Image courtesy of moviemania.io
Hello, everyone.
As I hinted at in my previous review, we would be going from Reapers to Robots for the next one. This one is another Anniversary Review, ironically enough. It is also one I’ve wanted to do for so long.
I had the opportunity to see this at my local Regal for a 15th Anniversary screening last week. Upon going to it, I knew this would be the subject of my next review.
Given the timing of the screening, I also felt like this would be the right time for another reason that I will go into towards the end.
For now, though, let’s roll out for my review of one of Michael Bay’s best movies as we celebrate the 15th Anniversary of Transformers.
The story follows a teenager named Sam Witwicky, who’s wanting to get his first car to impress his crush, Mikaela. After going to a used car lot, he gets a yellow Camaro.
He later discovers that his new car is actually Bumblebee, an alien robot sent to protect him long enough for him to summon more allies, including Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. They have come to Earth to search for a cube-like artifact known as the AllSpark, which can help revitalize their home planet of Cybertron. Sam also happens to have something that could help lead them to it.
Meanwhile, their enemies, the Decepticons, are searching for the Cube as well. During their search, they uncover files on “Project Iceman”, which is actually their leader, Megatron, who crash landed in the Arctic Circle before he could get his hands on the Cube.
Humanity is now caught in the middle of their fight to find it first.
What Worked: For the most part, the acting works. Shia LaBeouf gives a solid performance as Sam, and he conveys the varying reactions people would have to giant robots interacting with humans very well. Aside from that, in the more humorous moments, his delivery is effective to where some of his dialogue is genuinely funny.
Megan Fox does a pretty good job as Mikaela. Her relationship with Sam is hard to accept at first, but she does have good enough chemistry with Shia to where it does work. The best thing I can do for review purposes is leave it at that. Contrary to “popular belief” (and by that I mean what most other guys may tell you), she is not the main reason to see this movie. Yes, this movie was serious business when it came out, but that was because there was genuine hype for it, and it showed in the marketing and even the merchandise.
The one actress who has some importance to the bigger plot is Rachael Taylor (perhaps best known for her role as Trish Walker, the best friend on Jessica Jones) as Maggie, a data analyst recruited by the Department of Defense to help interpret a signal they picked up from the base attack by Blackout that opens the movie.
I actually really liked her in this, although there is one minor issue with her character that I’ll get to later.
In regards to humor, the one cast member that is easily the funniest one in the movie is actually Anthony Anderson as her friend Glen, who is a skilled hacker she goes to for further assistance. It’s not only his dialogue, but also his delivery that’s hilarious.
One other humorous moment worth noting comes earlier in the movie. Although he’s pretty much a cameo, Bernie Mac is great for the brief time he’s in it as the owner of the car lot.
Then we have two other aspects of the human cast to talk about before I go into the things I love most about this.
Those would be the military and the government.
The military scenes mainly involve a small Special Ops team that survives the base attack, led by Josh Duhamel as Captain Lennox and Tyrese Gibson as Sergeant Epps. Their scenes are among the ones I really liked, because they do get some humor, but they mostly involve tension that is genuinely effective.
Plus, they do feel like soldiers, and are very convincing in those types of roles. It’s especially surprising to get that from someone like Tyrese, who I can easily buy as a soldier or as a smart mouth racer, compared to a detective, but that’s for another review altogether.
Then we get to the government, where the two major characters here are John Turturro as Agent Simmons (leader of Sector 7, a special division dedicated to keeping anything pertaining to Transformers classified), and Secretary of Defense John Keller, played by Jon Voight.
I’ll put it this way for now: Similar to Maggie, I enjoyed their characters, but they have a similar issue as well.
Before I continue, for those wondering, I did not overlook Sam’s parents. I didn’t mention them yet because one of my bigger issues does involve them, and I’m sure a lot of people are going to agree.
For the Transformers themselves, there are also some notable names, particularly when it comes to voice acting.
