Come back Michael, Pearl Harbor is forgiven

Rating: 9/10 (28 June 2007)

If your male and under 25 you'll not find a better movie this year, possibly this decade. F-22 Raptors, A-10 Warthogs, AC-130 Spectres, a '74 Camaro, giant transforming robots just forget that other stuff it has  GIANT TRANSFORMING ROBOTS. I was a little worried when I heard Michael Bay was directing, I've enjoyed some of his movies in the past, and I've hated others (I'm talking to you Pearl Harbor). But as Transformers star Shia LaBeouf has rightly pointed out in interviews, "the man is a visual genius". Many directors try, but none succeed in pulling off the sort of shots Michael Bay gets. And even though that shot of a bomb falling in Pearl Harbor defied physics, it was pretty cool. There's at least ten of those type of shots in Transformers - shots that make you say "s**t!", shots that make you feel like your 15 years old again, and what more could you ask for? Nobody does action better (maybe John Woo). I now find myself wishing he'd have directed War of the Worlds.
COMPLAINT: I only have one really. It's a scene near the start where one of the robots start running around like he's Jar Jar Binks. He even seems to turn and wink at the camera and does some over-the-top sneaking around like he's in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. I understand why it's in the film  It helps make a smooth transition for an audience to see robots acting with character. I just feel they may have overshot the mark a little bit in establishing robots with human qualities. Thankfully he's not in it much and becomes less annoying in subsequent appearances.
The special effects are amazing and the sound effects are even better. The Transformers felt real. Peter Cullen. You rule.
I only wish there was more of a story underneath all the incredible effects to make it more interesting when I see it again. And I will see it again. Two and half hours never seemed so short.
(There is a story but it's not quite as epic as the old Transformers story).