I am in awe...

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2007)

I went to an 11:45 PM showing last night and I am so blown away I am almost speechless. The special effects were cool (not anymore spectacular than you'd see in Star Wars or Lord of the Rings), the plot was in line with any Transformer episode (if you watched it as a kid) - the movie itself as a movie, was good. What made in excellent was the spirit of the movie.
Michael Bay is a genius. Watching Optimus Prime roll down the highway as a real semi, hearing Peter Cullen's powerful voice telling the other Autobots to "roll out"...it was like deja vu or pure nostalgia being poured into my senses. I felt 10 years old again...playing in my front yard - being the Witwicky that helped the Autobots whip the Decepticons and send Megatron squealing to his maker. Not many movies take you back to a happier time. And even though the movie is bang, bang, shoot 'em up - to see these robots that I just loved as a child...it just took my breath away. I am in a state of euphoria.
The movie had enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat, enough plot to keep your mind from turning into mush, enough comedy to keep your sides hurting and enough love for both the people and Autobots that I cannot see anyone not enjoying it. It is almost as though these robots are something you could see driving down the street - pun intended. I even got teary eyed when Bumblebee was captured.
And maybe I could attribute it to the fact that we left the theater and 2:30 in the morning, but both myself and my kids think Tranformers may blow Star Wars out of the water - and trust me - we are a nerd family. If it is a geek thing, we like it. Star Wars, Star Trek, X-Men, Spiderman, X-Files...but this movie....this was amazing. I have not felt this way about a movie since 1977 after leaving the theater from seeing Star Wars IV: A New Hope. But this is different somehow. George Lucas' Crown o' Cool has just been man-handled away by Michael Bay and his Autobots.