In case you don’t know, there is a real thing called a “transformer”. It’s an electrical device that converts voltage (or current, but primarily voltage) to higher or lower values. Before I get geekier, the reason why I titled this review “Step up or Step Down” is because there are two types of transformers, which are: (1) step up – the ones which increase voltage but decrease current in the process; and (2) step down – transformers which decreases voltage, may or may not decrease current. And I’ll enumerate points of the movie “Transformers” by Michael Bay with its weak (step down) and strong (step up) points.

Step up

First off, kudos to director Michael Bay for the most exhilarating, breath-taking, phlegm-gurgling (we had this hangover of mimicking the sound of the machines transforming) action sequence I ever experienced watching a movie. I thought Star Wars “Sith” had that record for me, but I really appreciated the ending sequence. From frame 1 to frame 2, cinematography and production design is all commendable, and I’ve never seen CGI as sophisticated as Michale Bay’s masterpiece. My personal fave was the scene when Optimus Prime and Megatron went past through a building while people inside being hysterical of what’s happening. Not to mention the incredibly-difficult “Bumble-Bee” ride (spoiler: Bumble-Bee’s foot was carnaged at that time) that they took. When I was looking at screen, I was telling myself how the f*c* did they do that? You’ll see masterful CGI throughout the film, as if all frames or scenes could be put in the trailer.

Also worth mentioning is the Golden Boy of the movie, Shia LaBeouf. No wonder he got the “Indiana Jones” son role, and he was the only guy in the movie worth mentioning. Of course, if I mentioned Josh Duhamel, it will seem as if he’s worth mentioning. Maybe, but in a really really bad light. I also noticed that (later in step down) with the alleged “four-paged” script, it seems like Shia LaBeouf managed to do impromptus, especially in parts where you’ll really remember how Shia’s dialogue is so different in the entire film’s script (the scene in their house, scnee when he’s describing his “new book”). I haven’t seen “Disturbia”, but watching him in Transformers made me curious if he really was the charm of the suburbia film.

I would also credit production design and locations of shooting. Very very impressive locations, especially the dam, and the “Mosque” where you can find the four autobots standing as if in some bar. The “Wickitee” house is also noteworthy, and placing the autobots in “hiding formation” made the entire screen effectively funny.

Step Down

Like all the movies or series I hated, they all boil down to bad writing. I’d believe the rumors that the script could be written in four pages of dialogue. I don’t even know where those dialogues come from. Still, you can’t blame the writers because it’s an eye-candy feature film. Nobody wants to remember good lines in it if it’s not a Michael Moore documentary. The plot had me hooked, but having Anthony Anderson in the movie made it hilariously non-believable, having his role as a funny hacker (being a computer geek myself, I don’t believe such shallow desire of computers won’t result in such behavior, and I’d suggest he better learn the role first instead of recycling his slapsticks from the movies he had done). Putting in Josh Duhamel, Amaury “Sucre of Prison Break” Nolasco, and Jon Voight just added “star value” for the film.

Wrapup

All in all, I still believe that the Transformers movie by Michale Bay kicks ass when it comes to visuals, music (sorry, didn’t mention, but it’s just normal score), and adrenaline rush. It’s good enough to get my eight stars, out of 10.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 2:33 am and is filed under Malupet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.