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Directed by: Michael Bay
Screenplay: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
Story: John Rogers, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Cast: Shia LaBeouf... Sam Witwicky; Megan Fox... Mikaela
Banes; Josh Duhamel... Captain Lennox; Tyrese Gibson ... USAF
Tech; Sergeant Epps Rachael Taylor ... Maggie Madsen; Anthony
Anderson ... Glen Whitmann; Jon Voight ... Defense Secretary;
John Keller John Turturro ... Agent Simmons
Story:
Welllll. Okay, here goes my best attempt at capturing the
story of this movie. It can be said in one line or many
paragraphs.
The movie opens with Optimus Prime narrating
the history of the Cube, the Allspark, and how its origins were
unknown, and whereever it travelled it created life, even on
Cybertron. Their society flourished, until they were betrayed by
Megatron, and war erupted over the Allspark, which was
eventually lost in space and ended up on an unknown planet,
Earth.
On to the present-day Earth. The movie begins
in (as is the trend for most American movies now that the Soviet
Union does not exist anymore) Qatar, to be exact, where American
soldiers are stationed.
Shia LaBeouf, who stars as Sam Witwicky, a
teenager, unwittingly buys a bruised and battered 1976 Chevy
Camaro. Now watch it, that car is actually a "robot in
disguise."
The US soldiers flee in an ambush in the
meanwhile in the Middle-East. Jon Voight as the US Secretary of
Defense runs through his lines as the movie provides him only so
much space. John Turturro is the hacker living with his mom.
Megan Fox, a hot, leggy female, plays Sam's unbellievabley
mechanically proficient love angle.
If you are aware of the Transformers history,
you will know that they are warring mechansied aliens who
disguise themselves as cars, jets and others of the same ilk.
There are two distinct groups, the good ones and the bad ones;
the good ones are the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, and the
evil ones are the Deceptions, led by the power-mad Megatron.
Will he wipe out humans and repopulate Earth with artificial
life forms? Are we going to see more sequels?
Review:
How does one review this movie? One part of it is straight
out of an ad for Japan. In the good old days Japan used to make
robot toys that transformed into cars. And the other part is an
advertisement for Detroit or LA, the two homes for the
automotive industry now.
Director Bay messes up the movie as he is
unsure of bringing robots and CGI toys together. With the budget
of $ 145 million that he had for this movie, he could have done
wonders.
The movie is too long and loud and too big.
Yes, big. Budget, the stunts, the music and the transformers. It
does not do justice to a sci-fi. We have seen some classic
sci-fis. This one is simply a bloated advertisement that you see
on the tube.
It does have its moments. The special effects
are great, camerawork is superb and techncially you can't find a
flaw with it.
But it tests your intelligence to the limit.
Are you incredulous or are you stupid? Are you just a plain nerd
or are you an intelligent human being? Rarely have I felt like
walking out half-way. In this one I almost did.
Final score: One and a half out of four
stars
Sam Walker
California |
