Typical Michael Bay

Rating: 6/10 (28 June 2007)

Gotta hand it to Michael Bay, he really knows how to deliver in typical "Bay" fashion. Left the screening here in Bangkok a half hour ago and I feel exactly the same way I did after watching The Island, The Rock, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor for the first time -- fulfilled but empty. Bad Boys actually had good character development compared to his later big budget flicks.
Anthony Anderson was totally useless here, still wondering why Bay brought him on. Voight started off well but then began to remind me of his Manchurian Candidate character, and soon after that seemed to slip into his Bill Biscane ala Baby Geniuses 2 shtick. Maybe it was just me, Voight's character became irrelevant halfway through this two-hour plus CGI fest. I was actually surprised by Megan Fox, she did a very passable job while LaBeouf was good as usual, nothing great here though. And the usually brilliant John Turturro was a bad choice to play the deadpan secret agent, it was hard to take him seriously in this role. The character was obviously a caricature but Turturro played it up too much, methinks.
If you like Bay, you won't be disappointed. Over the top action, good looking girls, unbelievable CGI, even a younger Michael Biehn, played by Josh Duhamel. I know the original series well and I didn't care so much that Bumblebee wasn't a Bug, but the GM product placements were too obvious and overdone. And finally let me say that the storyline left much to be desired. How many times do we have to sit through the long-lost-whatchamacallit- has-been-located- whoever-finds-it-first- rules-the-world plot??? Puh-leeze. It was like another Jon Voight masterpiece, National Treasure, except even less believable.
Overall thought, a must see for CGI, robot and Bay fans alike.