit to happen leading to other shit to go down and more shit to come. I mean seriously it is obvious that we're suppose to rooting for the poor father, but in the end we don't care. We don't care about the fact that he's about to lose his house or that his daughter can't get any scholarships. We just don't care about them. It tries so hard to make these characters likable. Shia LaBeouf's character and whatever extraordinarily hot piece of ass that's his girlfriend at the moment is more likable than the Yaeger family. 

The Best Way to describe them is annoying and dumb. Particularly Tessa (Peltz) and her boyfriend Shane played by Jack Reynor. There was nothing to make us root for the two of them as a couple. There was nothing remotely likable about their characters. Nicola Peltz gets a lot of flack for her acting as the animation icon Katara in Shamylan's Last Airbender film and while it has vastly improved in Bates Motel her acting in here is back to the horrible acting that was seen in the Shamylan debacle. Her character is pretty much exactly the same as the one played in Bates Motel. The only difference is that while we don't like her character because of what she does, in Age of Extinction we don't like her because we just simply don't like her. Sure, she's having trouble getting scholarships and she cares about her father. The problem is those are literally in only two moment at the beginning of the movie that never really add up to anything else in the movie. And while Reynor's Shane is no way a leading man, because that role is suppose to be filled by Wahlberg, but he is not even a great supporting character. His only purpose is to be the driver. Yes, the driver. His job in the movie is to be the driver. The driver. And there is a lot of driving in this movie. So I guess we need a driver. A driver. A driver who is not brave at all. One would think that maybe Nicola's character would be smart enough to realize who much her boyfriend is pretty much useless in a really horrifying situation. But no, she sees his acts as heroic when the real "heroism" is by her father. 

Also I should point out one idiotic scene from the film. While Optimus Prime is battling new villain, Lockdown, Cade and Shane are separated from Tessa who is unable to run to them because Optimus and Lockdown are in the way. Cade tells Tessa to run into the open fields to get away from the two gigantic robots fighting. Which is the smart thing to do! And she does run! Then runs back to the middle of the fight! And in the middle of the fight she gets into a broken car because movie logic deems that it would protect her while this fight goes on! It was so idiotic! There was not a single moment of believability that she didn't have a chance to run away from the fight. There was not a single moment of believability that there was no way Cade or Shane could go get her! Actually, Cade does go run to get his daughter but gets tackled by Shane because he was afraid he'd get killed. Shane saves the life of the father of his girlfriend instead of actually trying to save his girlfriend who he claims he really really....likes. WHAT THE ****?! It was also an excuse to have the daughter get captured by an alien spaceship! She runs back to the danger instead of the danger just so that the human leads have a reason for wanting to go with the Autobots into the spaceship! BAD WRITING! BAD WRITING EVERYWHERE!

Also the product placement is horrendous. People laughed about the product placement in Man of Steel but in here the product placement is so hilariously and annoyingly obvious. Like literally so obvious and not subtle. There was no subtlety with the product placement. It was just so in your face and so obvious, that I'm repeating myself just so that you know the product placement is obvious.

I'll give ILM and the Autobots their credit though. This film, like the original, actually takes a moment to establish the personalities of the different heroic robots. And that's it. John Goodman plays...the fat bearded jolly robot. Ken Watanabe plays the....Japanese samurai that turns into a German car manufactured in France...why is his car not Japanese? John DiMaggio plays...the gunslinger. And you know who Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are already. 

But then let's talk about the Bad Guys. The idea of Lockdown, the robot bounty hunter who kills Autobots and Decepticons for a higher power, is a really cool one. He's the best villain the series has, but also doesn't do much. All he does is repeat who his character is: "I fight for our creators, and our creators want you." Yeah, this actually brings up the concept that Transformers are manufactured, a question that a lot of people have been wondering. Where do they come from? Well we do see their creators in the prologue. More specifically the hand of one of their creators but not the full reveal. It is obvious this is the idea they wanted to play with for the sequel. The problem is the idea of their creators gets overshadowed by the hot mess of the plot.

