Transformers, more than meets the eye?

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2007)

TRANSFORMERS More than meets the eye? So the release is right around the corner of one of the most anticipated movies of the year. But is the anticipation worth it? A good bunch of us have grown up with Transformers, we know the stories, we know the TV show, the movies, and of course, those kick-ass action figures. Finally after all the years we get a live action full blown Hollywood production of the story. I'd like to write this without giving much away, since it is quite a movie, but I'll start with a summary.
Basically we have the "cube" or better know as the "All Spark". This cube has the utmost power to the Transformers, which are fighting over it. Two clans of Transformers exist, the Autobots, and the Decepticons. Both of them want the cube, but one side is good, and the other evil, respectively. At some point in time this cube was lost, and both sides go from planet to planet searching for it. Guess where their last place to look is? That's right, Earth. The story has multiple character sets it follows, one being a soldier in the US Army, another being a teenager, a group of a "signal analysis" team, and the Secretary of Defense. All of these tie in at one point and all reach conflicts and disaster.
Story = 8/10 Now normally, this story may be a little "weak" in terms of normal story telling, but since it has been around and evolved throughout the decades, it is widely accepted and interesting to audiences. It's quite an easy tale to grasp, but greats amount of detail can be placed to it. The overall picture is about the Transformers, but we do get a look into the other character's lives and what they are going through with all of this happening. Some of the story is week in character development, and catches some rather cliché moments, but hold strong to what's going on.
Script/Acting = 4.5/10 Ouch. Some of the lines and dialog in this movie were awful, and a good handful of the acting was either dry or overdone, but with the other characteristics of the film adding to this, the movie stays strong.
Sound = 10/10 Whomever did the sound design and effects for this film deserves a true award. Every single action and nut or bolt had it's own sound, each being unique. I truly enjoyed the sound, and would buy a sound effect archive of just the effects played in the movie, they were fabulous.
Visual Effects = 10/10 These are hands down the best effects I have ever seen. I see A LOT of movies, and as with a lot of the community love them, and this movie by far surpasses everything I've seen before this. The animations and transformations of the bots is flawless, the wreckage and explosions and everything is just jaw-dropping, it was perfect. I don't see how they could have improved anymore than this, seriously. Now I truly believe it took over 32 hours to render one frame. There was only ONE, ONE one second scene where I could tell it was fake, and it was a splash of water near the end of the film. Other than that, it was just beautiful.
Length = 144 minutes.
Yep, almost 2 1/2 hours of pure Transformers, pretty sick, eh? Overall = 8.8/10 No I didn't average this score, but this movie does deliver. It's enjoyable and will want you asking for a little piece more. It was a good time, and is worth seeing.
Oh yeah. And that new Camaro is in it. Nice car indeed.