Oh please... not a movie about 20 year old toys.

Rating: Null/10 (5 July 2007)

I never really understood the fascination with Transformer toys. I always thought they were kinda stupid the way they transformed into inane things like cars, boom boxes, and ugh.. dinosaurs. I have friends that love them... but even they could not make me sit though the 80s cartoon movie. Never was a fan.
So, in my inbox pops the invite from this same pack of friends to their outing to see the Transformers movie. I was not interested and declined this particular fanboy cinemaplex Pilgrimage but the next invitation was not so easy to decline, my kids asked me... repeatedly... to take them. I finally relented as I have sat through everything from Chicken Little to The Santa Clause so why not Transformers? After all, I am a veteran of sitting through crappy kids movies.
The next 2.5 hours would be a blur of unanticipated cinematic goodness. As much as I love the Spiderman franchise and counted the days until SM3, there were times during that movie that I wanted to hang myself from the nearest thing that would be high enough to hang myself from. This movie on the other hand had me wanting more... 2.5 hours can seem like half that amount of time when a movie succeeds in captivating you like this one does. The movie moves along at a good clip with action to spare, very good acting, and even a decent storyline thrown in for good measure.
There are some parallels you can draw between this movie and Independence Day. ID4 was a good movie but it didn't grab ahold of me and refuse to let go like this one did. This movie is perhaps one of the finest action movies made... finally, an action movie with style AND substance.
If you don't like this movie, then check your pulse my friend because you are probably dead.