Oh, by the way, Galvatron is in the movie. Yeah, Megatron comes back...again. But this time he officially comes back as Galvatron. And is finally voiced by Frank Welker, the original voice actor for Megatron in the cartoons. I'm not going to go into details on his role, because honestly it was just shoved in there just so that he's in there. Just like the Decepticons. They're in the movie too. And how they transform just comes off as cheap. Really cheap. It is not cool and it is not creative. It just comes off as a cheap way to make transformations easier.

Oh, wait, I almost forgot about the Dinobots! The one thing that made me want to see this movie! The one thing that I told myself even if this movie sucked I know they will make this movie worth it!.....They were not worth it. A smile did not come to my face when they finally showed up. I felt nothing. I was annoyed that I had to wait 2 hours and 20 minutes for them to show up conveniently in the last 25 minutes. They may look cool, their designs may be awesome, they may be back for the sequel. But they're not worth putting in all the marketing. Especially if they're not in the movie.

I haven't even touched on the plot of this movie yet. I'll tell you what the plot of this movie should've been and not what it is. It should've been Lockdown is hunting transformers and the government strikes a deal to help him accomplish this. The Autobots and the Decepticons left on the planet have to work together in order to prevent being captured by this menacing machine. Hell, Lockdown could've used the Dinobots as his hunting dogs so they would've been in the whole movie then switched sides to turn their back on Lockdown. But that is not the movie we got. What we got instead is a mixed bag of things that could've worked by themselves as 4 different movies but instead got jammed into one really long movie that feels longer than it should.

Final Thoughts

Apologies to anyone who actually read all that. But to put it simply: I hate this movie. Hate it. I've never been mad about a movie before, even a really bad one, but this one had me seething with anger. I thought that would never happen to me. I thought I would never be like those other hardcore G1 Transformers fans. But now I finally feel their pain and suffering. I finally can say this:

SCORE: 2/10 - You finally ruined my childhood, Michael Bay. Finally.

For a review of the previous film, CLICK HERE

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Analysis and Review

The action gets better and the story gets longer

After the revelation of actually analyzing Revenge of the Fallen, my expectations for the next film were quickly set on low. However when the first trailers popped up all of a sudden my expectations were high and the new addition of Rosie Huntington Whitely (who I predicted probably can't act but would like more than Megan Fox after what happened in the last movie) so like last time: myself and 7 of my other friends (not the unusually large number of 14 like last time) decide to go see the movie. And again, even though we all showed up really really really really early to the premier showing, we still wound up in the front row. So was the reaction exactly the same as my experience with Revenge of the Fallen? Well...

The Plot

Despite being awarded by the President for his heroic acts in the last film and meeting a new girl (Rosie Huntington Whitely) after Mikaela breaks up with him, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is having a hard time finding a job. Lucky for him he does get one while at the same time the Autobots led by Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) discover that there is an ancient secret hidden on the moon. That secret? Their long lost leader Sentinel Prime (Leonard Nimoy) who has a device that can save their home world of Cybertron. Unfortunately for them a battle scarred Megatron (Hugo Weaving) and his Decepticons forces are once again after this device, leading all plot points to collide in Chicago.

Analysis

Just in case you didn't read my review on Revenge of the Fallen, particularly the Analysis portion, I'll just summarize it for this one. Its better to watch this movie with a crowd of rowdy fans on opening night than to see this a week later or home alone. Because watching this movie alone and not surrounded by rowdy fans will result into a startling revelation: the movie is shit. Well for me personally not complete shit but I liked it enough to say that I still enjoy it but I'm not going to deny that it is still bad.

Review

There is a pattern I'd like to point out. Strange Prologue. Sam is down on his luck. Something gets discovered. Autobots enter the picture. Government enters the picture. Decepticons show up. Confront the villain. Make out with hot girlfriend who is way out of Sam's league. That seems to be the pattern that these movies are going at. It worked well for the first movie because... that's the first movie. It didn't work well for the second movie because the writers tried to hide that it is the same movie by adding a bunch of other stuff that does a poor stuff of hiding the sameness. Then there is this movie that once again adds a lot of stuff that is not really necessary. However this time around all that other stuff is actually characters this time. That's right, this time more characters that I don't remember their names are added in order to give this movie a more ensemble feel than the long drawn out epic feel they were going for from the last one. However like I said I don't remember most of the new characters. And if I do, I'm trying to understand why do they have to be in the movie.

