Robots in Disguise

Rating: 8/10 (14 May 2009)

The cartoon series of many young men childhood finally made it to the big screen and my God was it entertaining. Transformers has a simple premise, two giant robot factions, the Auto bots and the Deceptions who were in the middle of a Civil War on their own planet and after it ends up being destroyed, continue their fight on Earth. The television series was really a marketing top to sell the toys, but to children we didn't care and it continued to other franchises like GI Joe, He-Man and Pokemon.
The plot of the film focuses on Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), a teenage American student who happens to be selling some of his great grandfather's stuff on the eBay. He just brought his first car, a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro. But just happens to be to have brought a transformer. On the other side of the world the Deceptions start their war against humanity, attacking an American base in Qatar to access American military information. Their discover that Sam Witwicky's eBay may be of value to him, and the young man is thrown in the middle of the war, with Autobots coming to Earth to protect and Sam, and find the AllSpark that could bring life back to their home planet. At the same time is a sub-plot with Sam and his love interest Mikaela Barnes (Megan Fox). Sam is the school geek, whilst Mikaela the hotty that everyone wants to be with, but has a macho side to her. As the film progresses their friendship grows.
Now that plot is paper thin, there is not hiding the fact. But the Cartoon was never that deep on plot anyway. The target audience for the film was always going to be teenage boys and young men, all they wanted to see was robots beating the hell out of each other and seeing Megan Fox doing some poll-dancing would have been a bonus. The film was too long, and should have cut at least 20 minutes. It takes too long to see the Autobots. The action is excellent. Michael Bay is a expert on bombastic action. He was a sound choice and combine military action, and giant robots and CGI to great effect. This was also the biggest film the American military got involved with since Black Hawk Down, which was good for the military, but made Transformers a jingoistic film. It was also a irony in the cartoon that the Deceptions happen to be military vechiles, whilst the Autobots were mostly sports cars. I do wonder what the film would have been like if someone like Spielberg, J.J. Abrams or Zack Synder directed, but Transformers is Bay best film so far. As well as action, there is comedy, some hit, some miss, but it has a good in-joke to one of Bay's previous film.
The acting is standard. LeBeouf and Megan Fox have done alright for themselves after their work on television. Who really wins out is Peter Cullen who reprises his role as Optimus Prime. You got to love his voice and their is nothing more awe inspiring then seeing Optimus first scene.
Other issues with the film is that there are too many characters, both human and Tranformers, which makes you lack caring for some of them or wondering where some people have come from. Some characters should have been cut or reduced, especially the Peneagon staff. Also their is too much product placement, the film was a giant ad for eBay and the car companies. It's ruins the film and should have been done in a more subtle manner. Also it ruined some Transformers like Jazz who was a Porsche in the cartoon, but a Pontiac Solstice in the film.
But with all the issues aside, Transformers is a fun action blockbuster, and it sequel looks promising. Let's hope it's as good or even better.