The Transformers Review
by Drew Turney
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Michael Bay must feel like America in the age of terror. When he considers the critics and Transformers fans around the world who curse his name he must be asking himself and his films ‘why do they hate us?’
Then
again, he might be having too good a time to care. He gets to play with
World War Two fighter planes, space shuttles that land on giant
asteroids and Transformers, and movie studios give him hundreds of
millions to do so. What else is he but a big kid who plays with big
toys?
You might have heard about the online hatred among
Transformers devotees when it was announced Bay was directing the live
action version. It’s becoming the essential marketing accessory for any
self-respecting blockbuster, fuelling buzz as good as any advertising
campaign. If it transforms (sorry) into box office receipts Bay,
Dreamworks and producer Steven Spielberg are going to walk away even
richer than they already are.
Because for all his detractors, the studios are his biggest fans. When you consider the $300m price tags of Spider Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean, Bay delivers more bang for half the bucks of those films.
Try to forget everything you know and think about Pearl Harbor and Armageddon
– Spielberg is right when he says Bay was born to direct this movie.
The most serious trench coat-wearing ComicCon extremists might believe
it’s about the subtleties of free will and a complex code of honour,
but Transformers is about cars, planes and trucks that change into
giant robots and kick the crap out of each other and everything around
them. Few other directors would have the bravura to do it with the
violent impact it deserves.
Bay only agreed to do Transformers
if he could do it ‘real’, and the photorealism of the effects are the
movie’s biggest strength. If anything the (dare we say it) cartoony
personalities of the robots detract from the serious approach, and as
an action film you’ll not likely see bigger or better all year. 4 out
of 5 Transformers
Australian
release: 28th June,
2007
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Anderson, Rachael Taylor
Director: Michael Bay
Website: Click
here.
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