The biggest addition that should be noted is Patrick Dempsey as..... Dylan Gould. Had to look that up for a moment. He plays Sam's new girlfriend's boss who also happens to be in an alliance with the Decepticons. Why? Uh.... I don't really know why. Other than the fact that he'll be spared from whatever it is the Decepticons planned to do with humanity, just know that he's evil. This could've been a great role for Dempsey who at the time was only known as McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy. It is obvious that he wanted to use this role to break away from the mold, but it doesn't really help him because the character was not really well thought out other than he's good looking and he's evil.

Then let's talk about the obvious. Megan Fox is gone after having a dispute with Michael Bay. So she was written out and replaced by a character straight from the cartoons called Carly. And who did they get to play this character from the G1 show? A Victoria's Secret Model that Bay worked with on one of the lingerie empire's commercials. Oh yeah, and because she's British the character is now British. Rosie Huntington Whitely does offer something fresh despite having no great acting skills and not a very good range. Unlike the relationship between Mikaela and Sam in the previous two films there was something genuinely real about the relationship between Carly and Sam in this film. Again, I'm going to stress that she's not that great. And critics expecting her to wow them were really harsh. But then again that's what we do. But the thing is she was more believable as someone who genuinely likes Sam rather than Fox's Mikaela character. And if the goal was to make the relationship believable, then by all means it worked. Could they have gotten a real actress and made it better? Honestly no, because even a talented actress like Gemma Arterton (who was in the running before Whitely) would not have been able to save a poorly written role. The only thing that saved it was the way she is around LaBeouf's Sam. And frankly that's all I could ask from her really. Plus her character does a really ballsy move in the movie that automatically makes her better than Mikaela.

Shia LaBeouf does what Shia LaBeouf does... play Sam Witwicky. And yup. He's still Sam Witwicky.

Then of course lets get to the big villain of the story: Leonard Nimoy's Sentinel Prime. PLOT TWIST! Okay I know I shouldn't spoil it, but the movie has been out for a long time by now and even when you see the movie you kinda see it coming. Because first of all the Marketing and Official Plot Synopsis released by the studio makes it seem like Shockwave (the cyclops robot riding the gigantic metal worm squid thing) is the main villain. The thing is in the trailers you never see this supposed villain do anything except for one shot pose to cock his gun. So it leads one to wonder is he really the bad guy? Then of course when Sentinel comes in one immediately knows that there is going to be a twist that he's the bad guy. And why is he the bad guy? "The Needs of the Many, outweigh the Needs of the Few." Good way to quote Spock, Mr. Nimoy. So really his motivations don't exactly make sense about bringing an entire dying planet next to a live planet when the device that can teleport things could've easily just teleported human slaves to their planet if that was the plan. What was the point of teleporting the entire planet if they can just do that? It doesn't make sense!

Yes, the action in this movie is a lot better than the previous two combined. Things can be seen clearly and we can easily tell who is fighting who. This is mainly attributed to director Michael Bay adjusting to IMAX 3D cameras which forces him to shoot this way. And thankfully for those of us who just want to watch a movie where giant robots kill giant robots, it is a blessing. However the action does get dragged out. And I mean really dragged out. The Third Act usually consists of the last 30 minutes of a movie while this one it seems to consist of the last hour of a movie. And to top it all of the beginning did kind of drag as well. But at least it didn't drag to the point where things got boring. It was still fun and the action is exciting to watch. And even though the action is clearer, it seems like one could care less about the safety of the heroic Autobots against the slew of nameless Decepticons.

Also, yes, the final three way battle between Optimus Prime, Sentinel Prime and Megatron (remember him?) was not as great as the rest of the action. And too bad that once that battle ends, it is the end of the movie. Literally.

