Transformers
Preview night, 8pm showing, Mann Village Theater in Los Angeles, CA. Hundreds of fans, all in their late 20's or early 30's, and all ready to see “Big F'n Robots.” Now, I'll admit, even I was a little surprised when I heard that Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg were going to put together a Transformers live-action movie. They wouldn't have been my first choice, but hey, I'm always willing to give it a shot. Besides, the two of them have been in charge of some of the biggest movies of all time: Indiana Jones, E.T., Bad Boys, Armageddon and others. Now, you may not be a fan of some of these movies, but they do make TONS of money. So, let's see what would happen. As trailers and clips started to release, some of my trepidation towards the movie started to go away. And, as we got closer to the release, I was becoming as giddy as a little kid getting his first Transformer action figure. So, let's go through the positives, first. Action – Some of the best action sequences ever, thanks to Bay. He knows how to do a car chase, and the chase between Bumblebee (Camero) and Barricade (evil police car), is awesome! If you want to see shit blow up, and have a fun time cheering the good guys on, this is the movie to see this summer. 80's vs. modern day – Many people were annoyed with the updating of the cars and other vehicles. Bay and Spielberg kept saying, just wait until the movie. And after seeing it, I completely understand why they did it. Why would Bumblebee be a VW Beetle? It IS ridiculous, when you see the movie. Sure, they've changed, but the core of the characters are still there. Bumblebee is still the most human and most relatable, Jazz is still cool, Ratchet is still the medical officer and resident smart guy, and Ironhide is still a bad ass who wants to shoot everything. And of course, Optimus is what everyone wants him to be: The intelligent leader, who leads his team to victory – but understands the meaning of sacrifice. The sequel – Great way to set up the next chapter, and introduce some new characters. A piece of the Allspark still exists, Starscream got away, and Prime sent a message for more to come to Earth. Humans – Megan Fox is one of the most beautiful women on the planet. Hell, she may make you feel genetically inferior. But hey, she looks good on screen. Shia LaBeouf is good, funny, and the everyman-geek who goes through the story as the audience. Shocked, scared, but having fun at the same time. And of course, he scores with the hot girl in the end. NICE! The rest of the human cast? Really, who cares? This is all about “Big F'n Robots,” so let's keep it that way. Now, the negatives: Character Development – They did a great job with Bumblebee and Prime. The even did a good job with Megatron. But other than those 3, there was no real character development of any of the other robots. Ironhide was OK, but did Jazz or Ratchet have more than 2 or 3 lines? Did any of the Deceptions, besides Megatron and Starscream, talk at all? Maybe that's for the next episode… The death of an Autobot – Look, we all know that someone had to die. Fine. We all know it couldn't be Optimus Prime or Bumblebee. But did they have to kill Jazz? He was my favorite Autobot! And, when he does die, I wanted to see some more emotion from Prime. He should have said, “I've lost a friend today.” Not “We've lost a comrade.” Damn it Prime, he's your friend too! Bottom line Autobots, Transform and Roll out…
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