noble-zone (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} noble_zone) wrote,@ 2007-07-05 01:21:00 |
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My spoiler-free review of Transformers
The movie looks amazing and is a lot of fun but dumb as a load of bricks. Lots of stupid-ass moments and plot idiocy that make it clear that, while they marketed the flick to 18 year-olds they made it for kids. The Transformers aren't the ultra-cool alien machine-spieces you think they're going to be from the trailer; they're actually kind of goofy and occassionally meant to be "fun" for 12 year-olds.
That was the approach the producers took with the material and I can't blame them since Hasbro probably wanted a family-friendly event movie, not a late-teens only flick.
Part of the problem is that the film feels like Small Solders meets Independence Day; its campy attitude -- the Transformers act a bit too cutesey and the mini-Decipticon belongs in a sci-fi version of the Goonies -- is at odds with its "deadly-threat" feel that the story sometimes channels.
The movie needs about 50% more Shia -- he's terrific as the teen lead, charismatic in his ordinariness -- and the flick would have been a lot tighter dumping an insipid hacker subplot and tossing away an epic overview of the conflict (and the accompanying tangential characters to boot) to focus on Shia and the Autobots. Megan Fox is stunning looking but added nothing; we needed a relatable young Marion Ravenwood to accompany our hero on his adventures, not some untouchable beauty who comes across with as much depth as Kate Moss in a Gap commercial.
See it for the action which is kick-ass and, by the end, mind-numbing. The effects set a new precedent in digital film fx: I didn't ever see a moment that looked fake and I was keeping an eye on for that. The film should win an Oscar for visual fx, no questions asked.
The movie is what it is and it's impossible to deny that it's extremely entertaining.
But it's not more than meets the eye.
The movie looks amazing and is a lot of fun but dumb as a load of bricks. Lots of stupid-ass moments and plot idiocy that make it clear that, while they marketed the flick to 18 year-olds they made it for kids. The Transformers aren't the ultra-cool alien machine-spieces you think they're going to be from the trailer; they're actually kind of goofy and occassionally meant to be "fun" for 12 year-olds.
That was the approach the producers took with the material and I can't blame them since Hasbro probably wanted a family-friendly event movie, not a late-teens only flick.
Part of the problem is that the film feels like Small Solders meets Independence Day; its campy attitude -- the Transformers act a bit too cutesey and the mini-Decipticon belongs in a sci-fi version of the Goonies -- is at odds with its "deadly-threat" feel that the story sometimes channels.
The movie needs about 50% more Shia -- he's terrific as the teen lead, charismatic in his ordinariness -- and the flick would have been a lot tighter dumping an insipid hacker subplot and tossing away an epic overview of the conflict (and the accompanying tangential characters to boot) to focus on Shia and the Autobots. Megan Fox is stunning looking but added nothing; we needed a relatable young Marion Ravenwood to accompany our hero on his adventures, not some untouchable beauty who comes across with as much depth as Kate Moss in a Gap commercial.
See it for the action which is kick-ass and, by the end, mind-numbing. The effects set a new precedent in digital film fx: I didn't ever see a moment that looked fake and I was keeping an eye on for that. The film should win an Oscar for visual fx, no questions asked.
The movie is what it is and it's impossible to deny that it's extremely entertaining.
But it's not more than meets the eye.
