Great fun, but could've been so much more...

Rating: 7/10 (28 July 2007)

I saw Transformers today (in England) and thought I'd start off with...
The Good parts: For me, the first hour-and-a-bit is the best, because we get to know Sam Witwicky & Shia Labeouf's natural comic timing (I'm being followed by Satan's Camaro!) Bernie Mac's turn as an auto salesman was great and of course, those wonderful autobots! Loved how the gang were eventually introduced, particularly Ironhide's trigger-happy attitude and his willingness to assassinate Sam's parents! Thought Prime's attempt at humour wasn't bad but they should've kept him serious as he was in the cartoons & leave the laughs to Jazz & co (was it Jazz who bit the dust in the end?) For me, I loved Bumblebee who was probably the most emotive of the autobots. Mr & Mrs Witwicky were great comic relief & to a lesser degree, John Tuturro & was that Gary Cole in a beard??? Oh, the scene where the bots descend on Sam's house is hilarious! The bad parts: Megan Fox, who's good at pouting but definitely isn't a Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Sorry, but I can't believe her character would find Sam attractive in a million years. Why was the fight between Optimus & Bonecrusher short-lived? This was meant to be a money scene from the trailer, but guess I was wrong. Also, while there were gleeful exchanges of dialogue between Megatron & Prime (It's just you and me, Megatron! No, it's just me!!), nothing was fully explained as to why they hate each other so much. And poor Josh Duhamel, so good in Las Vegas, but very under-used as Capt Lennox (as well as the guy who plays Sucre in Prison Break). I felt that the last 20 minutes was just there for the hell of it and could've been broken up some more in the movie. Not sure about Optimus having a mouth that moves and were they going for a slightly human angle with him? This is a teen comedy that happens to have big, cool robots, but if you're going to pay homage to the Japanese fighting flicks like Godzilla vs King Kong, then at least show proper slam-bang action & destruction. They should make 2 more films and not the 5 as planned. If you're going to take a girl to see this, my advice is to wait and see The Bourne Ultimatum.