Final Thoughts

This was a lot better than the last movie, yet still not as good as the first. It definitely could've used a trim on the running time and it probably would've been at least equal to the first movie. At least I can still watch it and find it enjoyable. Just pure fun dumb enjoyment. But then again, nothing beats seeing this film with rowdy fans on opening night.

SCORE: 6.5/10 - The best action in the trilogy

For a review of the previous film, CLICK HERE
For a review of the next film, CLICK HERE

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Analysis and Review

When the Hate started coming in... and Rightfully So

The hotly anticipated sequel to the 2007 unexpected (though not really if one were to think about) smash hit goes for bigger and broader in scope. And the expectations of many were so high for the cast and crew to improve on the very fixable mistakes that were made in the first one as well as enhance what was good in the first one. Does it do that? Well...

The Plot

When Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) triggers a map to a new source of power that gets embedded in his mind, he is once again thrusted into the war between the noble Autobots and evil Decepticons. With his girlfriend, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox), and his college roommate, Leo Spitz (Ramon Rodriguez), they must trek across the globe to not only find this source of power before the Decepticons do but also hope that it may save the life of Autobot leader: Optimus Prime.

Analysis

It is actually amazing how much watching a movie on the day of release with a massive audience can make one's perception of a movie very murky. I remember it very clearly that while my group of 14 friends and I showed up really early to our screening we still wound up being stuck in the front row. It got crowded really quick, to the point where some people were willing to sit on the steps. Of course that didn't fly well for the ushers, but some refused to move.

But back to my point. I remember having an incredibly fun movie going experience watching this movie. The crow was laughing and cheering and just full of this overwhelming excitement that was intoxicating. My friends and I were caught up in all this energy that it just made the experience a thousand times more enjoyable.

However when we walked out of the theater and had dinner at the sushi establishment across the street...we never talked about whether or not we liked the movie. Which was weird because that is something we always do after seeing a movie. 

It wasn't until I bought the movie on special edition DVD (damn you blu-ray for ruining my chances of having a complete special edition DVD set) that I discovered why we didn't talk about the movie.

But it does show a lot of just how powerful the theater going experience is. Watching this movie alone is not fun. Watching this movie during matinee would not be fun either. Watching it with a crowd of people who loves this movie no matter what? That is truly something magical. 

But now that the magic doesn't follow me to home viewing, lets talk about this piece of ****.

Review

There was a lot going on in this movie. And I do mean a lot. First there is LaBeouf's Sam having to deal with college and being away from his girlfriend. Then there's the horny conspiracy theory roommate who serves one purpose in the movie: being the conspiracy theorist. Then of course the villain from the first movie is brought back to life to kill the number one reason why people want to see this movie (Optimus Prime) so that it would really tie in to another plot of the movie. Then there's the globe trotting to get to the climax and the third act of the film. Okay that doesn't sound like a lot is going on, in fact it all goes together quite nicely on paper. The problem is a good idea on paper may not look good on screen.

As I mentioned the plot seems to be about bringing Optimus Prime back to life after getting killed by a revived Megatron. Oh, is that a spoiler? Well with all out honesty the plot of the film is marketed as an ancient Decepticon wants to harvest the sun's energy....because he wants to harvest the sun's energy. The title Revenge of the Fallen suggests that the titular Fallen (the ancient Decepticon voiced by Tony Todd) wants revenge on someone. Though as the opening prologue states: the ones he wants revenge on have been dead for thousands of years. So...there really is no revenge factor. If anyone should be getting revenge it should be Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving) because he was killed in the first movie. The title would've fit perfectly if that was the case because he has indeed fallen and come back to life. But no he does not seek to kill Optimus for revenge, he seeks to kill Optimus because his master The Fallen can only be killed by someone with Prime in their name. So in a sense the character who should get revenge doesn't actually get revenge on the character who would give cause for revenge but instead does things because he was told to do so. Makes sense?