The ones that stand out the most among the supporting ones are Jess Harnell (best known as the voice of Crash Bandicoot), Mark Ryan, Reno Wilson, and Charlie Adler. Harnell has two voice roles here, first coming in as the voice of the Decepticon scout and interrogator, Barricade, and then later in a more significant role as the Autobot weapons specialist and bonafide badass, Ironhide.
Adler is the voice of the second-in-command of the Decepticons, Starscream. Much like one of the two biggest names in the voice cast, he is actually a franchise veteran, having voiced several characters in the original series back in the 80s.
Ryan and Wilson are the voices of Bumblebee and Barricade’s minion Frenzy, respectively. They would later go on to have several more voice roles in the franchise.
For the voices of the leaders themselves, while Frank Welker doesn’t reprise his role as Megatron (although he would in the fourth and fifth installments), we did get the one back that people wanted perhaps even more, and that is Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus Prime*. He is so iconic that he has continued to voice Optimus for the majority of Transformers projects that have come since, including but not limited to: the games based on the movies, the Cybertron game trilogy (the first two parts of which are really good), Transformers Prime (which was a solid show), and even the subsequent installments themselves. He’s really the only one who’s maintained the same role across the franchise, even including Bumblebee. He is also set to reprise the role once more in the upcoming Rise of the Beasts, which is scheduled for release next year.
As for Megatron himself, we have the one major celebrity voice, who I have mentioned before as pretty much becoming one of the go-to actors for villains following his role as Agent Smith in The Matrix. I even mentioned Megatron as an example in that review.
In place of Frank Welker, we have Hugo Weaving. I personally think that’s an excellent choice. Although it can be hard to tell it’s him at times compared to the second and third movies where it’s much easier because it sounds more like it’s just him, if you know it’s him with a more mechanical aesthetic given to his voice, you can somewhat tell.
Now let’s get into what I love most about this movie in particular.
For one thing, the plot is straightforward to where even the subplots are key parts of the main story rather than detracting from it, which is what not only affected the subsequent installments in this franchise (at least the ones Michael Bay directed), but can also even affect other sequels (an example being one that also came out in 2007).
Thankfully, the script from Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (who would successfully revive Star Trek two years later) is tightly focused on the main story first, uses subplots that serve a purpose, and incorporates humor only when necessary, even if it doesn’t always land.
What actually gives this first installment a huge advantage is that even though he was an executive producer on the first three movies, this is the one where Steven Spielberg had the most input. You can tell he was heavily involved at times here. There are some moments where this feels like it could’ve been from his production company, Amblin Entertainment. However, it’s mostly felt in the tone.
Where this movie really works is with the effects and the sound design. They still hold up today, but the Academy apparently didn’t think so. This was nominated in three categories: Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and of course Best Visual Effects. It didn’t win once. It lost those first two to The Bourne Ultimatum, but as much as I’m willing to let that slide because of how great the sound design is in that, at the same time, for the sound team on this, I feel like these were their awards.
Further evidence of that comes with the fact that they had very clear attention to detail, as they had Cybertronian subtitles that translate into English whenever the robots speak (which are always Decepticons in that case). As someone who has a thing for attention to detail myself, I appreciate that they went the extra mile to do that for at least some of the robots.
The biggest snub of them all, though, and this is unforgivable: This lost Best Visual Effects to The Golden Compass, which unlike this, does not hold up very well. In fact, now, those effects look like a video game by comparison. This wasn’t the last time a huge effects driven movie was robbed, but that’s for a later review. The fact that this didn’t even get at least that is criminal. It’s pretty sad when MTV gave it more recognition than the Academy did.
Plus, a lot of the effects were mostly practical, which always helps. Even the explosions were done for real, most notably the ones in the battle with Blackout’s minion Scorponok.**
Speaking of explosions, compared to the sequels, they’re used sparingly here, and this is the best directed of the original movies, and easily the best shot. That’s high praise for a Michael Bay movie, I know, but it’s true.
