Not Much More Than Meets the Eye

Rating: 6/10 (2 August 2007)

While other summer blockbusters like Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean have struggled due to confusing plots and the constant necessity to become "darker", Transformers' simplistic plot and ability not to take its ridiculous premise seriously are both a great strength and weakness, making the movie lighthearted fun but never injecting a real sense of danger. However, it is not this so much as the multiple plot strands that causes the problem. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson as the American soldiers first attacked by the Decepticons who survive, discover how to kill them and help lead the fight back, are two dimensional excuses for all manner of dated flag waving action movie clichés of the worst kind, something Bay has been much guilty of before. Duhamel's character is so desperate to be reunited with his wife and newborn baby that he talks about little else, their final moments back together against a sunset backdrop is as bad as anything director Michael Bay did with Pearl Harbour.
Even major actors like Jon Voigt and John Turturro do not fare well with the material. Turturro is particularly bad, providing so-called comic relief as the head of a shady government organisation who know more about the Transformers than they are letting on. Turturro's mugging and gurning belongs in a straight up parody, and not a good one at that, a sort of poor man's Men in Black, and it is a shame to see the man who was Barton Fink reduced to this.
Fortunately, at the centre of all this, is one plot line that really does work. In the role of likeably nerdy, awkward teen Sam Witwicky, Shia LaBeouf completely proves himself to all the doubters unsure about whether he is entirely deserving of his star in the making, next big thing hype. Unlike the army captain, defence secretary or computer genius, Sam is an ordinary character it is easy to empathise with and LaBeouf plays him with great charm as he attempts to win the hot girl, Megan Fox's amply chested but under developed character wise car expert Mikaela, and deal with the fact that his new car seems to have a mind of its own.
LaBeouf is also the one actor who really throws himself into the role, striking just the right balance of light comedy and thrills that suggest his casting in the next Indiana Jones film will be perfect. He manages to convince in interactions with the attractive but wooden Fox as much as with the computer generated robots (indeed LaBeouf's Sam is the only human character to have any consistent interplay with the robot characters). Furthermore, it is in LaBeouf's scenes that the comedy side of the movie becomes genuinely laugh out loud amusing, whether it is Sam's panic as the Autobots wreck his parent's pristinely kept lawn (a nice nod to the ridiculousness of the premise comes as the robots turn back into trucks and cars, still looking conspicuously out of place on the lawn, "That's not hiding" Sam complains) or his interplay with his parents ("Sam's Happy Time"!).
But what of those robots in disguise themselves, the real reason for anyone to see this movie? The special effects in Transformers are, quite simply, amazing with incredible levels of detail to every character. Whether in close up or standing in the distance, the robots never look anything less than solid, three dimensional presences interacting with the landscape and people around them with completely seamless integration. Appropriately enough, it is the actual transformation scenes that will cause the real wow factor within the audience as they will truly believe they are watching trucks and planes whirr and click into place as they change into giant robots. One particularly spectacular sequence features a chase along a busy highway in which the chasing Decepticons transform into their robot forms in the midst of the action. The design of the robots is very impressive (and a sequence involving a vending machine transformer shows the visual effects designers having a lot of fun with it), although the pointy, angular and all metallic Decepticons fare less well than the Autobots whose complex and detailed design is matched with big, clear blocks of colour.
The actual fight sequences and battles are occasionally prone to Bay's tendency for too much camera movement and too rapid cuts so it is sometimes difficult to see what is going on, however they remain very impressive spectacles. However, the dialogue in the big smackdown between big bosses Optimus Prime and Megatron is so bad that it would seem better if the fight was completely dialogue free (Megatron: Humans don't deserve to live. Prime: They deserve to choose for themselves. - What's that even supposed to mean?) and, while visually impressive, the robot-on-robot violence is difficult to care about when there are no well developed characters. Of the Transformers, only Bumblebee, who gets to spend a lot of time interacting with LaBeouf's Sam, actually displays any real character. This becomes so much the case that the death of one of the Autobots, a major character in Transformers history, becomes a moment devoid of any emotional impact with Bay and co clearly hoping to trade on the affection fans have for the character rather than giving him any personality within the film.
A mess of clichés and plot holes saved by LaBeouf's performance and amazing CGI effects, Transformers makes for enjoyably disposable entertainment, delivering just what you would expect from a Bay directed, Spielberg produced summer action blockbuster based on a toy range, but little more. Unsubtle in the extreme, whether with action or comedy, turn up looking to turn off your brain and enjoy some spectacular moments and occasional humour and you will have a great time, just don't think about it too much. ***