Anyway this film could've gone a lot differently had it been marketed as what it is: we need to bring Optimus Prime back to life. That is the plot of the movie. But the problem is they had to make it so complex yet at the same time so convenient that a world ending device could also be the key to bringing Optimus back to life. So many moving parts for something that should really just be straight forward. Yet that plot gets mixed in with other plots that get dragged out unnecessarily. Especially with the nonexistent presence of this new villain because although he shows off that he is powerful he doesn't really do much to justify his place in the movie. Let alone justify why his name should be in the title.

The acting was just over the top. I'm not going to name names specifically because lets face it everyone was acting over the top in this movie. Even in the emotional scenes it seemed too heightened for what it should be. The one who I was paying attention to was Isabel Lucas who plays the robot disguised as a human named Alice. The reason was mainly due to her being pointed as the next big thing, and a fine actress. Unfortunately the role she was given in this movie was not a really nice display of her acting range. Which is sad because I've seen her in The Pacific and she's great. 

And the action of seeing robots fight other robots is completely ruined by not knowing who is fighting who. A lot of new hero robots are introduced, including female robots, and a lot of new villain robots are introduced, but in the end unless one is really paying attention very very very carefully (like me) you would have no idea who is who or who is fighting what. This was a minor problem in the previous one but at least there were multiple times when the fights were clear. In this one the only fight that was clear and well done was the one with Optimus battling Megatron and two other Decepticons at the same time. Other than that one part, all the other action in the movie is terrible. And this is suppose to be coming from action auteur, Michael Bay.

I should probably talk about those two idiot robots in the movie but I'm not going to waste internet space for that.

Final Thoughts

I wish I can relive that movie theater experience of seeing this movie with a crowd of blind excited fans because the movie I remembered seeing on the big screen was not the same one I saw when I watched it at home alone. And after seeing the third one that's when it dawned on me that seeing a Transformers movie with a crowd of Transformer movie fans is the best way to see the movie. You will get lost in the energy and feel like it is the greatest movie ever! But sadly it is not.

SCORE: 4/10 - A movie to enjoy only at a midnight screening with hardcore fans of the series

For a review of the previous film, CLICK HERE
For a review of the next film, CLICK HERE

Transformers - Analysis and Review

The One that Started it All

I grew up playing with Transformers and watching the Beast Wars animated series as well as some of the G1 cartoons. So when this movie was announced back in 2007, a fond High School memory becomes solidified.

The Plot

When Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) gets a "piece of crap Camaro" as his first car, he unwillingly becomes embroiled in a secret galactic war between alien robots that can transform into vehicles. One of them being the very car that he purchased in hopes of impressing his crush, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox). With an alien war on the verge to begin, Sam and Mikaela are thrown into a battle where the fate of the world may hang int the balance.

Analysis

You may notice from that plot synopsis that I came up with for this movie that I do not mention Optimus Prime or Megatron. Well to put it simply, they were supporting roles and the main attraction of the movie. When writing the plot synopsis for Jurassic Park I wouldn't put the T-Rex in a starring role even though he is in the movie a lot. He is the main attraction. Just as the Transformers in this movie called Transformers are the main attraction. And that's something I want to point out.

Having studied filmmaking and having a degree in it you learn a thing or two about why some movies are made the way they are. While this is the most loved of Michael Bay's Transformers franchise it still gets flack for being "not about the Transformers." Let's put it this way.

A lot of people were happy with the announcement of a live action Transformers movie only to be disappointed by the lack of Transformers as the main characters. However let me talk about my favorite scene from the sequel, Revenge of the Fallen. It is the scene where Megatron is talking to The Fallen in the Nemesis spaceship. That scene was entirely animated and photorealistic. Like many I thought why can't the whole movie be about the drama of the robots rather than the humans? You know, like the cartoons? But then that is when it hits me. If they do make a live action movie just centered on the robots then does it really still count as a live action movie? Because lets face it all the robots are animated, with the exception of Bumblebee in this film, who has once scene as a life-size practical effect animatronic. So in a sense, wouldn't it just be a photo realistic animated movie instead of a live action movie? Sure one can argue that they can have the settings be live action, but wouldn't it be more easier just to CGI everything at that point?

