Transformers The Movie (2007) - My Review

As a lifelong Transformers collector, fan, and enthusiast (my personal collection of Transformers is probably worth between $12,000 - $17,000), I would be remiss if I did not take the time to watch the new iteration of the movie, released this past July, in the theatre, while it was playing. I heard good things about the movie, and while it has been universally indicated by reviewers and people I know, that the movie, unlike its predecessor was not geared towards kids, I had a sense that perhaps the film makers really botched up the new version of the movie, in order to make it appeal to today's "I want to see lots of violence, ample amounts of nudity, and dazzling special effects" (not necessarily in that order) crowd. The consensus was that it was a darker movie. However, like anything else, I thought I would make up my mind after I went in and saw the film.

Since the movie's been out for a few months now, only several theatres were still playing it. One of my buddies had indicated he saw it, and that if I wanted to see it, he'd go with me. I knew of another friend who had wanted to see it, but never had time, and so I invited him, and he was able to join us with his wife and we all went to see the movie exactly two weeks ago today.

Some context before I proceed with offering up my review on the movie. I have watched the 1985/86 version of the Transformers movie ad nauseum. To me, I can remember most lines, all of the music (the soundtrack CD is still in my car). My son has proven to me that he is biologically mine, by taking up, on his own volition, a rabid fascination and keen interest in all things Transformers. I have purchased some recent versions of the figures for him, and he has requested to watch the original Transformers movie more times than I can count. As a result, I have had some recent re-introduction of the Transformers movie back from 1986. While it was a good movie, several things came to mind: 1) the music is pretty dated with Stan Bush arena rock permeating throughout the film, 2) it ended with what appears to be a scene begging for a sequel, since Unicron's head was floating into outer space and escaped the rest of him exploding, 3) the death of several high-profile Transformers has always disturbed me (and the role of Ultra Magnus was not terribly clear), and 4) there were several plot gaps in the movie that begged for a future movie that would connect the dots. So I went into the 2007 edition expecting a radically different movie, but hoping that there would be some tie in with the original.

I was right on both counts.

By the way, for those who have not seen the movie yet, I'll be sure to not put in any spoilers here (at least, not deliberately).

The 2007 movie, unlike the original, is not a cartoon. The robots and the battles were obviously all special effects and animation. Also inserted into the movie were real humans played by real actors. The music, overall, was very well chosen, having a mixture of old 80s music when appropriate (to conjure up the real-life environment for those who wish to go back to their childhood on memory lane), as well as up-to-date alternative rock (which I absolutely love). The movie took on a more serious tone, and is likely geared towards more of a teenage audience, due to some of the themes present. And as anticipated, it was a darker movie, both substance-wise as well as colour wise. Gone are the old Transformers team where many of the autobots were colourful and very fictitious looking. The newer edition of the Transformers features robots that have very intricate and fine detail. Some are even pretty scary looking. In the previous movie, even a non-fan would be able to quickly discern who was an Autobot and who was a Decepticon. In this rendition, the asthetic lines are far more blurred. Had the audio been turned off during the movie, I would have accidentally mistaken several Autobots to be bad guys.

Some good stuff: I like the fact that they brought back Optimus Prime, and the original guy who played his voice - that was a nice touch. There were some very un-Optimus lines that were a bit cheesy, such as when he said "the world wide web", but they still kept his leadership demeanour and tone. By the way, Optimus was the only one who was brought back as more or less the same vehicle. Bumblebee was brought back as well, but he is no longer a VW Beetle. Similarly, while Starscream was a jet, he was a much different looking jet and transformed as such. Megatron was something else altogether, as was Ratchet (though his function was similar). I didn't mind the changes/updating of these characters - the rendering of the robots and how they transformed was excellent, and more than made up for me having to adjust to matching up the names with the new faces.

The storyline, as unbelieveable and at times, silly, as it was, was pretty easy to understand. It didn't bring up the same "huh" questions as the original cartoon movie did. This is good that they kept the plot fairly simple, since I would presume people don't go to see Transformers in order to engage in a philosophical storyline or glean great spiritual truths, though there were enough cheesy cliches in the movie to establish your own worldview and statement of faith.

The battle scenes were, without a doubt, spectacular. I'd say that the movie lived up to the hype based on the battle scenes alone. The robots Transformed more realistically this time around, whereas in the old movie, you start to wonder "when they transformed from vehicle to robot, what happened to this part? Coupled with the excellent music that was married with the fight and action scenes, action buffs will get more than their fill of testosterone. Some people have told me that they hated the fact that the Transformers now fight with turret-type guns, gattling-type guns, and machine guns/rocket launchers, IED-looking devices, etc., rather than the traditional laser gun. I personally welcome the new weaponry. It is more sophisticated and shows the evolution of military technology. I would have been disappointed if they all just shot laser guns.

One positive aspect that I haven't heard too many people mention is subtle, but I think that it was intentional and worth mentioning. Everyone knows that North American cars have been dealt a serious blow by the Japanese and German car industry (and with good reason - just check out Consumer Reports on domestic vehicle ratings). I personally am not into domestic cars, and I myself drive a Japanese car. Regardless, I thought it was great (and refreshing) to feature so many domestic (North American) cars in a positive light, making them look cool in the movie. Say what you will about GM, but you have to admit, the Solstice looks really nice. I've never been a fan of muscle cars, but I found that they did a good job of showcasing the Mustang in the movie. Several scenes seem right out of the Fast and Furious movies (which I love) and it worked well to show off the robot in vehicle form (something that wasn't really focussed on with the G1 Transformer set).

