Transformers really is more than meets the eye.

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2007)

Going into Transformers I had a lot of preconceived notions of what the film would be like, quite frankly I was expecting a lot. I am pleased to say that I was overall happy with the result. I, like a lot of the fans, was wiry about how much Michael Bay changed the look of the robots but once the movie starts you don't really notice it. In Transformers there a three main ingredients action, jokes, and good CGI. The plot kind of gets lost in the mix. This movie is the definition of a fun summer popcorn flick; witch is Bay's specialty.
Overall the movie works. But, the name of the film is Transformers, and for some reason, (I'm guessing budgetary) the Transformers themselves aren't the movie a whole lot. The majority of them show up halfway through the movie. A few of the good guys get decent screen time and character development, that being Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. But the rest of the Autobots are relegated to bit parts. Optimus introduces all the Autobots to Sam, describing their function within the group and that's all the back-story Ironhide, Ratchet, and Jazz get. Furthermore they only get a few lines each, I guess to add insult to injury. Worse, the Decepticons get even less back-story that the Autobots do. Megatron and Starscream have a few lines each, but it seems the most prominently featured Decepticon is Frenzy. All of the other Decepticons are left out in the cold, they are just there to blow stuff up.
The plot itself is not too complicated and it's easy to follow. The story is good enough to get to the next action sequence and really, that's all it needs to do. Big robot fighting another big robot and so on. And lets face it that's the real reason that people are going to the movie anyway. Just like in other Bay films (Bad Boy, Bad Boys 2, Armageddon) the joke are interspersed with the action and it plays well for the most part. Its shot with his signature style and edited that way to. So, if you don't like his style of shooting, you'll probably not like this movie either. Personally, I'm a fan of Bays work, and this kind of movie is where his talent shows,its his best film since 1996's The Rock. The car chases, stuff blowing up, and style all come together well.
As a whole the film generates more cheers than jeers. I was only really disappointed with a few things, one in particular, ***WARNING Spoilers*** the death of Jazz was pointless. I felt that it was just thrown in there because "hey we need some Autobot to die, it might as well be him". I didn't want to see any of the Autobots die. Even thought they said he couldn't be saved, I hope that they will find some way to fix him up for any possible sequels. And while were talking about sequels (Yes, the movie sets itself up for another one) have more screen time for the robots since that's what everyone is going there for in the first place.