One more awesome thing about this movie, and I have to give them major props here: The music. The score and especially the soundtrack are really good. There are some tracks, namely “Arrival To Earth”, where the rest of the Autobots come down, that really stand out.
The score is courtesy of Steve Jablonsky, a frequent collaborator of Michael Bay, who started out doing additional music for Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, and Bad Boys II (and later 6 Underground, his most recent film prior to Ambulance earlier this year) before serving as the composer on The Island, this movie, its four sequels, and Pain & Gain. His score for this movie even on its own is really good, because you can tell there are distinctions in the music for both factions. The Autobots have a more hopeful set of tracks, whereas the Decepticons have a more dramatic set, complete with choir.
The soundtrack, though, I think might be even better. This was still during the time when movies often had a soundtrack album and a separate album for the score. For the soundtrack, we have artists like The Goo Goo Dolls (who would go on to reappear on the soundtrack for the third movie), Disturbed, Smashing Pumpkins, and the best one I’m saving for near the end of the review.
What Didn’t Work: Where most of the humor falls flat, and a lot of people agree on this, is in the scenes with Sam’s parents. His Dad is tolerable. His Mom, however, is obnoxious beyond belief. It says something when at one point, even Ironhide gets fed up with them.
There is humor that doesn’t involve them, and even that for the most part is weak. There are references to bodily functions and occasional sexual innuendos, and those are completely cringeworthy.
The other issues I have are more like nitpicks on my part, but they’re still things I noticed that seemed a bit jarring. In regards to Rachael Taylor, I did find it odd that while Maggie I’m sure was supposed to be American (though that isn’t made clear, so don’t quote me on that), in the movie itself, she’s using her natural Australian accent.
The bigger issue is with Simmons and Keller. It felt like, especially with Jon Voight, that he and John Turturro were acting as if the movie was more serious than it actually is.
Those don’t bother me as much as the scenes with Sam’s parents, though.
Other than that, I didn’t really have any issues here.
Overall: With a mostly solid human cast and a very solid voice cast led by Peter Cullen, Transformers knows what it is and doesn’t go any further than that: A really fun movie with great effects and equally elaborate action sequences that still hold up 15 years later. There are so many awesome moments here where you’ll be impressed how they managed to pull them off.
Even with its problems, as an adaptation, it’s a decent movie. In fact, where I think it’s most effective is if you want to watch it as an action movie. It definitely succeeds at that, because it’s a lot of fun.
It’s even more effective from that mindset if you watch it as an action movie to make some noise. Much like I said in my review of Independence Day, I think this could also work as a good way to test your new sound system. The sound design is that good here, too.
When you put everything that’s great about it together, you get a satisfying experience and one of Michael Bay’s best movies.***
Next time, we’ll be going from the start of a franchise… to the End of one.
To close out this review, there is one big thing I wanted to address, which is the reason why rather than putting it up earlier this month, as initially intended, I am putting it up now. Five years ago today, we lost a phenomenal talent in the world of music. It was thanks in part to this movie that I was introduced to the band who would later become one of my personal favorites: Linkin Park, who made an even bigger impact through the voice of their lead singer, Chester Bennington.
The day he passed away, to say I was at a loss for words would be an understatement.
Then upon hearing that they would be showing this in my area for its 15th Anniversary around this time, I realized now would be the perfect time to put up this review. In addition to that, I had extra motivation to do so.
I felt like it would be meaningful to dedicate this review to him.
I am forever grateful to have discovered so many great songs.
Thank you, Chester.
You are, were, and always will be, a legend.
Chester Bennington
3/20/1976 - 7/20/2017
*For those who have been reading these reviews for a long time, you may remember I acknowledged that in my Predator review, where he also provided the voice for the Predator himself.
**Fun Fact: At the screening, they actually showed the featurette on how they did that scene before the movie. Getting to see that sequence again from that perspective in a theater was so cool to see.
***One more Side Note: There are some mid-credits scenes.