To segue between the positive elements of the movie and some of the aspects I didn't like, I'll touch on an area that some may gloss over, but I think is worth nothing. Now, I have to be somewhat objective here. I can see both sides of the coin in that the presence of Megan Fox was both good and bad for the movie. Women's rights activists will likely not appreciate the um...suggestive closeups of Miss Fox's anatomy, coupled with some , er...rhythmic music. Since I am a happily married man, I can't comment on too much here, but I can say that it was probably not necessary to have her in the movie (or the boy for that matter - they were simply fillers until the robots started to fight, which is why most people - at least guys - go to see this movie). However, to add a truly, um, human element to the movie, they injected Megan Fox into the show, in the event that there are some viewers who realized 15 minutes into the movie that a film about robots is not for them - but they dropped so much cash for popcorn and drinks that it wasn't worth it to walk out. All that being said, while there was no nudity, "love scenes" or anything terribly graphic scene-wise, the highly sexualized presentation of the admittedly attractive Miss Fox was probably not needed in the movie, as was the totally unnecessary blatant reference to masturbation later on in regards to the boy. When I think of the Transformers movie, I don't want to think of masturbation references - I take "More Than Meets The Eye" at face value, thank you very much. Anyhow, her character (as was the boy's - what's his name?) didn't really add all that much to the movie, and if you ask me for my honest (and I mean honest) opinion now, I can tell you that the only thing I remember about her being in the movie is the scene where she's leaning up against Bumblebee while the camera takes some liberties in its shot angles. The overall character development of ALL the humans was rather weak.

The movie also seemed to play towards a politically correct casting method. My opinion here may seem a bit controversial and perhaps I'm simply nit-picking, but I do feel that some of the characters were cast that way in order to appease the politically-correct crowd, who want to see "diversity" among what may be perceived by some to be stereotypical roles. The fact that the senior featured "youth" analyst was an young Australian girl with piercings seems a bit weird (only because there are so few women in the computer sciences to begin with), and more so with the fact that a conservative government body like the U.S. department of defence would give her any credence being young and presumably inexperienced). I also noticed the fact that they threw in a black kid living with his mother, who was the major computer hacker. I suppose that is not unusual in and of itself, but it's not like this kid was a nerdy Steve Urkel type - instead, he acted and talked as if he was living in a metropolitan ghetto. Again, maybe not unusual, but for me, it was a bit far fetched and seemed to be the "PC" thing to do. I also noticed that the writers put the blame on North Korea/China for terrorist nukes. You'd think they would have targeted the Middle East, but NOOOO, Hollywood doesn't seem to want to do anything that puts the Middle East and particularly, Muslims in a bad light. Finally, since Transformers was a Japanese invention, it would have been really good it they could have at least had some Asian characters added, since they seemed to be featuring everyone else. At the very least, they didn't go overboard and introduce the obligatory gay character, which seems to permeate throughout the liberal left's Hollywood production of movies and television. I would have suffocated myself with my popcorn bag right then and there.

Unlike the original, there was not just one or two instances of swearing in the movie (I can debate as to whether the instances were needed at all in the original, since it really didn't add anything to the movie whatsoever), but there were a noticeable amount of swear words present in the 2007 edition. Now, this may just be a simple reflection on what seems to be an increased acceptance in modern day culture to profanity, but I still believe that a movie that had its roots in a kids' toy that was meant for 6-12 year-olds, can probably do without vulgar language.

My biggest issue with Transformers 2007 is the fact that they had so many damn humans in it, you start wondering whether it was a movie about Transformers or humans. The first, what, hour or so of the movie only features an un-transformed Bumblebee (with the exception of the original scene, which wasn't long enough), but that gets lost in the shuffle when you have to wade through all that human dialogue. At points, it really did feel like I was watching freaking Beverly Hills 90210. All the robot ass-kicking didn't start until well past the 70% mark of the movie. That made the movie worth it, but I would have personally have preferred to see more of that, and less of teenage angst and Family Ties 2007.

Overall, I liked the new movie, despite some of its shortcomings. I appreciate the fact that the producers took risks, making some updates that they know would likely alienate some long-time Transformers fans. But I don't think it would have been wise to rehash the 1986 version all over again, either. It would have been nice to see more of a deliberate connection back to the old characters, and in the process moving the audience towards the new cast of characters, rather than just introducing them all without seemingly giving a history of how we got from then to now. I am not sure if it even is meant to have any connection of the original 1986 movie, since you would have known that Optimus Prime died (if you don't know that, ooops) and Megatron ceased to exist and was re-created as Galvatron. I think it would have been good to re-establish these old links for the old-time fans (and there are tons of them out there) rather than try to simply capture the imagination of new fans with a historically revisionist version. All that being said, the film's action scenes did not disappoint and really show how far we have come in animation and realism. This aspect alone makes Transformers (2007 version) worth your consideration, if you are interested in Transformers on any level.