Where I'm getting at here is that creating photorealistic creatures and settings is hard and it costs money. I usually get mad at people who call it lazy CGI without knowing how difficult and time consuming it is to make high class CGI for big studio movies. Plus the live action elements are there so that CGI doesn't have to dominate the whole movie and most of the money funneled into making that CGI look realistic is to enhance what little scenes require them.

That's just my take on why I understand there has to be a human story from a production stand point. Of course the other one is that most people are not Transformers fans and don't care about the robots so there has to be some human element for those audiences to watch.

Review

This is the best of the original trilogy in my opinion and I will lay out why. The story is pretty much a teenage version of E.T. If E.T. is about a boy becoming friends with a lost alien, then this film is about a teenage boy becoming friends with an alien robot. And because this film is for teenage boys who want everything to be violent with explosions and hot girls or in this case just one hot girl, it needs to have all that. So yes, this is pretty much a teenage boy's dream come true. And having watched this when I was still in High School, it definitely did resonated with me. While I may not have the same taste in movies as I did then that I do now, I still find the same enjoyment I did when I was that age.

Shia LaBeouf does an excellent job as Sam Witwicky, who is a character that exists in the cartoon but not many people seem to remember that. While the character of Sam was a supporting character in the cartoon, here he is front and center as the audiences eyes into this intergalactic war. He is everything the stereotypical loser teenage boy would be in a movie and that works for his character. His comedic timing is excellent and really helps him be likable for the audience.

Megan Fox was someone I've known about before her big screen debut due to my mother watching the Kelly Ripa show Hope and Grace where she plays Ripa's niece. She does well in comedy, and since then seems to have discovered that genre is probably where she belongs. But let's get back to her performance in this film. It was just enough to convince the audience she is worth remembering. Though that is not due to her acting but more about the way director Michael Bay chose to shoot her. She's gorgeous and the camera and lighting reminds us of that fact the whole time she's on screen. The problem is she does come off as a bit shallow even though she's suppose to have this interesting development of becoming less shallow as the story goes on. Sorry, but even with that development for her character, her acting still makes her look like a shallow girl.

Of course the supporting cast does a decent job. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson are believable as well as funny as the military men who first discover the presence of alien robots. Rachel Taylor and Anthony Anderson offer some good comic relief and exposition speakers as the hackers in the movie. Jon Voight was just perfect casting to play the Secretary of Defense. And then there's John Turturro as Agent Simmons....funny secret agent...cool. In other words everyone does well with what they're suppose to do. But seeing as how I can't remember most of their names it often questions just how important they are to the plot other than exposition? Oh well, they do decent jobs.

Now lets talk about the robots. ILM deserves all the praise they get for pulling off bringing these complex robotic creatures to the big screen. The biggest boost to them is having cartoon voice legend Peter Cullen voicing the live action version of the character that made him legendary: Optimus Prime. It was his casting that got G1 fans excited, and it sure as hell made me excited. Hearing his voice come out of the gigantic robot king will send shivers down the spine of even the most harshest critic of this film. He was definitely the best part of the movie. And then there's Hugo Weaving as Optimus' famed nemesis, Megatron. Being known for playing villains, Weaving does excellent as the gigantic robot tyrant. For what little screen time the villain gets (yes that is disappointing) Weaving makes your remember Megatron.

The action in the movie is fine, though it could benefit by being a little bit more clear as to who is fighting who. This is not too much of a problem as there are only 6 Autobots (good transformers) battling 5 Decepticons (bad transformers) in the movie so it becomes clear later on. The resolution of the required final battle in the third act is lackluster but in the end it is still a good movie.

Final Thoughts

This is definitely a film worth seeing. It is not as great as I thought it was when I saw it in High School, but by no means do I think it is horrible. This is definitely the best film of the original trilogy because it feels like the most complete film. It is also the shortest of the Transformers which is why it works. It is compact and straight forward instead of drawn out. It is understandable that this may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if one were to ask what would be a cool fun sci-fi action film to watch but doesn't require too much thinking, I'd gladly point to this film. It's just a good time.

SCORE: 7.5/10 - Just a real good time and a fine toy/car commercial

For a review of the next film, CLICK HERE